Australia are through

I must admit, as an Englishman, my feelings about the prospect of Australia doing well in the World Cup were slightly mixed. I would like football to get bigger here for sure and for the standard of the A League to improve; Australia doing well in the World Cup will surely help this. But there was still a part of me, unable to escape that age old Aussie V Pom rivalry, that simply wanted them to get walloped. But I must say that this desire has been completely vanquished since the tournament started. Why? Because they are playing the kind of football I really like - pacy, direct, passionate, committed football. Exactly the kind of football that England should be playing.

Maybe Sven could go along and take notes at the Australia V Italy match? He'd see something called 'passing' happening. Yes 'passing', spelt 'P A S S I N G'. It's when one player gets the ball and kicks it to another of his team mates. Strange huh? What Sven will also notice is that the ball travels along the floor in the majority of these 'passes'. It isn't continually twatted 60ft into the air in the vain hope that some lanky cunt at the other end of the field can get his head on it.

Another phenomena Sven may detect is what the Aussies call 'passion'. This is something that has been AWOL from the England team since 1996 but basically refers to a deep seated desperate desire to win. That's 'W I N', Sven. Other novelties he will see in action include 'self belief', 'pace' and the most important one, 'good management'. Make sure you write that last one down eh Sven and study it carefully.

Anyway, onto Australia who were excellent against the Croats this morning. The match encapsulated for me everything that is great about football - the drama, the unbearable tension, the release of passion and of course the shit refereeing. What the fuck was Graham Poll doing? Had he decided before hand to unilaterally change the rules of the game?

'Well, I was looking through the rule book and I thought to myself why not give players 3 yellow cards before I demand they are sent off? I mean come on, it's time to shake this game up! I'll try it out at some tinpot tournament where the results don't matter.'

What would have happened had the Croatian who should have been sent off (as he had collected 2 yellows) scored? Would the goal have stood? If it had stood then would the result of the match been allowed to stand or would it have been replayed? Shambles.

Poll also missed two blatant penalties for Australia including a handball offence by the Croats which was identical to the one they committed in the first half and which was punished by Poll with a penalty to Australia.

But the most laughable of all his errors was blowing the whistle for full time as the ball crossed the Croat goal line (from a Tim Cahill shot). Yes, he blew the whistle mid shot. Simply unbelievable. Australia should have won that match 3-2 but the records will always show a 2-2 draw.

Luckily, Australia went through anyway as a score draw was enough but just imagine if they hadn't. How much longer can FIFA resist in introducing instant video replays to assist in refereeing decisions? When fuckwits like Graham Poll are refereeing then the game can (and did) turn into a farce. The referee should never be the story of the game!

Anyway, onto the next round for Australia and they're up against the cunting Italians - my most loathed international side without doubt. So once I again I'll be supporting the Sheilaroos and I quite fancy putting a bet on them to reach the semi finals - after all, their potential quarter final opponents, should they get past Italy, will be either Switzerland or Ukraine.

Meanwhile, I'll be asking my money back for my bet on England and will desperately hope that Sven does take notes at the next Australia match and passes them onto his successor, Steve McClaren.

Wanting England to play like Australia in the football. What the fuck is going on?