I Told You So
These four words uttered by Johnny Warren were the motto for the night and the tributes to the legend were prominent around the ground. It is a real shame that he did not make it to the biggest football game in Australian history, but maybe when they needed a bit of luck he was pushing the Socceroos over the line.
Guus Hiddink is a brave man
When you are a big name coach who has been there and done it all before, one gets a bit of leeway. He used that to full effect when he left Kewell on the bench for the start of the game. Whether or not he would have made it to the end if he played from minute one is unknown, but shielding him from the opening forays before unleashing him on the fatiguing Uruguayan defenders worked out very well. It would not have been part of the plan to bring him on after half-an-hour, but Tony Popovic’s yellow card forced the change to be made. It paid=off within three minutes, as he was heavily involved in the passage of play that set up Bresciano’s critical goal.
Socceroos still cut it very close
There were more than a few nervous moments early on, as Schwarzer failed to cleanly grasp an early free-kick before not making it to a corner that could have easily gone in. Alvaro Recoba had the chance to end the tie with a one-on-one chance in the 20th minute, but sent his shot wide. Uruguay created their fair share of opportunities throughout the game, as is to be expected from a team of their quality, yet they just would not go in. As the game wore on they eventually tired, but their quality was still nearly enough to get them by.
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