For the second game in a row, Australia have put up a fantastic fight against a superior opponent and come up just short. They took a lead in the second half, but the Netherlands had enough firepower to win 3-2.
Netherlands squeeze past plucky Australia
Dean MouhtaropoulosNigel de Jong should’ve killed the game off with a fourth moments later, though Ryan did well to get down and deny the midfielder from close range. Fortunately for de Jong, it didn’t matter, with the Dutch hanging on to record their second win in as many group stage games. With this Australia’s second defeat, their World Cup is all but over.
Australia: Ryan; Davidson, Špiranović, Wilkinson, McGowan; McKay, Jedinak; Oar (Taggart 77’), Bresciano (Bozanić 52’), Leckie; Cahill (Halloran 68’).
Read Article >SWERVE. It’s 3-2 Netherlands
van Persie answers Australia
That’s a nice assist and a really great finish, but really not the way you want to give up a lead. It’s 2-2.
Read Article >Australia lead?!?
Can the Aussies hang on? This is pretty shocking.
Read Article >RVP, Cahill suspended
Australia are the team suffering the bigger blow here. The dropoff from Cahill to another forward is steep, especially with Josh Kennedy out of this Australia team. The Netherlands, meanwhile, have some depth.
Read Article >Australian fans go from sad kangaroos to ecstatic
Australian soccer fans experienced all possible emotions in about a minute in a half Wednesday.
First, Arjen Robben scored, and we got a slo-mo of a guy in a kangaroo suit yelling FUCK, perhaps the greatest fan shot in the history of sports:
Read Article >Bruno Martins Indi suffers nasty injury
Hopefully the neck brace was just precautionary, but it looked like a very nasty fall, and there didn’t seem to be any consideration about letting him shake off his injury and letting him play on.
Read Article >Guy Fieri could be the Australian mascot
Goals traded; Australia’s was better
But then OH MY GOD TIM CAHILL.
Read Article >How to watch Netherlands vs. Australia
Dean MouhtaropoulosAustralia played extremely well against Chile, despite taking a 3-1 loss in the match. They defended well and put themselves in a position to steal a point. Considering they were written off before the tournament even began, it was a definite reminder that they are not to be overlooked. Unfortunately for the Socceroos, there was some bad news coming out of the first match, as fullback Ivan Franjic was ruled out of the tournament with a torn hamstring.
Match Date/Time: 1 p.m. local, noon ET
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