Watching the Olyroos in Arabic

The Olyroos tonight continued their good form in their Olympic qualifying group with a 1-0 win over North Korea in front of what looked like a relatively small crowd in Newcastle. The only goal of the game was courtesy of Mark Milligan, who got on the end of a well taken Kristian Sarkies corner. It was a well deserved win for the team, who dominated vast stretches of the game with the North Koreans only have limited chances on goal and for the most part looked like they were playing for a draw. As a whole the team looked well composed and often put together long strings of passing that often led to dangerous attacking moves but lacked the killer finish. The defence was rarely troubled as was Vukovic in goal. Standout players for the night were Bridge, Sarkies, Milligan, Musalik and Topor-Stanley. The team will be strengthened by the return of in-form Nathan Burns for their next match on Wednesday night. The signs are looking good for the next generation of Australian footballers.

The oddest thing of the night was the fact that I was watching the game courtesy of a Saudi Arabian TV station via the internet complete with commentary in Arabic. How can such an important game being played in Australia not gain any live coverage whatsoever in Australia. If a Saudi Arabian station sees the necessity of showing the game live it is about time that the FFA insisted that either a free-to-air station or Fox Sports showed these games to showcase our up and coming talent. The Australian public needs to be able to see that our footballing future is in good hands.