Last night marked my return to indoor soccer and it proved to be a night full of fun and emotion. My first match was with my work team (TNA) at 6.20 which proved to be a good starting time as I could arrive early and practice as I’ve been out for so long. To safeguard myself from further injury to my wrists I had them strapped, bound and supported in every possible way. If I was going to get injured you can be certain I would not let it be my wrists, I would never live it down.

The match itself was excellent, as a team we all played superbly, as usual defence was lacking a little but other than that I have no complaints really. We won 8–4 and  I managed to score 2 goals which is always encouraging. However because I hadn’t played such a demanding sport in over 2 months I found myself struggling with my fitness levels which really upsets me, I used to really take pride in my endurance when it came to sport. In order to get back into shape I will start going to the gym regularly again. My new year’s resolution was to get into better shape and tone up, but for obvious reasons (surgery and broken wrists) I have not even come close to achieving this yet, I still have roughly 6 months left though so all is not lost if I get my ass into gear.

The match finished at 7pm and my second match for the evening wasn’t until 9.40, so I had a fair amount of time to kill. My team mates and I went into bar and mostly talked about the world cup. I vented my usual hatred and both the terribly smelly French team and the Italians who might as well crawl along the ground like babies when playing. I really don’t care about the final place play off, I seriously can’t stand either team. Germany Vs Portugal should be good a match for the 3^rd place play off. I hope Germany win, I’m not a big fan of Portugal as their side has Ronaldo and Raul, both very annoying and overrated players. After finishing up in the bar I went down to Off Ya Tree at Eastland to hang out for a while and to pick up Elesha who was coming to watch my second game. Our friend Nikki also came along to “support” (by that I mean her and Elesha smoking up a storm and mocking my bitch like qualities) me during the match.

After weeks of debate with my other team The Usual Suspects about whether I should play or not I finally got my way and was ready to play. I honestly don’t see why I shouldn’t, it wouldn’t affect how I play in the slightest as the injury is to my wrists and I’m playing a sport where you can only use your feet. In the end it’s my decision and the other players on the team have never been questioned about their fitness when they returning from their injuries, why am I so different?

Although we lost 6–3 (?), it was a decent match, we played a team called Disco Fever who usually whinge the entire time, we have come so close to getting into fights with this team on several occasions. Once again I scored two goals which was great, generally on this team I’m not much of a goal scorer. I see myself as a bit of a playmaker (I believe my passing is my strongest attribute) and better defender than attacker, plus we have much better attackers than myself on the field anyway.

It was a great evening, I was so excited to be playing soccer again, I love playing sport and was starting to get really edgy (especially because of the World Cup) because I haven’t played in s long. I can’t wait until Sunday when we play at the school, it’s going to rock.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so depressed due to a poor result in a soccer match, or any sort of sport (playing or watching) as a matter of fact, as I am today. The poor Socceroos got screwed out of a possible chance to advance to the Semi-Finals of the world cup. A penalty in the final minute of injury time gave Italy the win and crushed my little heart.

Although both teams played extremely well and both deserved the win, I can’t help but feel the Australians were ripped off yet again due to a very poor decision by the referee. The penalty he gave, was not a penalty, I’m not saying this out of bitterness, or not even because of my pure hatred of the Italian team (they dive and act way too much), but because in my opinion, and the opinion of everyone I have spoken to since last night, it was genuinely not a penalty. Lucas Neil (he must feel so terrible today) was already on the ground when the Italian player ran over the top of him and fell over, clearly not worthy of a free kick, it was 50/50 at best and based on that alone with the game on the line, a penalty should not have been given.

Congratulations to the aussie team though, we played hard, we played well and I feel we showed those who doubted us that we can hold our own on the world stage. We weren’t even suppose to make it this far, and although I’m disappointed we lost in such an unfair way, we did well, and I’m proud of our team.

On the other hand, I’m extremely pissed at the quality of the referee’s decisions throughout the cup so far. Not only in all of the Australian matches but a lot of the other matches also. Seriously is it just me, or are the amount of mistakes being mad just crazy. I understand being a referee Is a tough job, but they have just seemed plain incompetent.

I think I poo’d a little last night watching the Australia Vs Japan match on the television. I it was a great match and the Aussies played reasonably well and deserved the win. They had more possession, more shots and generally played better football than the Japs. When Japan scored their 1^st and thankfully only goal, I must admit my heart sank I almost had a tear in my eye. The following 65 minutes or so were also quite painful to watch with the Aussies having so many opportunities squandered. I’d like to know how many people switched off the telecast early and went to bed thinking we had lost the games. The people I was watching the game with were far from the biggest soccer fans and they kept urging me to turn it off saying it was all over. But I had faith refusing to turn it off, and it was I who had the last laugh, HAHA I say to you all! We managed a great and well deserved come back scoring 3 goals in something like 15 minutes, it was amazing, I don’t think I have ever jumped so high in the air.

The Aus Vs Jap game was a must win for us in order for Australia to have a chance of progressing to the next round. We are a very good chance against Croatia if we can keep it together, so our only issue is Brazil. We are huge underdogs against Brazil and rightly so they are an awesome team, and while the likely hood of us winning or even drawing is very unlikely I wouldn’t dismiss the Aussies just yet. Brazil are a very attacking side known for their lapses in defence, if we can catch them off guard we may be able to score. We just have to make sure that our defence is up to scratch and doesn’t make too many errors because we will be punished.

I’ve now viewed something like 70% of the matches shown on SBS now and all I can say is god bless the man who invented DVD/HDD Recorders. I don’t know how I ever got by without one in my life, the thing is truly amazing. You should all go out and buy one.