Australia 1 Denmark 0 Jabulani 10

Whilst the result was not essential, in the words of Paul Trimbole, "the Socceroos seem to be able to find a way to to get a result". Unfortunately though finding a way is not necessarily all that convincing, nor pleasing for the "fluent football" purists. My thoughts were that a lot of positives came out of the game for Australia. The fitness of the squad has most certainly improved since the game against our trans tasman rivals. The quality of parts of play, more so in the second half, were very pleasing to watch. And dare I say it, Brett Holman proved to me he is not just a hard worker.

One very alarming note however was the success of "jabulani", the official match ball of the World Cup. The way it eluded the players feet and managed to race at speed across the end line was amazing. It was better at it than any other ball I have ever seen! In all seriousness though, it was very evident all of the players on the pitch were having issues with speed and accuracy of pass along with the flight of the ball. Have we made the importance of scoring more goals negate the ability for players to be able to actually play pure football?

I can't for one minute believe that the players will not adapt, and as expected most of the negative feedback on jabulani has been provided by the goalkeepers themselves, including one Mr Buffon and our own Mr Schwarzer. If I am Pim Verbeek, I am off to Rebel Sport Johannesburg to buy 50 Jabulani's!....which of course I am sure is already provided to the teams involved. Surely?

It appears there is also one last wait for the final 23 man squad to be announced. Pim is reported to be weighing up injury concerns and we, the Australian public, should be aware of the offical Green and Gold Army at approximately 4pm our time today. All the best to the lads, may the Schwarz be with you!

And so the countdown continues.....86 bottles of Jim on the wall, 86 bottles of Jim......