OLYROOS 1 : SERBIA 1

Well first off let me apologise for hyping you up into a state of frenzy regarding Gordon Bray calling last nights game - it was far, far worse, Mike 'who the hell is this guy' McCann. Channel 7 couldn't even be bothered putting their main announcer on for the game. If you stuck around after the game to hear the wrap up from the other games you would have been screaming out for Alastair Mann who called the Argentina v Ivory Coast game or even John Roder who called the Brazil v Belgium game. McCann called the game with team sheet in one hand and Google in the other. His comments were stale, uninsightful and with long silences in the game.

But enough of that, back to the game. Bridge upfront was absolutely invisible, whereas Archie Thompson made some good runs and used his pace well. Celeski put in some forgettable crosses in a game which will not live long in his memory. I wouldn't be surprised to see Troisi, who spent the game on the bench, get the start against Argentina. I must admit in what I have seen of Troisi he is yet to live up to his hype, but as one of only a few who have gotten their cap in the senior squad and based on Celeski's performance last night, Arnold, the impotent coach should make the switch. Federici was sound in between the posts although not looking overly comfortable when the ball was passed back to him, taking one or two bad choices in clearing the ball. Nothing much could be done about the powerful header which saw Serbia equal the scores. McClenahan ran hard all game but often lacked the class to beat his man and on several occasions was beaten in one on one situations, although he worked hard to try and win it back. Miligan took a nasty kick to the back of his calf around the 30th minute mark but has been cleared for Sunday's game against the Argies. Sarkies came on late for Thompson when Australia were in the lead but didn't see enough of the game to make an impact. Spiranovic and Topor-Stanley were Australia's best on the night in my opinion. Under constant pressure but were strong and worked well together to weather many raids on the Aussie goal. Zadkovich got Australia's goal and was a terrier much of the game. A few glimpses of both talent and stupidity, and what about that hair. Carney looked like a spark with some of his touches and was largely responsible for Ausralia's goal. North was strong in the back and kept the backline organised in the absence of Milligan.

Australia relied way to much on long balls out of their own half and made way too many turn overs in the midfield. The group is still wide open for the Aussies to progress; Serbia had turned many heads in qualifying for the games, but the Argies and the Cote turned more heads in their opening game. It's going to be tough and the boys will need to show a lot more innovation than they did in this game. Although much has been said of their better than most preparation, let's not forget that its been without much success. For those looking to the future Socceroos in the squad, be impressed with Spiranovic but lets hope they can all lift a notch or two.