Having put on a heartening second half display against Jordan that had most of the country believing, erroneously, that Iraq was a fait accompli, Neill said that the Socceroos would ‘play the game, not the occasion’.

Perfect sentiment. He knew, and the senior players would have counseled the rest, that a totally professional, clinical performance was required that ignored the situation, the prize on offer, and treated the game on its merits.

When so many anticipated a party against a brave, young Iraqi side, Lucas knew it would be a battle all the way.

That, in a nutshell, is what playing at the very highest level, and in two World Cups, gives you, and this week Lucas once again proved himself an outstanding leader of men under the most intense pressure imaginable.

Having achieved qualification, then, and immediately after the match when the personal and team euphoria is naturally at its greatest, he spoke about the game. This, above anything else, was an example of his maturation in the past few years.

This journey is, he said, about putting football as the number one sport in Australia. Absolutely, correct. That’s the mission, and the Socceroos played their part at Stadium Australia on Tuesday night when it counted.

David Gallop was, and is, right to play down the importance of making World Cups because it is factually true that the game no longer depends on qualification, but the timing of this next appearance could not be better.

The A-League is flying, there was 80,000 passionate fans screaming their lungs out at a time when other games struggle to fill stadia, the domestic game is going to get a turbo charge from free-to-air television, and next year’s World Cup will magnify all of these positives a thousand fold and send the game into another cycle of accelerated growth.

One of the most beautiful parts of last night’s performance, was that the team was able to deliver when expected to do so comfortably, against a weaker opponent.

For a nation that prides itself on an underdog mentality that undoubtedly has some value in the bash and biff sports but has absolutely no future in football, (since what does one do when it is no longer possible to rely on being the lesser party?) the Socceroos took an important step towards shaking this cultural cringe to simply got the job done.

Hallelujah, and amen to that.

Holger Osieck had a difficult job to manage generational change, the most difficult of any coach of recent decades, all of who have had more able teams, however he made it more difficult for himself by playing with an antiquated system for several years until he finally responded to calls for both a different system and personnel.

Holger is in the hot-seat, he made the key decisions, and he deserves every credit for doing so because the campaign was almost sunk after Oman and resuscitated in the last three games, principally by the now legendary Mark Bresciano, king of Stadium Australia.

The call, in particular, to take off Tim Cahill for Josh Kennedy, given the likelihood against a now defensive Iraq of a header being the route to goal and Tim in great goalscoring form, not least just last week against Jordan, was as courageous a call as any in the history of the Socceroos, indeed Australian sport.

Osieck put the campaign, and his job on the line with that decision since, were a goal not forthcoming, he would have had great difficulty in justifying the decision, such is Timmy’s status in Australian society, not just sport.

The fact that Jordan beat Oman at home, meaning Australia would have qualified in any event, only makes the decision greater, truly gutsy in a pivotal moment.

Having spent so much of the campaign in conservatism, he gradually became bolder as need dictated and, in this moment he became an honorary Aussie because if there is one thing we respect in our sport or a person’s character, it’s courage.

Bravo, Holger, this has now become an iconic moment in Australian sporting folklore.

Euphoria and backslaps aside for the moment, however, the game was not without concerns.

Gallop said afterwards that the win was evidence of what can happen when the team spends time together to prepare when, actually, it’s quite the opposite.

After three weeks in camp, Australia struggled to press effectively to stop Iraq playing through too easily in the first half and was fortunate its young forward line possessed little threat, in the absence of key attacking players.

The question of whether this will be good enough for World Cup level, with teams that are obviously much more punishing will need to be evaluated and, after we all take some time to breathe again, savour the moment and celebrate the champions in green and gold, discussion will turn to what sort of squad should go to Brazil to prepare for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, and Russia 2018.

For now though, the Socceroos have once again done their game and their nation a great service by succeeding in qualifying for the greatest sporting event on earth and twenty three million Australians can now embark on another wonderful journey alongside the team they’ve come to adore.

If football is the face of the nation, the Socceroos are now firmly entrenched as the nation’s team, and last night every Australian could be immensely proud to say that these boys and, in the big moment, their coach, embodied everything that we love about Australia.

Never mind the players and the coach. It’s the entire populace who mostly deserve a medal for willingly going through this much pain in the quest to see a dream fulfilled every four years. We all deserve a good break and a lie down on some sandy beach.

And it’s not new, is it? For me this stuff stretches back to 1969 and it’s a wonder I’m still here, with my ticker intact and my wrists not scarred.

That year our part time Socceroos, captained by a 26 year-old Johnny Warren, drew 1-1 with Israel in Sydney. Aussie defender George Keith gifted a pass to Mordechai Shpiegler who put us a goal down and two goals on aggregate. John Watkiss equalised late in the game but it was too late. We were out, by one goal.

In 1973 we had to suffer through 90 minutes against South Korea as Jimmy McKay’s boot finally took us to the World Cup.

Then there was Scotland in 1985 as the largely part time Aussies pounded the Scots, coached by Alex Ferguson, but the goal, never mind the two we needed to level the tie, just wouldn’t come. We were out.

Four years later, against old nemesis Israel in Sydney, Australia needed a win, it needed a draw to go into a final playoff against Colombia. We drew one one. The referee, Carlo Longhi, was a disgrace, only adding to the heartache.

Then, in 1993, against a Maradona-led Argentina, we were again halted by one deflected goal in a 2-1 aggregate loss before, in 1997, came the darkest of hours, that catastrophic 2-2 against Iran at the MCG.

It took another agonising 120 minutes plus a penalty shootout for the tide to finally turn in 2005 in that cathartic win over Uruguay.

That totalled seven occasions over ten World Cup attempts that we had to go through this torment in decisive games. No wonder my once dark brown hair turned white.

With the campaign for the 2010 World Cup, for which Australia qualified easily with games to spare, we all thought it was the end of the near 40-year promethean suffering.

But it’s back, returning with the torment of the 1-0 win over Iraq on the road to Brazil.

The difference of course is that these days, unlike the days before the Uruguay breakthrough, we always expect our boys to win.

And now, unlike in 1969, the entire nation gets behind the Socceroos and shares in the agony. For the decisive game against the gallant Iraqis, over two million watched the TV coverage (1.52 million on SBS and 549,000 on Fox Sports).

It is once again a reminder of the unifying force the Socceroos are in this diverse nation.

That process began in 1969 when the likes of Warren, Watkiss, Abonyi, Schaefer, Vojtek etc drew a capacity crowd to the old Sydney Sports Ground, all wearing green and gold. Then the crowd was dominantly first generation immigrant, hailing from all manner of countries and cultures.

Now everybody in this country supports and millions watch. Hidden under the sea of yellow shirts at Homebush, in that vastness of humanity, were all the colours of this rainbow nation.

And that only adds to the pressure and the expectation. Credit to the boys for rising to it.

This win will not bring an end to the torment. There will be more games likes this, for as long as we play this massively competitive global game and aspire to be part of its elite.

David and Davi

Chelsea fans like to chant that "there's only one David Luiz"– but it turns out that they're wrong. The afro-headed Brazilian centre has been found to have an afro-headed doppelganger kicking a football on the other side of the world.

Also a Brazilian centre-back, though perhaps not of quite the same standard, 19-year-old Davi Luis has a very similar name, a vaguely similar face – and an identical mop of brown, curly hair.

"I do not know him, Luiz, I've only seen him on television," said Davi, who plies his trade at Galicia Esporte. "Everywhere I go people say I look like him. Everyone talks to me about it.

"Maybe one day we will play together for Brazil. It would be a great partnership."

Ronaldo, sex god

To find his lookalike last weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo would have had to go to a brothel and track down a pimp. The Real Madrid superstar has been photographed while on holiday in Miami wearing the sort of outfit that could send people blind.

Think tight white singlet plus big bad sunglasses. Naff trilby hat plus tiny pink shorts. It all adds up to one brown vomit.

Cristiano's fellow Latino superhunk, the singer Enrique Iglesias, recently accused the footballer of copying his style. Expect that accusation to now be withdrawn.

A sign of desperation

Ronaldo, of course, may be on the verge of a move back to Man United, which is said to be offering around $132 million. Part of the sum would come from commercial partner Nike, which is keen to sell shirts with the superstar's name.

Advertising dollars are a little harder to come by in League One, sadly, but, even so, it shouldn't come to this.

Walsall FC outraged its couple of fans by putting up a huge sign in its home ground ... advertising Aston Villa.

"I fully understand about the financial benefits," one fan complained, "but it don't half make us look daft advertising another football club."

A bod speling misteak

Man City also looked half-daft over the weekend, as it welcomed the club's new manager Manuel Pellegrini.

You'll notice that that's PellEgrini. Not PelligrIni, as the club's website spelled it in a letter of welcome.

Victory for the fashion police

Pellegreni, of course, comes in as a replacement for Roberto Mancini, the latest in a long line of Man City managers to be sacked. In Sir Alex Ferguson's final press conference as a manager, he described the decision as "quite amazing". "I don't think it was right."

Sir Alex's wife also saw something she didn't think was right: her hubby's famous zip-up cardigan. A near-permanent fixture on game days, the lucky hoodie has been donated to the Man United museum.

"You can stare at it and think about the success he achieved while wearing it," a club spokesman said. "You can perhaps understand why his wife may not have thought it was the perfect fashion item, but it certainly worked at games."

"The gaffer loved that jumper," another staffer revealed, "but it was only last season we realised he wore it at virtually every game.

"He always took it off before his post-match interviews. But he let slip to one of the training ground staff that his missus couldn't stand the thing and had been nagging him for ages to get shot of it."

Spoken word

"Everyone who comes back with more than 2kg over what their weight should be, we're going to fine them ... You can accept 2kg because, after a few days back sweating in five-a-sides, that will soon go. But 5 or 6kg? That is not acceptable. We have to be serious about what we want to do." – Sunderland manger Paolo Di Canio is planning to fine each and every player who starts pre-season with a bit of a paunch.

The latest events would have placed Australia’s reconnaissance systems under stress, looking for information about the youngsters expected to step up, part of the U-20 Iraq team that qualified for this month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

Irrespective, every coach has certain tendencies and Australia will be analysing Vladimir Petrovic’s first three matches in charge of Iraq, to look at the way he sets his teams up in each moment of the game.

I have looked at Iraq’s most recent match against Japan, a 1-0 loss that finished any chances of qualification, and there are some key aspects to be aware of.

Iraq played a 4-3-3 against Japan and was extremely unfortunate to lose.

According to spies at Iraqi training in Sydney, Petrovic may play his wingers deeper in a 4-1-4-1, meaning the central midfield axis will remain untouched.

Iraq has conceded as many goals as Australia, which remains the only side to score more than once against it.

Iraq is dangerous with the ball, but very weak aerially in defence. It may be that this will decide the outcome of the game.

The keys are (or are likely to be):

1. Ability of attacking midfielders to support the central striker very quickly and to get beyond the opposing double pivots (which Australia also plays with);

Petrovic plays with a midfield triangle with the point backward, meaning a deep lying 6 and two attacking midfielders (nominally an 8 and 10).

Australia plays with the same midfield shape in inverse, with two deep, as did Japan in this match, which has implications for both defence and attack.

Immediately when the ball has been lost, Iraq’s 8 and 10 are usually well positioned to press the opposing pivots, Milligan and Bresciano, and Holman will have to find space on either side of the 6, who screens his central defence well.

It will be interesting to see whether, when Australia has the ball at the back, Bresciano moves up to invert the triangle and give Iraq a problem to solve, since by forcing one of the attacking midfielders back to defend, also impact the positioning in the counter attack.

The key issue is that the Iraqi midfielders break extremely quickly to support the wingers and striker, and get into excellent positions behind the pivots, placing immense pressure on Milligan and Bresciano to retreat lest Iraq create a 4 v 4 or, even at times against Japan, a 5 v 4 in attack.

Iraq in the moment of having recovered the ball – showing the midfield triangle that remains the same with and without the ball, and from where the two attacking midfielders break quickly behind the two opposing screening players.

Moments later, Iraq is well positioned to support the striker, with only one Japanese player having recovered in time.

2. Ability of these two midfielders to make penetrating runs in the attacking third of the field;

In particular, the left-sided and left-footed attacking midfielder, Dhurgham is exceptionally fast and makes dangerous runs past the ball onto the opposing defence, meaning Milligan or Bresciano either have to follow the run, opening space in front of Australia’s defence, or allow him to move onto Neill or Ognenovski.

The communication for this to occur must be perfect to ensure he does not receive the ball in line with, or behind, Australia’s defence.

Situation 1: Here, the left sided midfielder has raced into a position to finish the cross.

Situation 2: In this instance, as the ball is played out to the left winger behind opposing defence, Dhurgham will move up and make a run past the ball, opening space for his fullback to come inside and from which Iraq very nearly scored.

After the opposing midfielder tracked Dhurgham’s run, the full-back moved inside to receive the ball on the edge of the penalty area.

3. Tendency of extremely quick wingers (or wide midfielders) to act off ball to central striker to race in behind defence;

The main thrust of the attack is most often through a ball to the central striker, which is supported by both the attacking midfielders and wingers.

Whilst the midfielders break quickly to receive the ball behind or level with the 9, the wingers act off every straight ball, particularly those in the air, including from the keeper.

Here, the left winger reacts to a ball played to the head of the striker, and uses his speed to get behind the defence.

Japan is now exposed behind and, in fact, fouled the attacker for what should have been a penalty.

4. Highly organised pressing whereby one of the attacking midfielders moves forward onto the opposing central defender with the ball;

Against Japan, the striker, Mahmoud (who is absent from tonight’s game and whose replacement is absolutely key to the outcome) ensured on most occasions that the right-sided central defender could not receive the ball in the build-up phase, allowing the left sided defender to receive.

In tonight’s context, this would mean that Ognenovski would receive the ball when playing out from defence more often than Neill.

The right-sided attacking midfielder, then moves up to the defender to stop forward progress and pressure the ball carrier, while cutting the passing line back inside, and Iraq cut off all passing options proximally, recover the ball, and race forward quickly.

The number 8 presses the left central defender with the left sided, attacking midfielder coming across to compensate and ultimately win the ball.

Iraq recovers the ball and counter attacks quickly.

This has definite implications for Australia, which needs to ensure there is a plan when the Og receives the ball, to either keep the pass line backwards open, or try to drop the ball into Holman to go out the other side.

5. Weakness aerially in central defence, particularly between the opposite central defender and fullback.

One area where Iraq has struggled badly throughout the last part of the campaign has been in the air, from both set pieces and lateral crosses.

Here, the tendency of the opposite full-back is to allow attacking runs between he and the inside, central defender, from which Japan should have scored in an identical situation to Archie Thompson’s winning goal.

An almost identical situation to Australia’s second goal, with an in-swinging cross between defenders 4 and 5, from which Japan should easily have scored.

Tommy Oar sent an out-swinging cross, however the positioning of Archie Thompson is identical, as is the inability of Iraq to defend this ball.

Iraq also conceded goals aerially against Japan.

And twice against Oman. Here and here.

In summary, Iraq is extremely dangerous and unpredictable, given significant turnover in playing staff and with qualification already lost.

Australia will need to play at its absolute maximum to win the game and we want all 80,000 plus fans pushing the team over the line, because it could be very tough and go right down to the last kick of the game.

Set pieces will be important to expose Iraq aerially; Oar and Kruse will need to provide similar crosses to the away leg from wide; Milligan and Bresciano (assuming no change here) will need to be aware of opposing midfielders joining attack quickly and making runs onto the defensive line; McKay and Wilkshire must not allow the opposing wingers to race in behind, particularly from straight balls to the striker; and Australia will need to be aware of Iraq’s pressing when playing out.

Australia has beaten Iraq before, and can do so again but whatever happens, it is vital that the whole country stands behind the boys throughout and that we see an atmosphere like 2005 again at Stadium Australia.

This is the biggest moment since the Uruguay game, and when well prepared, Australia is more than capable of neutralising Iraq’s threats and causing more than enough of our own, particularly with Holman, Kruse and Bresciano’s creative ability, Oar’s crosses and Milligan’s positional awareness.

Come on boys, now is your moment to get the job.

Milan daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, which is as much a part of Calcio's fabric as Serie A and the Azzurri, has started a nationwide promotion surrounding the “unforgettable matches” of Italy's national team.

DVDs of the Azzurri's 12 finest victories in the FIFA World Cup are available with a copy of the famous paper in pink.

Guess what takes up 11th place in La Gazzetta's collector's list?

Yes, it's the 2006 clash in Kaiserslautern which saw the Italians beat Australia 1-0 with a controversial penalty goal from Francesco Totti in the dying moments.

In the eyes of La Gazzetta, that match at the Fritz Walter stadium is up there with Italy's most famous triumphs like those against Argentina in 1978, Brazil and West Germany in 1982, France in 2006 and of course the 1970 semi-final epic versus West Germany.

That's how highly the Italians rate their team's narrow win over the Socceroos.

In Australia we often forget how well our national team is regarded even by the giants of the world game and we do not afford the Socceroos the recognition they deserve.

Aussie followers of the game can be its worst enemies and tend to criticise the Socceroos for not putting on a show every time they turn up and are quick to dismiss them as a bunch of battlers.

However the fans do not realise that most teams recognise the considerable advances made by our game in the last decade and would not relish the prospect of a 90-minute confrontation with the boys in green and gold.

Facing Australia is no walk in the park any more, assuming it ever was.

For Aussie fans it is always the case of the grass looking greener on the other side of the fence but they sometimes forget that their own lawn holds up quite nicely most times too.

This attitude may be a direct consequence of Australia's paltry contribution to the world game where for decades it oscillated from being a strong to a weak third rate football country.

Thirty years ago beating Australia would not have been seen as a big deal by any major power but things are significantly different today because the Socceroos will let any team know it is in a game so nobody will take Australia lightly now.

Australian football today enjoys the respect it has worked so hard to achieve over many years.

As the Socceroos seek to apply the finishing touches to their campaign to reach a third straight World Cup when they face already eliminated Iraq in Sydney on Tuesday night, fans should keep things in perspective.

Our oft-berated team will not win every game and will most probably not win the damned thing in Brazil next year.

Fans should recognise that Australia today is a rather strong and positive team unlike those sides that usually went into matches with a damage-limitation approach.

It is one that recognises its strengths and weaknesses and knows that on its day it will give anyone a shake.

We should all remember this when before pointing fingers at the coach or the players.

It's something Australia's football family should be proud of.

Just ask the Italians.

We want Ron!

Will he change clubs? If yes, where, when and why? Questions keep being asked about Cristiano Ronaldo's future at Real Madrid and answers are nowhere to be found.

If Ron wants to feel wanted, however, there's a good chance he'll return to Manchester United. A group of Red Devil supporters launched a "Bring Back Ronaldo" campaign this week. They're asking United's many million fans to help raise a salary for the Portuguese superstar – and they've already gathered over $82,000.

Touching, yes. Welcome, no.

Man United has since issued the following statement – typed, we feel sure, with a frown:

"Manchester United would like to remind fans that decisions over additions to the squad will be made by the manager and the manager alone. We would not want any of our supporters to be under a false impression that anything other than this would ever be the case."

Ouch.

A righteous man wronged

If United supporters want to win Lionel Messi's heart, on the other hand, they should probably all chip in to get him a lawyer.

Spanish financial crimes prosecutors filed papers with a court in Catalonia this week, accusing the Barcelona superstar of fraudulent tax returns.

"We are all calm," insisted Barcelona president Sandro Rosell. "We do not have the slightest doubt of Messi's complete innocence in this matter."

A bad man punished

There are some slight doubts, however, when it comes to the complete innocence of another Argentine footballer. This is mainly because his crime is on tape.

Lower-leagues footballer Jose Jimenez was sacked by his club this week after assaulting a stray dog during a match.

When the dog wandered onto the pitch during a game against San Juan, the Bella Vista player grabbed it by the neck and attempted to throw it over the three-metre-high chain-mail fence. It hit the fence with an almighty whack.

Jiminez's actions earned him boos, a three-game suspension, and a tossing of his own.

Bella Vista cut ties with the player mid-week, releasing this statement: "The Executive Committee of CS Bella Vista [have decided that], by violently throwing a dog that had entered the field of play while the game was in progress, our club cannot protect the human and sporting image of Jose Antonio Jimenez, which has been damaged by his incomprehensible attitude."

A "computer error"

That wasn't the only incomprehensible thing to happen in football this week. Italy couldn't even beat Haiti.

And even more puzzling than the football powerhouse's 2-2 draw with the tiny Carribbean nation was the fact that, apparently, neither country was playing.

For a few embarrassing moments, the Italian TV station broadcasting the game listed it as a clash between "Pepepepe" and "Quaquauquaqua".

RAI staffers had presumably put the wording in as filler text, then forgot to change it – though the network stoutly maintained it was "a computer error" as it apologised for the blunder.

Mum's the wordy

For their part, the English tabloids are stoutly maintaining Chelsea is in the race to sign Napoli striker Edinson Cavani. But this just isn't so, according to his mum.

“Edi is in talks with Manchester City and Real Madrid," she ever-so-discreetly told a radio station.

“Napoli’s president Aurelio De Laurentiis has spoken about the possibility of discussions with Chelsea but there is nothing definite with them at the moment. We will know more in 15 to 20 days.

"There are so many voices, and when something happens I will be the first to know."

And then everyone else will, presumably.

Spoken word

"He is the sporting director and I would like a person such as him, with his status and knowledge, to be coach someday." – Real Madrid president Florentino Perez seems to have a job in mind for Zinedine Zidane.

Now Uruguay is back once more, this time for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Watch the Confederations Cup LIVE on SBS TV and streamed LIVE on The World Game

It has not been drawn in Brazil’s group – which opens up the prospect of a semi-final against Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men – or even more dramatic, a final on 30 June in the newly rebuilt Maracana.

Even more nerve racking for the Brazilians is the idea that Uruguay will be back when it really matters, spoiling the host’s party at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Before last week it was looking unlikely. But Uruguay is never more dangerous than when it has its back to the wall.

Uruguay's qualification campaign got off to a good start. A year ago it was second on the table with a game in hand. Then the wheels fell off. In the subsequent six rounds it accumulated two home draws and four heavy away defeats. An experienced side suddenly appeared to have grown old together.

By Tuesday’s game it had dropped to seventh place. The match was away to Venezuela – its direct rival for a World Cup place – or rather, direct rival to that play-off slot that almost seems to be Uruguay’s by right. Uruguay has claimed it – usually by the narrowest of margins – in each of the last three campaigns. Defeat this time would leave it six points off the play-off slot with four rounds to go. Added to which Luis Suarez, its star player, was suspended.

Coach Oscar Washington Tabarez has stayed loyal to his group of players – the squad that reached the 2010 World Cup semi finals and won the Copa America a year later. Tabarez he has tinkered with his tactical formation with increasing desperation, like a fly trapped in a bottle frantically trying to find its way out.

One recent idea was to attempt to play more football through the midfield. It looked promising in international ‘warm-up’ matches, but flopped when the competitive matches resumed in March. It was a disaster in the first half of a recent match at home to France. There was no score at the interval, but the French could easily have been four goals up. The ageing legs in the Uruguayan defensive unit, especially those of captain Diego Lugano, were hopelessly exposed.

After the break Suarez was introduced along with playmaker Gaston Ramirez. The passing range of the latter brought the speed, skill and thrust of the former into play and Uruguay was a goal ahead within three minutes. Tabarez’s could sit deep, with midfield and defence close together, and spring its strikers on the break. It might not be pretty, but it can be effective. It is worth remembering that in its 2010 World Cup run, in every game the opponent had more possession – but Uruguay had more shots.

This, then, was the tactical template that Tabarez took to Venezuela and he was rewarded with a 1-0 win. Suarez may have been absent but Edinson Cavani is a top class centre forward. Cutting in from the right he guided a left foot shot into the far corner to win the game. With typical resilience and rebellious spirit, Uruguay pulled itself out of the fire, moving above Venezuela on goal difference and into that magic fifth place.

Peru is also in the fight and the highlight of September’s two rounds will surely be the battle to finish fifth. A mini championship is coming up. Peru travels to face Venezuela but first it hosts Uruguay in a clash that could well prove decisive for both sides.

With its dangerous strikers firing together and an interesting generation coming through, Peru is a tough opponent in Lima. Uruguay will surely seek to come up with another performance of dogged resistance coupled with razor sharp thrusts – an approach it can practice on Monday (AEST) against World Champion Spain. Uruguay’s Confederations Cup opener in Recife looks like the classic match-up of the puncher against the counter-puncher.

I’m on my way up to that game, and every bit as keen to see Uruguay take on Nigeria in Salvador four days later, provided Nigeria makes it to the tournament. There is something hugely appropriate about this match. The venue is Brazil’s most African city. One of the teams is the African champion. The other is the first to pick Afro-descendants. Black Uruguayans from poor backgrounds were a key part of the sky blues’ success as far back as the first Copa America in 1916. The Confederations Cup is all about tests and reconnaissance, on and off the pitch whipping things into a state of readiness for the World Cup. Nigeria against Uruguay, though, should be a great event in itself.

A quick post script on Brazil. One of the key things to look out for in the Confederations Cup is the behaviour of the home fans towards their team. At an event a few days ago Pele had to issue a special appeal for Brazilians not to jeer Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side. In the vast majority of countries, this would be an extraordinary request. In Brazil, though, it is natural and necessary. Like spoilt children, the fans can turn on their team with remarkable speed and astonishing viciousness. Can Brazil play well enough to win over its own public, and thus ensure that home advantage does not become a disadvantage? On the field, there is no more important theme to be found in the Confederations Cup.

Pergimus ad Brasilia?

Well, traditional rival and arch-enemy Jordan has been dealt with. Now for traditional rival and arch-enemy Iraq.

But let’s not storm the last remaining book store in town for Portuguese phrase guides just yet. Iraq may not have anything to play for but it will be sterner opposition than Jordan.

For one, there are no page 3 models named Iraq. The Circus has checked. And checked again. There just isn’t one, OK?

Secondly, Iraq will probably not let Lucas Neill score.

Thirdly, Holger Osieck’s mind will be off the job; he’ll be too busy watching his Ps and Qs as all Latin speakers in Australia examine his every utterance for offending content. Here’s your moment, Cardinal George Pell!

But let’s not be too hard on Australia’s foreign coach using a dead language to tell all women to shut up. After all, no one who speaks German can be all bad, right?

Of course, Holger would be advised to choose his words -- in whatever language -- slightly more carefully because, as this rather tortuous World Cup qualification has underlined, Matildas ad superiorem habere ordinem ad Socceroos.

Is The Circus right or is The Circus right?

World War ‘Z’

It would surprise no one should Zlatan Ibrahimovic, once his footballing days set like the big ‘ole sun, turns to a career of cartoonish super-villainy.

He just seems the type.

Because sprinkled amongst the dastardly plans for world domination, there’d be moments of rascally cheekiness like this:

And all great villains have a dash of rakish charm, don’t they?

Not so Javier Mascherano, whose attempts at villainy just made him look less a charming rogue and more a petulant drip:

To top it off, there was the “wot, me gov?” look after the red card. Maybe if you hadn’t collapsed in a heap in the first place you would have been spared the ignominy hey Javier?

Incident at heartbreak hotel

Celtic’s Anthony Stokes is being investigated for assaulting Elvis impersonator Anthony Bradley at a night club in an incident that has left the performer all shook up.

Allegedly the attack was unprovoked, a king hit if you will, and although the story seems on the edge of reality police are treating it with anything but suspicious minds.

Stokes, a renowned hard man, has never been a teddy bear and on this one night seemingly ignored pleas to don’t be cruel.

On holiday in the Caribbean, Stokes has no plans to surrender although should the investigation warrant a charge, the next Presley number he’ll be humming might well be Jailhouse Rock (possibly followed by Burning Love).

No doubt the Celtic man is now thinking, “now and then there’s a fool such as I”.

Meanwhile the victim is probably wishing for a little good luck charm, possibly the same one this goalie has tucked somewhere about his person:

Spoken word

“Ever since I arrived I have felt bad, they have never judged me for my play but with the attitude that he dives, protests, makes gestures, racism… everything.” – Malcontent undead soon-to-be-former Liverpool player Luis Suarez on his harsh treatment from the English media. He forgot biting.

And how good it feels, to see Australia again taking the game to an opponent, controlling large parts of a match, with great mobility and energy in attack and creating chance after chance.

How important and valuable is it when the national team(s) play this way?

Well, just look at the feeling in the country today after Australia's 4-0 victory over Jordan in a crucial World Cup qualifier, each of us a spring in our step, the afterglow of a thrilling performance fresh in the mind.

Any scrutiny of the campaign will centre on how it took so long to find the winning formula, going right to the brink before Holger Osieck risked more with his line-up rather than in earlier games before it was all or nothing, nevertheless, these players have stamped their authority on the starting positions and produced a performance of such vitality that we haven’t been witness to for so long.

It is an age since we could stand together and cheer, feel the bursting energy and release from a spirited performance, and long may it last.

Osieck certainly has had a superb, two weeks, and heads into the final group match against Iraq with the easiest decisions of his tenure.

He selected the right team, ensured the Jordanian counter attack was entirely stifled, keeping the play almost completely in front of the Australian defence throughout, and the combinations of Robbie Kruse and Brett Holman in the first half, as well as Timmy Cahill, Archie Thompson and Tom Rogic in the second, were a delight to see.

Once Jordan was managed on the break, its threat was effectively neutralised and the contest was over.

For the players, Kruse was exceptional, no suprise there, it is fabulous to have a young Australian player to watch carving up an opposing defence with such speed, making fantastic penetrating runs behind the defence, and he has been establishing himself as Australia’s key, attacking weapon for some time now.

However, my belief is that the pivotal player of the match was Mark Milligan, because as good as Holman and Kruse were going forward, if the Socceroos could not control the direction of play to move up the park under pressure, or slow Jordan's counter attacks in its own half, it would have been a very different game.

Milligan stood tall alongside Mark Bresciano, a pairing that has fundamentally changed the way Australia plays, because they both want the ball, all the time, and look to play short, not long.

This change in the engine room of the team has been the single greatest factor in the recent resurgence of the team.

As John Aloisi pointed out in SBS's coverage, it might have been advisable to take Bresc off earlier, once the second goal was scored, since two games in a week for a player without regular football and who has struggled with injury over the past year, is taxing.

But the other substitutions, like in Japan, were perfectly timed and made a major contribution to winning the game, which is the ideal scenario when tactical or personnel changes are made.

Archie did very well, coming into a game that suited him perfectly, with plenty of open space and Jordan chasing the match, and it was a pleasure to see the ball zip about in the final third between three and four Socceroos players, when so much of Australia's play is culturally about one and two.

The period either side of half time was a concern, where Australia lost control of the match and, against a better side, could have conceded a greater number of chances and this will be the focus, no doubt, of sessions over the next week to ensure the same does not occur against Iraq next Tuesday at Stadium Australia.

A quick mention of the viewer numbers on SBS, over a million Australians, because we cannot forget this a million that would otherwise not see the Socceroos play.

Congratulations and thanks to Minister Stephen Conroy and the Federal Government for returning the national team to the people.

The job is far from over and Osieck will no doubt be maintaining tension within the group because, for the rest of us, the relief is palpable.

Not just that the necessary win was delivered but in the manner itself.

Seeing the Socceroos play with great attacking intent is a most beautiful thing, indeed.

This is relevant in the light of much chatter in recent times over what is on the horizon as the generational change speeds up from the boys of 2006 and some that have already replaced them.

Perhaps the doom and gloom can now stop with the Young Socceroos, coached by Paul Okon and on their way to Turkey for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, kicking off in just over a week’s time.

Australia’s first game is against Colombia on June 23 AEST in Trabzon, in a tough group that also includes El Salvador and host Turkey.

All the Young Socceroos matches at FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013, plus the semi-finals and final, will be LIVE on SBS TV and streamed online on TWG.

As I took the hour and a half drive from Sydney to Wollongong to watch the Young Socceroos take on New Zealand in their last hit-out before departing for Turkey, I was most curious.

It was not about how the boys looked in terms of their prospects in Turkey, and even less about whether they could beat the young Kiwis (which they did 5-0).

My curiosity was focused on how our Generation Next played and what that represented in terms of Australia’s technical development and future.

I liked what I saw. The Australian team was skilled, thoroughly pre-occupied with playing, and playing smartly, rather than with just the need to win on the day. The performance reeked of the right blueprint for Australia’s technical future.

The team played 4-3-3, as prescribed by FFA technical director Han Berger, who is in charge of delivering to the national coach the player foundation for our future.

Berger contends, like many respected educators around the world, that the 4-3-3 is the best system for player development, for it best disposes growing teenagers to the adoption of all-round technique, versatility, and the exploitation of the Australian natural instinct to attack. And I agree.

The Young Socceroos play the ball short and move well off it, looking to make space. Ball possession is a natural pre-requisite.

Goalkeeper Paul Izzo, though hardly overworked against the Kiwis, for example always launched attacks by throwing the ball rather than kicking it long in hope.

The Aussie transition into attack, once regaining the ball, is swift with good attacking thrusts on the flanks.

There is little pre-occupation with playing the wide players just to set up crosses into the penalty box. Their aim is more to penetrate the defensive wall with passes and space-making runs.

Australia’s starting line-up against NZ was: Paul Izzo; Josh Brillante, Connor Chapman, Curtis Good, Scott Galloway; Terry Antonis, Jackson Irvine, Daniel Da Silva; Andrew Hoole, Adam Taggart, Connor Pain.

Newcastle Jets forward Taggart quickly made himself a star by rattling up a hat-trick inside 47 minutes, one of them a brilliant curler into the top corner. But the other players all showed high quality.

Irvine, in his deep midfield role, was commanding as captain. Antonis was an engine before being subbed at half-time after suffering a knock. Now we hear that he is out of the Turkey tournament with a quadriceps tear that will sideline him for up to six weeks. A great shame.

Curtis Good and Connor Chapman held the defensive line expertly, reducing the Kiwis to long range shooting.

Perhaps the player least effective on this day way Perth Glory's Daniel Da Silva, the squad's youngest member at just 16. Given his already high reputation, this, one assumes, is down only to experience.

There is versatility in the squad too, apparently.

When Antonis went off he was replaced at right-back by Melbourne Victory's Jason Geria meaning Josh Brillante, another Jets player, was pushed up into Antonis' attacking midfield position. He did the job superbly.

One thing that did concern me was seeing very little lateral movement and interchanging among the Australian front three.

Taggart played a classic number 9 while the wide men basically stayed close to the touch lines. This was also the way of Okon's predecessor, Jan Versleijen, who got a fair bit of stick for it.

But this was a calm, confident Young Socceroos outfit that looked self-assured. Even when under pressure in their own penalty area, the Australians tried and managed to pass their way out of trouble.

Of course all this was against a very different quality opponent than the Young Roos will face in Turkey and the result against New Zealand is not to be taken as a guide to what may be achieved there.

These boys are still in the learning phase of their careers. What matters is not the results but the performance, how they try to play and what they are being taught.

On those measures I am content with this generation and the group that will represent us in Turkey.

Strange times at Sunderland

Sunderland's Paolo Di Canio is a "strange person", said outgoing defender Titus Bramble. The Italian manager who joined the club in April and promptly called its players "ignorant and arrogant", has been "making some big mistakes."

"He comes out in the media and hammers players and he hasn't said a word to them ... There are a lot of strong characters in that Sunderland dressing room and he is upsetting them. It isn't just those who are leaving.

"He's targeted the easy players, the ones who are leaving anyway, trying to show he's the boss. I was fined for not going to a weights session. Everyone else at the club thought it was ridiculous, but he's trying to be tough."

Tough, perhaps, like the Samurai, perhaps?

"I like the code they lived by," Di Canio declared in a recent interview.

"The loyalty. The honour. There's a story about a Samurai who committed hara-kiri because he arrived late for an appointment. In the past few years I've become closer to that Japanese spiritual mentality."

Looks like Bramble was lucky to get away with a fine.

A few good men

Di Canio, of course, also liked the code Mussolini lived by. Il Duce was "basically a very principled individual," the manager famously insisted in his autobiography. "Yet he turned against his sense of right and wrong. He compromised his ethics."

Craig Bellamy also compromised his ethics from time to time, while somehow managing to steer clear of mass murder.

The former Liverpool star's recently released autobiography has told the tale of the time he tracked down a sleeping team-mate – and used a golf club to wake him up.

"I look back at what I did now and I cringe," wrote the Welshman, who's since become a major supporter of disadvantaged kids in Sierra Leone.

"It was pathetic. It was stupidity of the highest level. It was drunken, bullying behaviour."

Tough love

Paul Ince preferred sober bullying behaviour. The former West Ham United, Liverpool and Manchester United ace seems to have believed in tough love as a parent, if son Tom is to be believed.

"As a kid he used to make me cry," said the 21-year-old, who now plays on the wing for Blackpool.

"If I had a bad game he would be spitting in my face and worse than that!"

Sour grapes

Things were probably a bit kinder and gentler in the Theo Walcott household – provided your name's not Stuart Pearce.

England's U-21 boss singled the Arsenal speedster out over the weekend, after his team was eliminated from the European U-21 Championship.

To see what an underdeveloped national youth team England has, Pearce told the press, "you only have to look at the development of Theo. He went to the World Cup in 2006. Since then, he could have gone to another World Cup, one European Championship, three Under-21 European Championships, two Under 20 World Cups and an Olympic Games. I think he has only played five-and-a-half tournament matches in that period."

You think wrong, Theo's mum Lynn replied.

"I'm sorry but 'Psycho' is talking rubbish! (His nickname says it all)," she wrote on Facebook.

"Theo often in the past had shortened holidays so that he could go to senior and U21 Internationals.

"I'm not aware of him ever turning down a call up! Sour grapes from Pearce."

Salty potatoes

Wayne Rooney hasn't given us any sour grapes in recent times, but it's a different story with salty potatoes. Often compared to Mr Potato head, the rugged-faced Rooney has now made it official.

He's just become the face of Mr Potato crisps, a well-known chip brand in South America and Asia.

Hairy scalps

But be warned, Wayne may not be looking edible for too much longer. The England star has had a second hair transplant operation over the weekend, spending over nine hours at a Harley Street clinic.

"He visited us for pre-planned second-stage treatment of his successful transplant," clinic director Nadeem Uddin Khan confirmed. "This was scheduled when he began in 2011. It's standard."

Rooney's first procedure two years ago reportedly inspired thousands of other men to follow suit.

"We're delighted with the way he's changed attitudes towards hair transplants."

Let's just hope that it doesn't hurt chip sales.

Jordan has lost three of six games and conceded 12 goals, the most of any team in either AFC zone World Cup qualifying group, nine of which have come in away matches, and scored only six, second lowest of five teams in Group B.

Of goals conceded, three have come from crosses, predominantly to an unguarded back post, five from shots outside the penalty area and two from corners.

The two central defenders are reasonable in the air and gave Tim Cahill little space in the away match in Ammam, however the defence tends to be disorganized around them, allowing a high number of chances from crosses to the back post, particularly.

This is a good example in the Jordan v Australia match, where Cahill is well marked at the back post from a free-kick but Mile Jedinak is allowed an uncontested header in front of goal:

Problems in the air: Jedinak had a free header against Jordan, which also conceded from a corner against Oman.

Of Jordan's goals, by far the most successful avenue to goal has been the counter-attack with two from open play, one being against Australia as well as the penalty, which originated from the attacking transition before the Socceroos had time to organise the defence.

This threat is one Australia understands, is used to dealing with and can plan for effectively, so let us focus attention here.

Key to any strategy will be to ensure Jordan does not score first, if at all, since this was a problem the last time the teams met, with Australia proving extremely vulnerable to the counter when chasing the game.

However as these pictures show, the Socceroos were already vulnerable before Jordan scored:

Jordan breaks extremely quickly – a 2 v 3 situation in the first half led by Hamad Hayel.

Ball in behind: Abdel-Fattah breaks behind David Carney on a direct counter attack.

Jordan has three key players, two in attack and one in central attacking midfield, all of whom need to be watched closely and all of whom operate most effectively on the counter.

If the ability of these three players to threaten when Jordan wins possession is limited, Australia will be well positioned to win the match.

Number 10, Ahmad Hayel Ibrahim plays as a central attacker and possesses extreme speed.

He scored the second goal against Japan on the counter attack having raced past two defenders from inside his own half, participates in every counter attack and attention will need to be paid to him when the ball is lost.

Hasan Abdel-Fattah Mahmoud, No. 18, is a creative midfielder with the ability to carry the ball forward quickly, and constantly looks to begin the counter attacks in transition.

He is positioned outside his penalty area when Jordan is defending and look to get the ball to him, or Ibrahim, to break quickly.

Swift counter: Here, at top of screen, is Mahmoud participating in a counter attack in a 3 v 1 situation with Australia chasing the game from behind. The central player miscontrolled the ball, however this situation occurred many times throughout the match and is the primary threat to be overcome.

Mahmoud scored the penalty against Australia and started the counter for the second goal, so Australia needs to be better organised when attacking to guard against this player receiving the ball and being able to turn and attack.

Second Jordan goal: Mahmoud carrying the ball forward from his own half in a 3 v 2 situation, emanating from an Australian attack and cross into the box.

Fortunately for the Socceroos, Mahmoud is injured an unavailable so a major threat is averted. But his replacement will be expected to play the same crucial role.

Number 9, Odai Alsaify is the player who caused most problems to the Socceroos in Jordan when playing as a left winger, and was the key player in both goals conceded.

For the first, he beat Luke Wilkshire, necessitating the coverage of Mile Jedinak, who ended at right back to concede the penalty:

Alsaify has just beaten a coverless Wilkshire, creating a 4 v 3 necessitating Jedinak’s coverage, however the attacker’s speed and trickery ultimately led to the penalty.

And for the second, he received the ball on the counter attack facing Lucas Neill around the penalty area, who he beat to cut the ball back for the goal.

Coverless: Neill left to defend Alsaify alone, who is exceptionally good in 1 v 1 situations.

Alsaify also scored one week ago against an experimental New Zealand A team and had several other, dangerous moments in the penalty area.

This vision once again highlights the combination between Ibrahim and Alsaify, which is the main route to goal for Jordan:

Therefore, the main tactical lesson for Australia, given the loss in Amman and Jordan's other performances, is to ensure cover at all times against a fast counter attack when in possession of the ball, specifically from the three players mentioned.

This means the selection of the central midfield duo is extremely important to close the space properly when Mark Bresciano has gone forward, and provide cover for Wilkshire should he be caught on the wrong side of the very dangerous Alsaify.

Mark Milligan’s history as a central defender certainly works in his favor in this regard.

Additionally, Australia must provide cover for the first defender whenever Alsaify has the ball in the defending half.

In attack, the Socceroos will have opportunities from set pieces, should be encouraged to shoot from just outside the penalty area as goalkeeper Amer Sabbah struggles to hold shots down low, and should ensure on every attack down one side that the opposite winger participates in the attack, as the opposite full-back often fails to recover position.

Tommy Oar and Robbie Kruse are critical in this regard, with their energy and pace allowing them to attack at speed and join attacks on the opposite flank.

Provided the Socceroos guard well against a very quick counter, they will be able to maintain field position and pressure, and a Jordan defence that has conceded the most goals of any in the final group stage, will provide the path to the all important three points.

The Southport sensation is one of the most exciting players to emerge from our system and he has become a firm favourite with the fans ever since he made his international debut in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia in Brisbane in 2010.

(Game breaker... Tommy Oar on the burst for the Socceroos against Japan in Saitama. Getty)

His blistering pace and dribbling skills earned him rave reviews and instant respect.

Oar was suddenly big news and not just because his short surname was easy to fit in any headline.

The wing wizard was even dubbed the new Harry Kewell by an excited Australian media that was yearning for a superstar to rave about during the bleak years of Pim Verbeek's era.

The then Socceroos coach even warned against putting too much pressure on the whiz kid in much the same way as his successor Holger Osieck would urge caution in the treatment of attacking midfielder Tom Rogic.

While Verbeek was perfectly right in being cautious about the then 18-year-old Oar, the Queenslander who plays his club football for FC Utrecht in the Netherlands is now a more mature footballer who has learned to pick his moments to leave his mark on a game.

We will never know for sure if his superb strike that earned Australia a point in its crucial clash with Japan in Saitama last week in his eighth game for his country was a fluke or not.

What is most important, however, is that Oar once again came up with the goods when it mattered most.

It was Oar's in-swinging cross that provided striker Archie Thompson with his late winning goal against Iraq in this 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

Socceroos star Paul Okon, who knew a thing or two about passing, once said that whenever the team was struggling in a match the players would give the ball to Kewell because they knew he would get them out of any sticky situation.

The same could apply to Oar.

You don't muck about with this kind of player: you just pick him.

Oar should start in every game regardless of Australia's formation or opposition because of his ability to be a constant threat and for reviving the dying art of dribbling in a team that is not renowned for its flair.

Oar needs to know that he is a regular and won't be dropped as soon as he makes a mistake.

This would encourage him to chance his arm and we all know what can happen when he is given the freedom to cause his special brand of mayhem.

The Jordanians will be well aware of the danger Tim Cahill will pose in Melbourne on Tuesday but the chances are that they also will be making special arrangements to counter Oar's wing play.

They will see him as the man who can unlock a match with one of those moments that puts special players above the rest.

Oar certainly has that ability and Osieck would be mad not to pick him this week and in every other match.

Oar is very much a pleasant reality of Australian football.

He is still learning his trade and he may never reach Kewell's heights.

However he has become such a dangerous player that he is seen as the face of tomorrow's Socceroos.

Wife gets short shrift on wedding gift

"Wedding gift" isn't the world's most exciting phrase, unless you're the sort of person who loves a good wok. But every now and then, a guest can get something right.

The wedding guests of 59-year-old Cambridge City fan recently did just that. They pitched in and bought his team's old dugout. Groomsman John Aves declared himself delighted with the 16-foot wooden shelter, and plans to install it in his Cambridgeshire garden asap.

"It will have to be cut down a bit though, as we live in a fairly small Victorian house. I'm sure it will make a lovely place to sit and enjoy the evening sun with a nice glass of something."

Wife Caroline, he feels sure, will be delighted. She "loves anything truly quirky".

Wild man Walcott

We can only hope that Theo Walcott's bride-to-be loves quirkiness just as much. The multi-millionaire Arsenal winger recently arrived in Las Vegas for his wild and crazy buck's party. But so far he's spent his final fling playing with pals in a pool and betting US $10 stakes on roulette. Come night-time when his friends went to carve out the town, Theo stayed at the hotel and had a nice rest.

Though staying in hotels can get you into trouble too. Tottenham winger Andros Townsend was recently suspended for gambling on football – and says that hotel rooms were mostly to blame.

“It all started while watching games in my hotel room," the 21-year-old told The Sun. “I was bored and there were TV ads promoting bets you could have on the matches I was watching. So I downloaded the phone app and started having small wagers to make watching games as a neutral fun. It was like giving myself a team to support."

“I was incredibly naïve and didn’t realise I was doing anything wrong. I assumed as long as you weren’t betting on your club, then it was OK."

Butterfingers

Townsend's mishap has cost him a place in England’s European Under-21 Championship squad this summer, a state of affairs which has left him “heartbroken". But it's worth remembering that the dream of representing your country can very easily turn into a nightmare.

Check out this effort by German keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen against the USA. Germany lost by one goal...

Handy work

It's hard to see the funny side of that, if you're German. (For the rest of us, it's pretty straightforward.)

So for any Berliners, Bavarians or Black Foresters out there, see if you can get a giggle out of this instead.

Spoken word

· "I am 21 years old and currently work at ASDA, including Saturday afternoons, so I haven’t been able to have a Season Ticket for the last two seasons. I am young, have no experience in the football field, and little to prove I can manage a football club. However, I believe I can do it."

· "Myself and my support staff are proven in the world of Fantasy Football and since the 2006/07 season have consistently won our respective leagues. However, having been so successful we feel it’s now time to challenge ourselves further."

· "The only thing I do not have is experience, although watching Sky Sports a lot has given me an insight into management."

· "I have an interest in football as I help run my local Beaver Scouts and we play football to a high standard often only losing by, on average, three goals per session."

· "**** has a knowledge which will help develop the structure of the Wolverhampton Wanderers football team from grass roots level upwards. He has also upgraded his Sky subscription to include ESPN to further broaden his footballing knowledge."

- Some of the unsuccessful applications for the job of manager at Wolverhampton Wolves

But such was the indelible impression left by the ‘Special One’ that it wasn’t enough.

The fans never stopped singing for him and it seemed the only person that could fill the void left by Jose Mourinho was Jose Mourinho.

After the exit of the ultimately successful but forever unlikeable (among Chelsea fans) Rafael Benitez, the stage was set for the return of the 'Special One'.

For those expecting the new old blues boss to waltz in and replicate what he first achieved nearly a decade ago, it’s time for a reality check.

The English Premier League landscape has altered greatly since Mourinho stormed onto the scene, in fact much has changed since the season ended only last month.

Instead of battling just three world class coaches, as Mourinho did between 2004 and 2007, he now has to pit his tactical wit against half the league.

David Moyes, Manuel Pellegrini (he'ls be in charge of Manchester City), Arsene Wenger, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rodgers, Steve Clarke and Michael Laudrup implement scientific coaching methods akin to those of Mourinho, and they can all be just as tactically savvy as the Portuguese coach on matchday.

The most drastic change however is that Chelsea is no longer the richest club in the land with Abramovich even warning that there’ll be no spending spree this time around.

While the Blues coach will still able to outspend most others, the Manchester clubs and according to their chief executive, Arsenal, can all match Chelsea for financial muscle.

Even though clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Everton, Fulham and even Newcastle United don’t have the mega-riches of the EPL elite, improved scouting and the new TV deal means they can still acquire top level internationals.

I’d suggest it’ll be quite some time before another side strolls to the Premier League title with the ease Manchester United did so last season.

Mourinho is returning to a very different world to the one that he left.

Like a returning crusader Mourinho’s experiences abroad have also changed him.

By turning Inter Milan into a European champion and overcoming Barcelona with Real Madrid, the Portuguese tactician displayed tremendous flexibility and adaptability but also greater irritability or ability to irritate.

As Jonanthan Wilson points out football is ‘bielsa-fying’ and as the game evolves so too does Mourinho.

His first Chelsea side was built on power but football today requires greater technical proficiency and luckily for Mourinho the Blues had already begun the transition process by bringing in Eden Hazard, Oscar and Juan Mata - although the latter could be on his way out.

Blues targets Stevan Jovetic, Hulk and Eliaquim Mangala will add to this without losing the physical strength and mental toughness Mourinho prizes so dearly.

The return of the ‘Special One’ will bring back fond memories for Chelsea fans, but that era is in the past.

I suspect Mourinho’s Chelsea Mach 2 will be better on the ball and more tactically adaptable.

Whether he repeats his earlier success with the club will ultimately depend on the patience of its owner.

Soccerude awakening

Perhaps the unusual activity of actually running around on a football pitch fired Lucas Neill up because the Socceroos captain was certainly pumped after Australia’s Phil Collins-esque Against All Odds draw with Japan on Tuesday night.

Neill said the enthusiastic hometown support for Japan “sucked the ball into the back of the net” (he never played under Sven Goran Eriksson did he?) and urged Australian fans to do the same in the crucial final two games.

"We need a big crowd, full of yellow and intimidating the other team,” implored the skipper.

The Circus doesn’t think the Aussies will want for support in Melbourne or Sydney in the next two weeks but Jordan and Iraq? Really?

Do the Socceroos really need a swell of nationalism from the stands to carry them to victory over these titans of world football?

If so, Australia’s stuffed anyway. And not just because Mark Bresciano turns slower that the Queen Mary.

Had the Socceroos shown the vim and commitment against Oman that they did against Japan, the call to arms would be unnecessary - Australia would have one foot on the plane to Brazil.

Momentum for victory against Jordan and Iraq will come from the pitch, not the stands where the Socceroos are sure to get all the support they need in any case.

Keep it like the Kaiser

Liverpool decided to spice things up for the 2013-2014 season by forcing its players to wear a god-awful away strip.

Now, blending the design elements of a native American swaddling cloth and a late 1970s video game might seem to be a sure-fire winner, but somehow sportswear company Warrior has managed to make the strip look as if it were put together by a disinterested folk singer with a seething hatred of Liverpool.

At least newly promoted Crystal Palace will be keeping its strip traditional when it plays in the top flight next season.

Certainly, that’s the message The Circus took from this video:

God only knows what Reds legend Dietmar Hamann would think of his beloved former club’s new strip, but it is Hamann’s recounting of a story from his time at Manchester City that has caught The Circus’s attention.

In the last days of the Sven Goran Eriksson era, when the team was on tour in Thailand, Hamann remembers sharing a pre-breakfast drinkie with the boss and wondering -- seeing as how everyone was about to get the sack -- what the hell they were celebrating?

“Life, Kaiser. We are celebrating life’, was Sven’s reply.

And just to prove alcohol in the AM hours really does make you refer to people as defunct German royalty, the Swede continued: “You know Kaiser, I like this place.

"I think I will manage for another five years and come back here and live with two women. Yes. I think I need two beautiful women.”

That’s one for each World Cup quarter-final loss.

Perhaps there’ll be an opening at Crystal Palace.

An ill wind

Ever wondered why goalkeepers scream like King Lear at the elements when it gets a bit breezy?

Now you know:

And just look what the gale force winds did the opposition striker’s hair.

Spoken word

“I had only one problem with him, very simple, very basic, which was when a coach criticises a player from a tactical viewpoint trying to improve what in my view could have been improved. And at that moment he didn't take it very well because maybe he thinks he knows everything and the coach cannot help him to develop more.” – The Special One Jose Mourinho opens up on his relationship with star Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo. Now we know what happens when egos collide.

This campaign, after a slow start away from home, was always likely to go right down to the wire, but the tension has now risen to degrees Australia hasn’t experienced since 2005.

It’s a wonderful feeling, this stomach churning knowledge that every kick can be decisive, every mistake costly, every chance has you off of your seat, every wrong decision a reason to shout and curse.

A wonderful feeling, as long as the Socceroos make it through, that is.

Sitting in the stand in Saitama watching the Japan v Australia match with Les cursing and shouting, swinging wildly from extreme optimism to disbelief again and again.

We looked at each other and thought what a game this is that is so unpredictable, that can rise and fall on a single moment, that exists so much on the edge for 90 pressure-filled minutes.

Tuesday’s match may well have been five minutes, it simply flew past in a rush, and that’s what football emotion does, it makes you lose time. One moment the game’s starting, the next it’s gone, and you hope the gods have been kind in between.

To the match, the Socceroos line-up made the difference and had this team started against Oman, Australia would be two points to the better.

Japan’s football is on a different level to any in Asia now, so the night was largely about closing lines, suffocating supply to Keisuke Honda and tracking the runs of Shinji Kagawa off of him, and looking for Tommy Oar and Robbie Kruse on the counter attack.

At 25 minutes, Australia finally started to pass the ball in midfield, and the game changed. Until then, Holger Oseick's side was struggling to contain a Japanese team that started quickly.

Once Australia started to hold the ball, it was able to work its way up the pitch with shorter passes, rather than belt it long to Tim Cahill, who was trying to hold the ball against two defenders, and also, crucially, to play the game at Australia's speed, not Japans.

This was key, since so many Socceroos players are not fully match fit at this point in time.

I thought Alberto Zaccheroni might urge his team to speed up the ball and movement in the second half, as Australia started to tire, but Japan maintained possession at a tempo that allowed the Socceroos to manage the game.

Congratulations to the Blue Samurai, a fantastic team with highly accomplished technicians, a stylish football that Australia is seeking to emulate a few years hence, albeit with physical strength added to the mix, something that is a very powerful additive, so long as its not the main ingredient.

The fact that the game was a pairing of two identical systems, although played very differently, suited Australia very well because the defensive roles were well defined and, as long as it compensated for an extra midfielder, defended narrowly to stop through passes and stopped overloads out wide, much of Japan’s attack finished with a cross, which suited Australia.

In a match away from home, against a team that is now far better with the ball, this was a match that, as long as Australia had a reasonable amount of luck, could be managed.

Ironically, the next two at home will be much more difficult because, although the opponents are not of the same quality, the approach has to be different. Australia has to take the initiative.

In other words, last night’s performance was similar to that against Oman, where the initiative is conceded, defensive organization paramount, and the choice whether to counter quickly behind, or hold the ball defines the result.

But this is not what’s required at home. Australia must win the last two games, which poses a different set of problems as it has to take the initiative, hold the ball, create opportunities and guard against the counter attack, which it did not do well against Oman.

Since Australia has been in Asia, this has not been its strength, partly because the debilitating and outdated underdog mentality means that great effort is made when all looks lost, rather than being able to master every game, control every opponent, and play effectively with the ball from the start and duration of every match.

These are problems Australia is aiming to fix in coming years but, for now, well done to the team in Saitama, containing many veterans who left blood on the pitch for their country and who must now recover, reorganize and play two matches of the highest quality they are able to.

This campaign is alive but on a knife’s edge, with Oman’s win in Muscat and Iraq at home to an already qualified Japan next week, the next 180 minutes for the Socceroos will be nothing short of immense.

Strap yourself in Australia, this is football.

Son scores while dad sleeps

Every person in England seemed to stay up late on Sunday night to watch the country's finest footballers take on Brazil. All but one of them was still awake at the start of the second half to see Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain score an equaliser.

The only one who didn't was Alex's dad. "I actually didn't see it," says a well-rested Mark Chamberlain, an England player himself. "I was dropping his mother off at the airport at 6am this morning and I fell asleep. I have it on tape and will watch it back... I had loads of texts saying it was a fantastic goal."

When he told by a journo that his dad had managed to sleep through his career highlight, Oxlade-Chamberlain nobly refrained from criticism. "It doesn't surprise me," he replied, diplomatically. "He'll probably be the last person to get in touch."

Time to apologise and move on

Liverpool's Luis Suarez also knows what it is like to lack love in this world. He has announced that he's been wanting to leave the Premier League ever since he bit a Chelsea player in April.

"They treated me bad in England (after the incident), I had a bad time, I suffered a lot, no one defended me," says Suarez, who has also been convicted of biting a player in the Dutch League. "I know I made mistakes and I apologised... I would like to play in another league."

One happy millionaire

Also missing from next year's Premier League will be Herefordshire club, Watford FC. The Championship play-off loss to Crystal Palace saw the team miss out on promotion by a whisker. This came as a blow to fans, of course, but at least it was good news for one former owner. Laurence Bassini, who sold the club last year amid boardroom conflict, described seeing the Hornets miss out on promotion as his "happiest memory of Watford".

Poo mystery still unsolved

The players who took Watford's place in the Premier League will be glad to know they have Bassini's support. Because someone out there clearly hates them.

Brighton boss Paul Barber says his club's internal investigation is yet to reveal who smeared excrement in Crystal Palace's "visitors" dressing room – and it probably never will. "Numerous club employees and contractors need access to the tunnel area of our stadium to do their jobs. There is no evidence that a member of the club's staff was responsible. Equally, we cannot be sure who was. Unfortunately, we are very unlikely to know exactly what happened, but access and security to the tunnel area have been reviewed and some changes will be implemented next season. "It is now time to move on."

High diplomacy at Arsenal

On the other hand, there's no need for an investigation to discover which Arsenal players think that their teammate Jack Wilshire is "a little rat". We have it all on tape.

In a wide-ranging interview for the Arsenal website, Theo Walcott and Vito Mannone also described teammate Lukas Podolski as "a weird one". Check out the full tape here.

Child abuse

All things considered, however, it's probably better to be a "rat" than a "Lampard". Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard may have won 97 England caps over the course of his career, but he can hang his hat on the fact that a little Brazilian boy is now running around with his name. Lampard Martins Guedes was born on 24 April 2012, the day Chelsea knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League, his father told the BBC.

"I wanted to leave that memory forever. I spoke to my wife to see if she was happy to call the baby Lampard, and she was and so it's therefore history! I actually have a backyard that is called Stamford Bridge."

Spoken word

"I know they have invested a lot in the team but this is silly ... I probably could afford it but I have to draw the line somewhere. £109 for an 11-year-old’s kit is ridiculous."

A parent is less than impressed by the news that the kids' versions of next season's Manchester United's kit will cost over £100.

As one of the nation’s top-ranked sumo wrestlers the Bulgarian-born grappler was a noticeable presence as the men from his homeland saw off Japan 2-0 last week in Nagoya.

Yet every time the stadium camera panned his way he was unsure whether to smile or grimace. It was much the same reaction throughout Japan.

A howler from goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima handed the Bulgarians their first and by the time Makoto Hasebe also guided the ball into his own net the damage had been done.

It was though an instructive lesson from the visiting Europeans on how to stymie Asia’s top-ranked football nation.

Bulgaria was compact, played at a high-tempo and relentlessly pressed onto the fulcrum of the Japanese side – the defensive midfield duo of Hasebe and Yasuhito Endo.

The result was often startling. Japan’s usually fluid movement was absent while the makeshift wingbacks in an untried 3-4-3 - Yuichi Komano and Atsuto Uchida - struggled to adjust to Alberto Zaccheroni’s expectations.

The Italian, sporting a slightly naff suit and baseball cap look in the driving rain, was far from amused.

So was a public and press pack not used to such failures – indeed this was the first time since Zaccheroni’s appointment that the side has lost back-to-back matches.

The jittery reaction was understandable with the pressure building as kickoff approaches. The expectation being that Japan will, at the fourth attempt, finally qualify in front of a home audience.

So feverish is that belief that the National Stadium is almost sold out, at $20 a ticket no less, for a live viewing. Tickets for the match venue were exhausted after three rounds of a mooted four-round lottery-style allocation.

Then there are the ‘unwanted’ tickets that are being re-sold through Tokyo at a 500 per cent markup, the most-expensive being a category-one seat that was going for more than $1000.

In May the J.League celebrated its 20th anniversary and in those two decades Japan has gone from a nation with a barely-discernable football culture to the undisputed king of the continent, so much so that one local journalist told me: “we simply can’t lose this match.”

“If we lose or even to draw Australia we will not do well at the World Cup, for there are many much stronger nations that will be in Brazil.” Most speculation during the week here has focused on the man who is the undisputed darling of the Japanese side and it’s a player based in Russia, not England. While Shinji Kagawa can be seen across the country promoting a telecommunications company, Honda is the far more visible presence, spruiking everything from mints to his own range of perfume. More importantly he is Zaccheroni’s preferred choice at number ten in the 4-2-3-1 the Italian relies on.

After struggling to shake off ankle and thigh complaints, the attacking midfielder arrived in the country only yesterday and at the pre-match press-conference all attention was focused on Honda.

Will he play? How long can he play? Where will he play? How long did he train? How well did he train?

There is, it’s understood, also tension within the JFA over the decision not to have him released within the mandatory five-day window.

It was like Harry Kewell circa 2006 – and all this while the local media didn’t feel the need to ask a single question about the Socceroos.

The expectations are that Honda will play although another of the late arrivals, Stuttgart’s Shinji Okazaki, may lose his place on the right to Hiroshi Kiyotake. As Bulgaria showed, if Endo and Hasebe can be nullified, then a large part of the job will have been done.

There are frailties for Australia to exploit – the central defensive pairing of Maya Yoshida and Yasuyuki Konno, playing in the Japanese second division, have at times struggled to impress while the continual selection of Ryoichi Maeda seems more about perseverance than faith.

While those in Australia will fret through an anxious day at work before heading home for kickoff, those here in Japan have a totally different set of expectations.

Expectations expressed by the snaking queue of small rectangular patches of tape stuck on the ground fanning out from the entrance.

Inside each is a ticket number, position and name – a queue reservation system that could only work here.

Simply turn up at eight on the day of the match and the spot is yours to keep.

The question is who will still be smiling late on Tuesday evening.

Australia heads into its 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Japan with a number of players lacking regular football, but I feel very optimistic about our chances of taking at least a point from the game - a match which has taken on massive proportions in a nation expecting to qualify at home for the first time.

From what we are seeing here in Japan, the probable Australian lineup in 4-2-3-1:

Defenders:

Mark Schwarzer
Matt McKay/Michael Thwaite
Lucas Neill
Sasa Ognenovski
Luke Wilkshire

Midfielders:

Mark Milligan
Mark Bresciano

Tommy Oar
Brett Holman
Robbie Kruse

Striker:

Tim Cahill

Here are the main issues surrounding the game:

:: After its a loss to Jordan and poor performance against Bulgaria, there is some uncertainty about the form of Japan. I expect its focus will be sharpened after its first run of poor results in since the campaign began. If Australia can get off to a positive start and perhaps even score the first goal Japan's nagging self-doubt may become a factor as the game wears on;

:: Japan's star attacker Keisuke Honda is an injury doubt, which is important given the backdrop of the looming Confederations Cup in Brazil. The question for coach Alberto Zaccheroni is whether he risks Yuto Nagatomo and Honda, jeopardising their Confeds Cup involvement, given qualification for Brazil is practically sealed. A Blue Samurai without Honda is a different prospect to one with the brilliant creator, as he links beautifully with Shinji Kagawa and provides the majority of Japan's creative thrust. Japan’s goal against the Socceroos in Brisbane last year came from a Honda corner kick and subsequent dribble into the box and cross. If Japan does not perform well in the Confeds Cup, Zaccheroni would come under intense scrutiny and pressure, so the tendency may be to try to balance both;

:: The centre of Japan’s defence is a question mark and easily the most deficient part of its sparkling team. Japan's backs and keeper showed their aerial fragility in the matches against Jordan and Bulgaria. There's also a distinct lack of speed from the two central players, who were badly exposed for Jordan’s first goal on the counter. The speed of Robbie Kruse and Tommy Oar iwill be crucial if the Socceroos are to in behind the Japan defence on the counter attack;

:: Yasuhito Endo has the ability to control the game from central midfield but, with respect to a wonderful footballer, he is not the same player these days. Plying his trade in the second-tier J2, Endo was shut down ruthlessly by Bulgaria. Australia will either expect a central midfield pivot to push onto Endo and disrupt the Japanese buildup, or for Cahill to drop onto him alongside Brett Holman, leaving two pivots blocking passing lines to Kagawa or Honda. With intense pressure on the ball and compact lines, Australia can frustrate Japan’s central passing combinations and Holman will be able to break behind Endo with his speed;

:: The main creative thrust of Japan comes in two ways, from central combinations by Kagawa and Honda, or from their fullbacks pushing forward. If Australia is able to successfully block the central area, which Bulgaria did very well and to pressure the receiver in central areas, Japan will move the ball wide and around the central block. As long as the fullbacks are narrow to stop the ball being played through and in behind them, Japan will be sending crosses into an Australian defence more than capable of dealing with balls from wide. If this occurs in the first twenty minutes, it will be a good sign, rather than Japan playing through Australia’s lines down the centre;

:: With Holman, Mark Bresciano, Oar and Kruse, Australia possesses enough quality to be able to work the ball forward on the ground, achieve penetration and supply Timmy Cahill with quality balls, whether in the air or on the ground;

:: Bresciano still possesses strong free-kick skills and Japan is vulnerable from corners and set pieces, having conceded from a headed corner against Jordan, right on the edge of the six yard box; a direct free-kick and lateral cross against Bulgaria, which was not defended well and resulted in an own goal. Corners and free-kicks could provide the key to the game, which is reason enough for Bresciano to play;

:: Our major problem is the lack of match fitness to key players such as Holman, Bresciano and Neill, who has hardly played for six months. It will be critical to ensure Australia is not caught behind our two central defenders and to protect Lucas from being caught for speed, so expect the Socceroos to drop immediately when the ball is lost to defend compactly around halfway, limiting Japan’s use of speed in behind. From here, Oar and Kruse will be critical to break forward quickly;

:: It is vital to score first or keep a clean sheet, as Japan will erupt with a home goal and derive tremendous comfort and confidence after recent shakes. An Australia in front, however, will be a very dangerous prospect for a Japanese team trying to play through while trying to guard against the counter.

There is a record number of Japanese media accredited for this game, around 280, with the entire nation expectant and excited and considerable interest elsewhere - O Globo is taking the game live to Brazil.

Australia doesn’t play the role of 'sacrificial lamb' too well. These boys will be highly motivated to spoil the party, get a point or three to set up the last two games and get to Brazil themselves.

Of the starting team, six have World Cup experience, two are senior players with professional experience in Asia and two are young guns providing speed and incision on the wings.

The debate about the future will wait but for now, this team is capable of getting the job done tonight, and I’m betting it will acquit itself with distinction.