The Socceroos cruised, but what's wrong with Hiddink?

This is how you fight for goals when your life is on the line. The showdown between Australia and Croatia was fierce which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The match swayed back and forth, first Australia and then Croatia who did everything to get the result they desired. Hiddink is marvelous, he salvaged results in two games by going completely out for goals and throwing all his strikers in there. And it paid off. They managed to book a place in the last 16.

One thing that confused me is that Hiddink risked so much by putting in Kalac in goal who has spent his entire winter sat on the AC Milan bench. I was totally shocked when I saw him there. The man just played 2 games all season for his club team, and yet Hiddink put him ahead of Schwarzer who's been one of the top goalkeepers in the EPL all years and was an absolute hero for Australia in qualifying and their first 2 games. I've got to say that the Aussies were very lucky to survive this match, their keeper had a very terrible game. The second goal he let in was the worst goalkeeping blunder of the World Cup yet and there was another occasion when he almost bumbled an easy cross into his own net. I'm sure we'll see Schwarzer back in net for the game against Italy.

In their matchup vs. Italy, I think the Socceroos will play at a very physical level with the Italians, a bit like the U.S. game but with a lot more skills and a real systematic approach to the game that the American lacks.

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD Online

The article represents the writer's views only