Okay, so Brazil is good...

Mmm... tastes like capitulation. And sweat.

Just about everyone in the media is giving this World Cup to Brazil already. They're the defending champions, they've got that great quartet up front, yadda yadda. And now even their opponents are giving up.

Reuters reported yesterday that Australia was considering resting four of their starters against Brazil--including two-goal Soccerroo stud Tim Cahill--to make sure they didn't get yellow cards that would force them to miss the next match against Croatia. You see, if (when) Australia loses to Brazil, they would need to win or draw the Croatia match to have a chance of advancing to the second round.

Australian player Craig Moore was refreshingly blunt about it: "Of course, I'd love to play but the Croatia game is going to be our cup final."

I'm not sure I've ever seen a team concede defeat quite this easily. Kobe Bryant might have quit on the Lakers, but at least he played. (hey-oh!)

In the end, the Australians bravely decided to man up and play. Not because they thought they could win, but because they were worried Brazil would beat them so badly it would ruin their goal differential.

Said assistant coach Graham Arnold: "You can't look too far down the track because you can bring yourself undone against a side, especially like Brazil. Goal difference can be a major player when we get to the final game against Croatia..."
I can just picture Arnold in the locker room before the match: "All right, boys, this is the big one! Let's keep it within three! Manage that goal differential! And don't overexert yourself, we've got Croatia next week!"

Interestingly, this is the same Australia team who faced accusations of dirty play from the Japanese, and whose manager (the brilliantly-named Guus Hiddink) got into a shoving match with the Japanese coaching staff.

Hiddink expertly refuted the claims of dirty play.

"We have a good team. They like to fight, but every team must fight in my opinion," he said.

Guess it's easier when you're fighting little Japanese men, eh Guus?