Australia 1, Uruguay 2: Probably the better time for goalkeeping howler

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold tonight expressed admiration for unfortunate young goalkeeper Brad Jones, whose blunder in the 77^th minute handed Uruguay a 2-1 win in a friendly match in Sydney.

“If Jonesy was going to commit an error of such clear and blatant stupidity against Uruguay, well he showed outstanding judgement to make it tonight and not in a certain World Cup qualifier in 2005,” said Arnold, sporting a trademark grin.

“Such schoolboy goalkeeping won’t give him a snowflake’s chance in hell of playing in my team again but it sure beats costing us a place at the World Cup and being strung up on the Sydney Harbour Bridge”.

Arnold was quick to encourage Jones’ club Middlesborough to give the young keeper plenty more time between the sticks. The man keeping Jones from the number one goalkeeping slot at the club is Australian team-mate Mark Schwarzer.

“Why would Middlesborough, with their imperative to win matches, not want a young error-prone goalie in the team rather than a seasoned match-winning professional like Schwarzer?” Arnold said.

“Guus Hiddink picked up on this during the World Cup and brought Zeljko Kalac in for the game against Croatia. And we saw how that turned out!”