Foster said Cahill stated that past Socceroo teams would not have been able to grind out a win as the Socceroos did in their recent World Cup qualifying match. Foster said Cahill should not comment on past Socceroo performances.

Do you agree with Tim Cahill or is Craig Foster right?

The win for the Kiwis was the first time since 1972 that someone other than Australia has won the Cup. Great Britain were successful in 1972.

The match saw a penalty try awarded to New Zealand just when Australia got back to within two points of New Zealand. With the score at 22-20 to New Zealand Australia’s winger Joel Monaghan was ruled to have taken out New Zealand’s Lance Hohaia. Billy Slater was close enough for some to think that there was doubt if Hohaia would have beaten Slater to the ball.

Slater had played well in the first half and setup tries for Darren Lockyer and David Williams. With just under 20 minutes remaining he had a brain snap when he decided to flick the ball inside when trying to prevent it going over the sideline. He then watched on helplessly as Benji Marshall grabbed the ball and dived over to give his team a 22-16 lead.

Adam Blair put the icing on the New Zealand cake when he scored a try four minutes from the end of the match. He collected the ball after a kick by New Zealand was knocked down before being kicked along the ground two more times before coming clear for Blair to take it from the ground with one hand to stroll over untouched.

Game over and New Zealand had a few minutes left to play before the partying began. As fulltime came Australia’s players were stunned. They had let the match slip away and with it the top ranking in Rugby League.

A truly memorable victory for the Kiwis.

In a team that contained Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Josh Kennedy it looked as though the Socceroos would have to go away from there trip to the middle east with just one point. Thanks to Marco Bresciano the Socceroos now go away with full points and maintain their lead at the top of Group 1.

The goal came after Breschiano took advantage of a mistake from Bahrain captain Mohamed Husain. Bahrain had themselves not taken advantage of chances they had to score and paid the penalty with the late goal snatching the points for Australia.

In the other Group 1 match Japan travelled to Qatar and came away 3-0 winners. Japan are on 7 points in Group 1 and trail top of the group Australia by two points. Australia and Japan face each other when Japan hosts the Socceroos on 11 February 2009.

In Group 2 the United Arab Emirates and Iran had a 1-1 draw while the Korea Republic scored a 2-0 away win against Saudi Arabia. The Koreans are now on top of group 2 with seven points from three matches, followed by Iran on five.

The top two teams from both five team groups will earn a spot in the World Cup finals in South Africa. The two third placed teams will have a playoff for the right to take on New Zealand in an interconfederation play-off for the the last spot available.

The world no. 3 and reigning Australian Open champ blitzed the Russian in the opening set to take it 6-1. Davydenko looked nervous early in the match and Djokovic took advantage to easily claim the first set. He looked headed for an easy victory with two match points at 3-5 on Davydenko’s serve however his opponent found some form and won seven of the next eight points to make Djokovic work for his win.

Djokovic regrouped and took the set 7-5 to wrap up a 6-1, 7-5 victory. After the match he said “It was special because I’ve played in the second part of the season in a couple of finals, and I didn’t manage to win the title for a long time, since Rome,” said Djokovic. “That’s probably the reason why I couldn’t close it out in 5-4. I was a bit nervous. It’s not easy, you know. There is a lot of pressure involved. I’m happy that I managed to hold my nerves in the end.”

This tournament brings to an end the tournament play on the ATP tour. The only tennis to be played this year is the Davis Cup final where Argentina hosts Spain.

New Zealand looked to be in control for most of the match, thanks in part to the errors the English team were making, but the English were in with a chance to at least level the scores right up until the Marshall try.

New Zealand jumped to a 16-0 lead but England came back to go in to the sheds at halftime down just 16-10.

The early tries scored by New Zealand came as a result of good ball movement with the use of some decoy runners to completely fool the English defence. Sam Perret was first to score in the ninth minute. A short time later Lance Hohaia went over. In the 22nd minute Jerome Ropati went over for New Zealand and it was looking like a thrashing was on the cards.

Somehow England came back with two tries before halftime. Captain Jamie Peacock forced his way over to open the English scoring. Englands luck seemed to have changed when just before halftime Danny McGuire scored after chasing down a grubber kickfrom lock Rob Purdham.

In the second half New Zealand kept edging away only to see England hit back. Bronson Harrison scored for New Zealand and then England followed up through Martin Gleeson. The conversion made it 22-16 to New Zealand.

Ropati scored and McGuire matched it for England. It was 28-22 with six minutes left. The Ropati try had come after two fumbles from the English after a New Zealand kick. It really should have been cleaned up before Ropati got his hands on the ball.

Also with Marshall’s try England had their chance. They almost got an intercept but let it slip through their hands and New Zealand were into the final.

If Australia defeats Fiji as expected in Sunday’s semi New Zealand are going to improve on this match to have any chance at defeating the Aussie’s in the final.

Chelsea also equalled a long standing record for the most successive away wins which stands at 10. The record is now jointly shared with Tottenham Hotspur’s team from 48 years ago.

Liverpool stayed level on points with Chelsea following a 2-0 over Bolton Wanderers. Liverpool were in control for most of the match and took the lead in the 29th minute through a Dirk Kuyt header. The Wanderers were denied a goal just before the break after the ref said Liverpool’s keeper was fouled.

Steven Gerrard secured the points with another headed goal on 73 minutes. The cross was supplied by Fernando Torres who was sent on as a substitute.

Arsenal has given up further ground to the top three teams after going down 0-2 to Aston Villa. Manchester United took advantage of Arsenal’s loss by jumping into third spot on the ladder with their 5-0 thumping of Stoke City.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and single goals to Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov and Danny Welbeck set up the scoreline. Welbeck was making his debut for Man United.

In other EPL matches West Ham United drew with Portsmouth 0-0. Newcastle and Wigan also drew  but there were four goals in the match. Sunderland defeated Blackburn Rovers 2-1and Fulham defeated Tottenham 2-1.

Two games are to be played on Sunday. Everton take on Middlesbrough and Hull City face Manchester City.

In the semi Davydenko overcame Murray 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the final. The head-to-head record showed that both players had won 3 times before this meeting. The two meetings this year were split. Perhaps Murray may have been wiser to take it easy in his match against Federer and save himself for the semi.

Davydenko will now meet Novak Djokovic in the final. The pair met earlier in the week in the Gold Group. On that occasion Djokovic took the win 7-6(3), 0-6, 7-5. The players have only met one other time in their careers which is surprising. The previous meeting was in the first round Davis Cup tie in 2008. In that match Djokovic withdrew after feeling dizzy.

The final will see Davydenko have the slight edge as his semi was an easier match and he should feel slightly fresher. I am still picking Djokovic to win but it could go either way.

He now awaits the winner of the Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Murray semi.

The final will be played on Sunday in Shanghai.

As it turned out Murray eliminated the former champion with a 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 win over Federer. It took Murray eight match points before he finally got the job done. He will now face Nikolay Davydenko for a spot in the finals.

If Murray can win the tournament he will pocket 1.34 million. For Federer it ends a mixed season. He lost his no. 1 ranking to Nadal as well as the Wimbledon crown but he did win his fifth straight US Open title and a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the doubles.

Djokovic lost his match to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga however the result did not matter as the Davydenko-del Potro match would decide who advanced to the semis.

In the Red Group Roger Federer will need to defeat Andy Murray to book his spot in the semis. Federer is fighting Gilles Simon who plays Radek Stepanek, for the remaining semi berth. Murray has already qualified.