Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher has let rip at the Socceroos, saying Australians should stick to sports they're better at.
The keen soccer fan saw the Socceroos play at the World Cup in Germany this year and says he wasn't impressed.
Gallagher, renowned for his controversial outbursts, said he did not have a great deal of respect for Australians playing soccer.
"Stick to the Aussie Rules and the tennis and the cricket and the rugby, you are good at that," he told AAP from the United Kingdom.
"Football is the game of the intelligentsia and you are shit at it.
"You will never win anything so give it up."
The 39-year-old is a keen follower of his hometown club Manchester City and was the unofficial mascot of Italian World Cup striker Alessandro Del Piero.
It was the Italians that dumped the Socceroos out of the World Cup under controversial circumstances, thanks to a hotly disputed last-minute penalty.
"What do they call them, the Socceroos?"
"Do me a f---ing favour, you could come up with a better nickname than that."
Gallagher says he has a particular dislike for Socceroos midfielder Tim Cahill, who plays for Liverpool club Everton.
"I don't know, there is something about him. I would love to kick him right in the bollocks."
Cahill scored two goals for the Socceroos in the World Cup match against Japan and was widely considered one of the country's best players of the tournament.
"He has just got one of those faces," said Gallagher, whose brother Liam is also in Oasis.
"Don't you find his face really slapable? I can assure you, lots of people in England do."
Oasis toured Australia last December and next month release a "best of" album, titled Stop the Clocks.
The album features a selection of what Gallagher considers the band's best work, including tracks such as Wonderwall and Morning Glory.
Despite his outburst, Gallagher said he liked visiting Australia and that he was "gagging" to get over for the Ashes cricket series.
"The last time was just brilliant so the sooner the better for me," he said.
AAP
www.smh.com.au/news/people/socceroos-you-are--gallagher/2006/10/19/1160851050654.html#thought this was amusing