I am sick of the randoms who are constantly arguing that football in Australia SUCKS.
Before the miraculous year of 2006, the first and last time we were at the World Cup was 1974. Australian Football were in a drought for 32 years straight...
On November 16 2005, the second leg of the qualifying series, it was Guus Hiddink who made our dreams come true. Mark Bresciano scored in the first half leaving Australia in front of Uruguay 1-0. The aggregate was tied, therefore extra time was played. Neither team scored after two periods of extra time, bringing the game to a penalty shootout.
Australia won the penalty shootout 4-2, making Australia the only team to ever qualify for a World Cup through a penalty shootout. It was our tremedous goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer who made two crucial saves and John Aloisi scoring the winning penalty.
I must say, it was the best night EVER! Watching our boys kick those amazing goals past the keeper just gave me shivers up my spine and goosebumps on my arms and legs. I purchased Australia verses Uruguay qualifying match and the Australia + World Cup 2006 on DVD. It's an experience where you relive the moment again. You get this amazing feeling everytime you watch it. It makes you all hyped up, jumpy and cheering. I'm not sure if it has ever happened to anyone else who felt the same way about their team, but that's how I feel.
During the 2006 World Cup, if you flicked through any newspapers, especially the Daily Telegraph or Sydney Morning Herald... The Socceroos. Were. Everywhere. They were the cover news headlines on every front page.
If you're an Australia football fan, I'm pretty sure you will agree on what I'm going to say next.
Since when have the boys ever made our lives easy?
The penalties against Uruguay in the World Cup qualifers
3 goals in the last 9 minutes against Japan during the 2006 World Cup
An equaliser against Croatia with just only 10 minutes to full-time
An equaliser by Cahill at 90min+1 against Oman during the 2007 Asian Cup
4 goals against Thailand during the 2007 Asian Cup
The Socceroos were constantly leaving us hanging off our couches and screaming for mercy!
I still remember the final game we played during the 2006 World Cup. Australia verses Italy. The boys gave an incredible performance to the very end. I was kicking myself when we lost in the dying minutes. It was a challenging game. I guess it was the worse thing that had happened to me during that year. I was crying over a week and never got over it after a few months. Some blame the bad ref call and others are blaming that "Stupid Italian guy who made a dive and should win an Oscar award for it!"
The Asian Cup 2007 was the most horrendous thing I ever witnessed. It was down to the final game against Thailand where we needed 3+ goals to progress into the quarter finals. Everyone had doubts because of the poor performance by the boys due to the heat and Graham Arnold's unorganised coaching! The boys had to score 3+ goals or else we would be knocked out and be humiliated by the Asian countries.
Australia lost against Japan in the 2007 Asian Cup quarter finals. It was down to the penalty shootout. Japan deserved that win. At least we lost to Japan. I respect them and the way they play. I knew Asia was tough after the Oman match. I remember Graham Arnold telling the media before the cup that it would be easy to win the whole tournament... It would be like flying colours. Yeah right.
A-League was introduced in 2005. It isn't the best football we've seen compared to the English Premier League, but it's a great start to football in Australia. Many kids are taking up football nowadays and are admiring their football icons. I reckon ever since the 2006 World Cup, more kids have consider taking up football. It is decreasing obesity and avoiding them to sit in front of the TV and/or computers.
Football is still growing in Australia. Some of the A-League players are reassigning to the overseas club every year, which is a great development and improvement into their career paths. Australian football can only grow stronger as a team and learn from the mistakes made. More and more players are recognised and are getting offers all over the place. Football is a new beginning in our sporting culture and will extend well in the next generation or so!
Hence, stop blabbing on that we suck and give Australia a chance to be part of the football sensation.
Cindy Tran ©
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