April, 1998 After the 1994 World Cup elimination by Argentina, the local football channel had a debate on the whether the campaign was a success. Well, "no" in the sense that Australia failed, "yes" in that the huge publicity and stirring performances against the Maradona led Argentines brought the game to the masses, and more importantly, to the unconverted. I am one of those people that became hooked and no doubt there's heaps more that now feel the romance and prestige of this great game. But it was not always like that. In Australia the main sports are Australian Rules football in winter and cricket in summer. Naturally I follow those, though, never as fanatically as the world game nowadays. Even so, Australians, being of mainly European decent, have always had a soccer scene. However, it's predominantly been the domain of so-called ethnic groups (non-Anglo) and never really attracted the masses. While club soccer has suffered especially, it's the national team that first started to impact into the mainstream. This is where I come in. The truly great aspect about our national teams is that they actually are truly national - in that they represent the entire country in terms of ethnic diversity. That's in contrast to our cricket and rugby teams, which are almost entirely Anglo-Celtic. Even during my obliviousness to the great game I have always been aware of our World Cup qualifiers and painful exits. Scotland in 1985 and Israel in 1989 spring to mind. Also the Bicentennial Gold Cup in 1988 where Australia beat the then World Champions, Argentina, 4-1, and battled Brazil twice. Then came the defeats of Yugoslavia and Nigeria, and yet another match against Brazil, on the way to a quarter final appearance against subsequent Gold Medallists, the USSR, at the Seoul Olympics. Extra interest sprung during qualifying for the 1992 Olympics where Australia eliminated the Netherlands in Utrect. The return leg was on about midnight our time and I just came across the telecast whilst flicking channels. It was 1-1 and Holland scored early in extra time. With two minutes left, Ned Zelic, who had scored our first goal, retrieved a long ball out wide, evaded a tackle, and then scored on the most acutest of angles. He was a couple of metres in from the by-line and outside the box and with the goalie off the line anticipating the cross, Zelic slipped the ball between the goalie and the near post. Naturally the media went wild the next day and Zelic was an instant pin-up boy and the subject of offers from huge European clubs. The youth team had also come to national prominence with an outstanding fourth place in Portugal in 1991. That came after losing to the hosts and eventual winners, 1-0, in front of 120,000. But it was that 1992 Olympic team that really got the ball rolling for me. Ned Zelic's wonder goal against Holland was merely a teaser for future events. After the team disappointingly lost to Ghana in their opening match, which included a missed penalty, they responded with a 0-0 against Mexico and then a must-get 3-0 win over Denmark to advance to the quarters. There they knocked out Sweden 2-1 - a team that contained many of the 1994 third-placed World Cup team - before losing to Poland in the semis and then to Ghana for bronze. To this day, we still have problems with African teams! Zelic starred in the tournament, and in a much publicised move, transferred to Borussia Dortmund for AU$70,000. In 1993, Australia hosted the tournament and the Young Socceroos went on to finish fourth again, this time losing to Brazil, the eventual winners 2-0, in the semis in Melbourne. This tournament was notable for it was the first time I'd been to an Australian international match - the semi versus Brazil. Although we lost, it was great experience and can still remember vividly Muscat and his fuzzy hair making long throw-ins as Australia desperately sought to win as time ran out.
The excitement and amazement of the fourth placed result at the Olympics - remember this is Australia we are talking about - lead to much anticipation for the World Cup qualifiers in 1993. Little was heard actually until the mainstream media jumped on the bandwagon as the Oceania playoff series against New Zealand drew close. The media exposure stemmed from the big-name European-based players that were to play with the team, to whom were labelled the Dream-Team. There was much talk about Aurelio Vidmar's troublesome ankles and of which overseas players would be playing - possibly forcing out current captain, the locally based, Paul Wade - which is exactly what happened. Despite some rust, Australia prevailed 1-0 (Arnold the scorer) in New Zealand before mesmerisingly killing off the once troublesome Kiwis with two goals in the first 5 minutes at Olympic Park in Melbourne. Veart scored the first, before Slater, who was charging down the wing, crossed the ball for Vidmar to nod in spectacularly for the second. Zelic score the third in the second half. Next up was the Oceania Winner-Concacaf Second Place-Getter playoff against Canada. Most of the media focus approaching the game was of a players' pay dispute, whom were threatening to strike, and that of Mark Bosnich "retiring" from the team over a club versus country problem with his club Aston Villa. Paul Okon did similarly too. On the pitch, nothing really went right in Edmonton. The Canadians won 2-1 after goal-keeper Zabica was red-carded early and Australia even managed to take the lead after a Zelic cross was deflected into by a Canadian (Dusovic, if memory serves correctly) into their own net. It was the second leg that was the real paradox for conversion to the sport, especially after coach Eddie Thompson barked "we won't get beaten by a team like this", "I can't wait to get home", and "I'll stake my house on it" that Australia would win. True to his words, Australia went berserk. Within a minute, Van Blerk was free with a one-on-one with the goalie after a beautiful counter attack. He just missed the target. At least he took out the goalie's water bottle! Australia should have won 10-0. They ended up winning on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate score. Mark Schwarzer was thrust into the battle due to Zabica being suspended, and became a hero in that deciding shootout. Earlier he was the villain when he clumsily let in an equaliser early in the second half after Farina rewarded Australia's first half efforts with a bicycle kick goal late in that half. Australia looked on their way out until Durakovic bobbed-up to head a goal in from the edge of the box with 10 minutes left. Talk about relief. What this game did was really demonstrate beautifully why this game is the beautiful game I finally comprehended the magic and mystique, the vagaries and the nuances, which gives any team a chance to win. Just like with Canada, whom nearly knocked us out even though being completely outclassed. No other sport can claim this.
Then it was the final playoff against a South American loser that just happened to be Argentina and featured the return of Maradona as their saviour. All the talk behand was that Peru or Paraguay would be the team, then when Colombia thrashed Argentina in Argentina 5-0, it brought up this mesmerising, if unfair, clash. The media went crazy and soccer never had so much exposure during the 3 weeks of the playoff series than what it had throughout its entire history. Much of the attention was directed toward Argentina and Maradona, and as a soccer neophyte, I lapped it up. I could not sleep the night before the matches for simply being too stressed out. Amazing. Fear before the Argentine games was that Australia would be flogged. Gradually, spirits became more positive with some pundits thinking we might gain an honourable loss or even a draw. The Argentines tried to say we were favourites! As it turned out, we quite easily could have won. Paul Wade, after gaining a run during extra time against Canada (Thommo hoped he could pinch a goal for us in response to being excluded from the games against New Zealand), was back in the team, mainly through the suspension of Farina. There was talk of replacing him with another striker, Mitchell. Instead, Thommo elected to re-jig the team and start with just one striker - Arnold. Bosnich had "unretired" and was back too. Wade was assigned to mark Maradon. Despite Wade's efforts, Maradona set up their goal with a sublime cross after Australia dallied on the ball in defence. The ball was then placed perfectly into the net with a perfect header from Balbo. That's class. Fear now was that we'd collapse. The Vidmar-to-Vidmar equaliser rejuvenated the team and gave everyone belief that the 1-1 score meant we were still very much in it. Rightly, Thommo (coach Thompson) stated he feared nothing in Buenos Aires. After all, it was just another football match and we were able to handle Argentina in Sydney. Personally, I felt the same way. We were good enough to at least steal it! Zelic had unfortunately been injured, which allowed Wade to hold his place when Farina was brought back into the team. Bosnich was injured during a club match and Zabica took back his spot. Australia played incredibly well to deny Argentina to just a fluky deflected goal. Zabica had several great saves and Durakovic made an amazing last ditch tackle when Batistuta broke through. Much was made of losing in such a way. Truth is that Argentina's goal was immaterial. Australia had to score at least one themselves because a 0-0 would be enough for Argentina to win on the bizarre away-goals rule. Australia had their chances too, with Arnold through early only to be dragged down unceremoniously. It should have been a red. It was only a yellow. Well, we were playing away. Late in the game when Australia was chasing hard, Veart had a shot that went just wide. It was not to be. The most galling chances were two headed attempts that actually found the net. Both were from free-kicks, and both were "scored' by Wade. Unfortunately, the fool had made his run too early and the Argentines caught him offside. One was especially galling because Aurelio Vidmar made a later run and would have been perfectly placed for a free header in front of goal had Wade not run offside. Wade's one of those enthusiastic players. On this occasional, it would have been nice had he controlled it somewhat. Back in Australia, Thomson was hauled along the coals on various sports shows and interrogated as to why he only used one striker in Sydney and why he allowed for the home leg to be played first. He reiterated time and time and again that it's all about how many players arrive in the box, not so much as what's on paper. As for playing at home, it made perfect sense to me, especially because it meant there'd be no need to "come from behind" (the inference is that the home team often wins) and have all the pressure on you to win at home in the second match. It's standard sporting practice to take the advantage first: cricketer's use pitch conditions first, tennis players serve first, and footballers kick with the wind first. Why would you not want to play at home first, grab a lead, and really ram it home by pinching an away goal in the second leg? Besides all that, Thompson noted the extreme nervousness Argentina had in their 5-0 loss to Colombia at home. That was vindicated with their crazy attempts to play offside on those two free kicks. They were in fear. While the cynics felt it was a directive from the national body to preserve the value of the home match in that Australia won't follow-up after a likely thrashing in Argentina, in a footballing and general sporting sense, it made perfect sense. Whatever, I was too much a novice to understand tactics. Considering that Australia drew 1-1 (ignoring that fluky deflected goal) with Argentina (that's ARGENTINA) over two matches, and nearly qualified Australia through the supposed unqualifiable, as most pundits were saying before the playoff, he did extraordinarily well. Australia's performance was further enhanced when Argentina destroyed Nigeria and Greece at the World Cup, and were suddenly made favourites to win, before Maradona's drug test failure derailed their campaign. Despite the loss, the entire qualifying series was truly mesmerising. As Andy Pascalides did in the studio, I shed a tear. I discovered at this point why so many regard it as a religion. It truly is the World Game, and offers the most prestigious and glorious trophies in world sport from great club competitions like the FA Cup and European Cup to international prizes like the various confederation championships and youth tournaments, to Olympic Gold and ultimately the World Cup itself. Looking at other sports, things like the Australian Rules Grand Final and even cricket's so-called World Cup are really quite meaningless. In 1983, Australia won the America's Cup and the whole country went wild. Soccer has already provided Australia with its most devastating moment in sport when it was eliminated by Iran in 1997, but if Australia ever won the World Cup, that would become the nation's greatest day ever. Club wise, I was always aware of the English FA Cup; it has always been big in this country, as well as their League. Occasionally there were snippets of the Euro Cup finals but these carried little significance amongst the media unless violence broke out. Disappointingly, the local league seemed to only get publicity for the same reasons: ethnic violence amongst the immigrant communities that founded and supported the clubs. Therefore, and obviously, Australia's national teams is the only time the sport gets significant media attention, especially around World Cup time. What now? These days the only sport I truly follow is soccer, or should I now say, football. From our local national league and European competitions to International friendlies and tournaments. Sure I still take an interest in Australia's other sports but football is my game and Australia is my team. Whether that is the full team, women's team or one of the youth teams, I follow now them all religiously. I do not follow any one club in our national competition though, because other than Perth and maybe Brisbane, Newcastle and Canberra, no team represents all Australians, and I live in Melbourne. That's basically sums up my introduction and key moments with the national teams and devotion to the world game. Along the way, there's also been heaps of friendlies, which included South Africa's return from banishment. A return bout with Canada, this time in qualifying for Atlanta Olympics, to which we won 7-2 on aggregate. At the tournament proper, we lost to France, before beating Saudi Arabia 2-1, courtesy of a wonderful Viduka backheeled goal. Unfortunately, after needing to win, we lost to Spain in the final group match. We led 2-0 after only 10 minutes and missed simple chances to lead 4-0 by half time as the Spanish attacked ferociously and left themselves open. Raul scored with a wonderful free kick just before the half ended, and we finally succumbed late in the game. Even then, we had a corner headed onto the cross-bar in injury time, which would have saved us. There's also been World Youth Cups in 1995, where we lost to Portugal on golden goal in the quarters, and in 1997, which saw that memorable 4-3 win over Argentina with Costa Salapasidis scoring all four. Japan then eliminated our tired team in the eighth finals. Finally, there was the high-profile appointment of Terry Venables as coach, which ultimately led to the heartbreak and disappointment of our most recent World Cup campaign. Of course, out of tragedy, often something good is produced. On this occasion, it's the Socceroo Realm. Primarily it's a vehicle to express thoughts, views and emotions on our wonderful national football team. It's almost like a diary and an outlet for my emotions, especially regarding the Iran game. It's also a vehicle to discuss and analyse key elements of Australian soccer to the utmost degree and detail from the perspective of a truly impassioned and intoxicated Socceroo fan that's on the most amazing sporting ride of his life. It truly has been an amazing ride too. No doubt many thousands more have been converted for similar reasons just like me. It is this latent soccer support that the administrators of football in this country recognise, and hope, that one day will become fervent followers of the national league. While I actually do try to follow the league, I do not go to any games, and probably won't in the near future either. Australia's national teams are the only outlet for my support, while still confident that local soccer will also get their act into gear one day... yep, one day. It must do, really. Attracting that huge latent support at club level is the most vital ingredient to really accelerate the growth of the sport, which in turn would under-pin the Socceroos quest for a serious challenge for sport's ultimate prize: The World Cup. |
