My journey to Germany 2006 really started many many years ago. As a baby of 1966 I am not old enough to have any significant recall of the 1974 World Cup Socceroos. I have very weak memories of some newspaper articles and that is about it.
Memories of the 1978 World Cup Qualification are little better. I can recall the coach was Jimmy Shoulder and that we failed - not much more. By the time of the 1982 World Cup Finals I was 16 years old and I recall the disapointment of watching Australia go down to an inferior but well drilled New Zealand 0-2 in Sydney on TV. It was the one World Cup that Oceania had direct qualification and we had squandared it. But the disappointment was quickly overshadowed by the success of Italy in overcoming Maradona's Argentina, Zico's Brazil (one of the all time classic games), Boniek's Poland and Rummenigge's Germany to be crowned World Champions. For a second generation Italian/English kid the hero of the day was Paolo Rossi.
FIFA did the dirty on Oceania for the 1986 World Cup (not for the last time) - taking away the direct qualification spot. A strong Socceroos side confidently eliminated New Zealand, Israel and Taiwan only to face a play-off against the then quite mighty Scotland. Frank Arok's Aussies put up a good performances against Scotland then coached by the up and coming Alex Ferguson. We went down 2-0 at Hampden Park Glasgow and drew the return game 0-0. The Aussie heroes of that era were none other than local boys John Kosmina and David Mitchell - if only they could have scored a couple against Scotland!!
The 1990 World Cup Finals were being held in Italy. With a small group of English fans I made plans to travel to the World Cup finals - the timing was not perfect but if Australia qualified I was going. But Australia did the unthinkable for the 1990 World Cup - we lost to New Zealand again - at least this time it was in New Zealand. We had already drawn a crucial game with Israel and the loss to New Zealand elimated Australia. The worst part about it was the 1990 New Zealand side was crap crap crap. Australia could play them off the park. But the Kiwis were aided by playing the game at the Mount Smart Stadium on a disgraceful pitch - a very effective leveller.
By this time the Socceroos were gaining a solid reputation in Australia sporting under-achievers. The pain of following the Socceroos was starting to bite!
Australia's path to the 1994 World Cup looked more promising. The golden generation of Australian players were making a name for themselves overseas. Players like Bosnich, Zelic, Farina, Okon, Slater and the Vidmar brothers were household names. We comfortably dispatched arch rivals New Zealand. Next was Canada - a much tighter affair. We went down 2-1 in Canada and won 2-1 in Australia. So the game went to extra time and then penalties. A very young and raw Mark Schwarzer was deputising in goal after first choice Robert Zabica had been sent of in the 17th minute of the 1st leg. Schwarzer saved two penalties to send Australia through to the next hurdle - the sherry of all hurdles - Diego Maradona's Argentina.
I travelled to Sydney to watch the Socceroos take on Argentina in the 1st leg of the playoff. The odds were heavily against the Socceroos with many predicting a big score in favour of Argentina. But instead the Socceroos put in one of their best performances of all time - quite frankly we played Argentina off the park. Maradona was nowhere to be seen as he was marked out of the game. But the one time he did find space was enough for him to do the damage - a pin point cross from out wide - was headed home by Balbo in the 37th minute. Six minutes later the Socceroos hit back with brothers Tony and Aurelio combining to level the score at 1-1.
The Socceroos took the game to Argentina but just could not score that crucial second. It had been a fantastic performance but left us a near impossible scenario having to come away from the return leg in Argentina with a win. One particular player who stood out on the night was the quicksilver Robbie Slater - it was to be his best ever performance in the green and gold.
In the return game Australia surprised again by being very competitive away from home. Only a cruel deflection from defender Alex Tobin seperated the two teams over 90 minutes. Australia's strong performances sent some shockwaves around international football - the Socceroos had gone close to knocking out one of the giants of World football. But this was little consolation for the reality of another World Cup qualification failure. That also meant I was not going to USA 1994.
Fast forward four more years and Australia romped past its Oceania opponents during the qualification phase. This set up Australia for a home and away leg against the fourth placed Asian side - Iran.
The first leg was played in Iran in front of a hostile crowd of 128,000 men (women were banned). A young Harry Kewell scored the crucial away goal before Iran equalised through Azizi. Australia came away from Iran with what was considered to be an excellent result - a 1-1 draw. Everything was setup for Australia to capitalise on its home ground advantage in the return leg at the MCG.
I travelled to Melbourne for the match at the MCG. Over 85,000 fans turned up to support their Socceroos - something unheard of in Australia. Together we proudly sang the Australian National Anthem - it tugged at the heart strings and sent a shiver down the spine.
Kickoff - the atmosphere was absolutely electric - like nothing I had experienced before - 85,000 Australians screaming for their team. The Socceroos responded in kind by proceeding to completely outplay Iran. The MCG erupted in the 32nd minute when Harry Kewell made it one nil to Australia. The eruption was repeated in the 48th minute when Aurelio Vidmar made it 2-0. I swear that the Great Southern Stand felt like it was swaying under the weight of the thousands of jumping jubilant Australian fans.
The Socceroos had Iran on the ropes and it seemed certain they would add to their goal tally - such was their dominance of the game. 85,000 fans were ecstatic - singing, chanting and waving flags - finally, so we all thought, we had reached the equivalent of the football promise land. Yet the game had not ended. We foolishly began to discuss plans for travelling to France for the 1998 World Cup Finals. Foolish because we were about to witness one of the biggest disasters in Australian sporting history.
Completely against the run of play, Bagheri pulled one goal back for Iran in the 71st minute. I became a little more nervous but was still confident because we were dominating the game. Then disaster struck - in the 75th minute Azizi poached Iran's second goal to level the score at 2-2. Iran were now in the box seat due to the away goals rule.
The Socceroos and the fans threw everything at Iran in the closing 15 minutes of the game. But there was no fairytale ending for the Socceroos - this was to be a sporting disaster of monumental proportions - the Socceroos had written themselves into Australian sporting history for the wrong reasons.
It is impossible to properly convey the atmosphere at the MCG after the game. 85,000 fans were leaving the stadium - there were people everywhere - yet there was silence - it was as if everyone was too stunned to speak. For some it was just too much and tears were streaming down their faces. One of those fans was Johnny Warren - he was openly weeping after the game.
Looking back it was a very cruel outcome for the Socceroos - we had failed to qualify despite not losing a single game. In our eight qualification games we had won six, drawn two, scored 34 goals and conceded only five.
One can not underestimate the impact of this result on Australian football. The sport would now enter its darkest era and would come close to collapse at a national level over the next four years.
Australia once again romped past its Oceania opponents on its 2002 World Cup qualification path. This left a final hurdle of overcoming the 5th placed South American side - Uruguay - over 2 legs. The first leg was to be played in Australia at the MCG.
So I ventured to the MCG again but this time I was a little more pensive for several reasons. Uruguay were tougher opponents than Iran, the Socceroo class of 2002 was, arguably, not as strong as 1998 and finally I had no forgotten the events of four years earlier at the MCG.
As per four years earlier, 85,000 fans sang the Australian National Anthem and then cheered their hearts out for their beloved Socceroos. Uruguay were proving to be tough opponents - they had come to Australia planning not to concede and hoping to snatch an away goal. Australia perfomed solidly but was finding it very difficult to create any real goalscoring opportunities. Then in the 71st minute a push on Agostino and we were awarded a penalty.
Kevin Muscat lined up to take the penalty. As he started his run my heart was pounding. He stroked the ball down the middle and the goalkeeper dived the wrong way - the MCG erupted 1-0 to Australia. For the remaining 20 minutes we sang, cheered and mexican waved. We had beaten Uruguay in the first leg. I left the MCG happy but with a slight nagging feeling that I tried to ignore - deep down most of us knew that 1 goal was not enough.
Australia headed to Uruguay for the return leg. Rather than attempt to defend his slender lead, Australian coach Frank Farina committed a tactical blunder. Farina opted for an attacking line-up with the aim of scoring an early goal and swinging the tie in Australia's favour. What made him think Australia was likely to score an early goal away from home when we had not scored, nor looked likely to score, a goal from the normal run of play in the 90 minutes played at home?
It took only 14 minutes for Uruguay to punish Australia - Silva made it 1-0 to Uruguay and the tie was level - Farina's gamble had failed and the balance had now swung strongly in Uruguay's favour. It took until the 70th minute for Uruguay to put the result beyond doubt through Morales. In the 90th minute Morales grabbed his second to make it Uruguay 3 - Australia 0. The old saying that a picture tells a thousand words is appropriate - the infamous picture of a distraught Tony Vidmar being helped from the ground tells the story - it was yet another World Cup heartbreak for the Socceroos and their fans..
-more to follow-
Admin's World Cup Blog
Moderators: Randoman, BillShankly, arxidi, Forum Admins
Kick Off:
Left Adelaide on Wednesday 31 May 2006
Arrived in Hong Kong. 1st day in HK.
Spent the day walking thru Kowloon. Place is like an ant-farm. Crawling with people and shops every inch of the way.
Day2: Rain, rain and more rain.
Left Adelaide on Wednesday 31 May 2006
Arrived in Hong Kong. 1st day in HK.
Spent the day walking thru Kowloon. Place is like an ant-farm. Crawling with people and shops every inch of the way.
Day2: Rain, rain and more rain.
Last edited by admin on Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:26 pm, edited 3 times in total.
What's your peanut brother got to say for himself. You have to go and visit the bottom's up club whilst in Hong Kong. That was where they filmed some scenes from the James Bond Movie, The man with the golden gun.
I went there a few years ago, you might get a surprise there, actually you'll get more of a surprise if you want to pay for it!
All the best, Tell your brother to remember my program.
I went there a few years ago, you might get a surprise there, actually you'll get more of a surprise if you want to pay for it!
All the best, Tell your brother to remember my program.
"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
Yeh he remembers your program - for the Darts World Cup.yoda wrote:What's your peanut brother got to say for himself. You have to go and visit the bottom's up club whilst in Hong Kong. That was where they filmed some scenes from the James Bond Movie, The man with the golden gun.
I went there a few years ago, you might get a surprise there, actually you'll get more of a surprise if you want to pay for it!
All the best, Tell your brother to remember my program.
So what is the lineup for the weekend he asked?
Admin.
Re: Admin's World Cup Blog
I WAS AT THAT GAME AND GOT VERY DRUNK AFTER THE GAME ON THE TRAIN HOME. IT WAS GREAT WE WERE ALL SINGING " WE'RE ALL GOING TO MEXICO, WE ARE ALL GOING TO MEXICO, NA NA NA NA!admin wrote: FIFA did the dirty on Oceania for the 1986 World Cup (not for the last time) - taking away the direct qualification spot. A strong Socceroos side confidently eliminated New Zealand, Israel and Taiwan only to face a play-off against the then quite mighty Scotland. Frank Arok's Aussies put up a good performances against Scotland then coached by the up and coming Alex Ferguson. We went down 2-0 at Hampden Park Glasgow and drew the return game 0-0. The Aussie heroes of that era were none other than local boys John Kosmina and David Mitchell - if only they could have scored a couple against Scotland!!
"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
Arrived in Taipei Taiwan on 4th of June 2006.
Went to the Brass Monkey Pub to watch Australia v Netherlands. Mix of peoples watching the game - one other Aussie who was wearing an Australian shirt. A few dutch fans.
Spoke to one dutch fan who said he was not confident because there group was very tough and they were not putting away their chances.
Exchanged a few SMS's with Yoda who claimed to be the man who taught Mark Schwarzer everthing he knows.
Admin.
Went to the Brass Monkey Pub to watch Australia v Netherlands. Mix of peoples watching the game - one other Aussie who was wearing an Australian shirt. A few dutch fans.
Spoke to one dutch fan who said he was not confident because there group was very tough and they were not putting away their chances.
Exchanged a few SMS's with Yoda who claimed to be the man who taught Mark Schwarzer everthing he knows.
Admin.
-
geordie-442
- Star Player
- Posts: 2959
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:07 am
It's true!!!!admin wrote:Arrived in Taipei Taiwan on 4th of June 2006.
Went to the Brass Monkey Pub to watch Australia v Netherlands. Mix of peoples watching the game - one other Aussie who was wearing an Australian shirt. A few dutch fans.
Spoke to one dutch fan who said he was not confident because there group was very tough and they were not putting away their chances.
Exchanged a few SMS's with Yoda who claimed to be the man who taught Mark Schwarzer everthing he knows.
Admin.
"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."
My journey to Germany 2006 really started many many years ago. As a baby of 1966 I am not old enough to have any significant recall of the 1974 World Cup Socceroos. I have very weak memories of some newspaper articles and that is about it.
Memories of the 1978 World Cup Qualification are little better. I can recall the coach was Jimmy Shoulder and that we failed - not much more. By the time of the 1982 World Cup Finals I was 16 years old and I recall the disapointment of watching Australia go down to an inferior but well drilled New Zealand 0-2 in Sydney on TV. It was the one World Cup that Oceania had direct qualification and we had squandared it. But the disappointment was quickly overshadowed by the success of Italy in overcoming Maradona's Argentina, Zico's Brazil (one of the all time classic games), Boniek's Poland and Rummenigge's Germany to be crowned World Champions. For a second generation Italian/English kid the hero of the day was Paolo Rossi.
FIFA did the dirty on Oceania for the 1986 World Cup (not for the last time) - taking away the direct qualification spot. A strong Socceroos side confidently eliminated New Zealand, Israel and Taiwan only to face a play-off against the then quite mighty Scotland. Frank Arok's Aussies put up a good performances against Scotland then coached by the up and coming Alex Ferguson. We went down 2-0 at Hampden Park Glasgow and drew the return game 0-0. The Aussie heroes of that era were none other than local boys John Kosmina and David Mitchell - if only they could have scored a couple against Scotland!!
The 1990 World Cup Finals were being held in Italy. With a small group of English fans I made plans to travel to the World Cup finals - the timing was not perfect but if Australia qualified I was going. But Australia did the unthinkable for the 1990 World Cup - we lost to New Zealand again - at least this time it was in New Zealand. We had already drawn a crucial game with Israel and the loss to New Zealand elimated Australia. The worst part about it was the 1990 New Zealand side was crap crap crap. Australia could play them off the park. But the Kiwis were aided by playing the game at the Mount Smart Stadium on a disgraceful pitch - a very effective leveller.
By this time the Socceroos were gaining a solid reputation in Australia sporting under-achievers. The pain of following the Socceroos was starting to bite!
Australia's path to the 1994 World Cup looked more promising. The golden generation of Australian players were making a name for themselves overseas. Players like Bosnich, Zelic, Farina, Okon, Slater and the Vidmar brothers were household names. We comfortably dispatched arch rivals New Zealand. Next was Canada - a much tighter affair. We went down 2-1 in Canada and won 2-1 in Australia. So the game went to extra time and then penalties. A very young and raw Mark Schwarzer was deputising in goal after first choice Robert Zabica had been sent of in the 17th minute of the 1st leg. Schwarzer saved two penalties to send Australia through to the next hurdle - the sherry of all hurdles - Diego Maradona's Argentina.
I travelled to Sydney to watch the Socceroos take on Argentina in the 1st leg of the playoff. The odds were heavily against the Socceroos with many predicting a big score in favour of Argentina. But instead the Socceroos put in one of their best performances of all time - quite frankly we played Argentina off the park. Maradona was nowhere to be seen as he was marked out of the game. But the one time he did find space was enough for him to do the damage - a pin point cross from out wide - was headed home by Balbo in the 37th minute. Six minutes later the Socceroos hit back with brothers Tony and Aurelio combining to level the score at 1-1.
The Socceroos took the game to Argentina but just could not score that crucial second. It had been a fantastic performance but left us a near impossible scenario having to come away from the return leg in Argentina with a win. One particular player who stood out on the night was the quicksilver Robbie Slater - it was to be his best ever performance in the green and gold.
In the return game Australia surprised again by being very competitive away from home. Only a cruel deflection from defender Alex Tobin seperated the two teams over 90 minutes. Australia's strong performances sent some shockwaves around international football - the Socceroos had gone close to knocking out one of the giants of World football. But this was little consolation for the reality of another World Cup qualification failure. That also meant I was not going to USA 1994.
Fast forward four more years and Australia romped past its Oceania opponents during the qualification phase. This set up Australia for a home and away leg against the fourth placed Asian side - Iran.
The first leg was played in Iran in front of a hostile crowd of 128,000 men (women were banned). A young Harry Kewell scored the crucial away goal before Iran equalised through Azizi. Australia came away from Iran with what was considered to be an excellent result - a 1-1 draw. Everything was setup for Australia to capitalise on its home ground advantage in the return leg at the MCG.
I travelled to Melbourne for the match at the MCG. Over 85,000 fans turned up to support their Socceroos - something unheard of in Australia. Together we proudly sang the Australian National Anthem - it tugged at the heart strings and sent a shiver down the spine.
Kickoff - the atmosphere was absolutely electric - like nothing I had experienced before - 85,000 Australians screaming for their team. The Socceroos responded in kind by proceeding to completely outplay Iran. The MCG erupted in the 32nd minute when Harry Kewell made it one nil to Australia. The eruption was repeated in the 48th minute when Aurelio Vidmar made it 2-0. I swear that the Great Southern Stand felt like it was swaying under the weight of the thousands of jumping jubilant Australian fans.
The Socceroos had Iran on the ropes and it seemed certain they would add to their goal tally - such was their dominance of the game. 85,000 fans were ecstatic - singing, chanting and waving flags - finally, so we all thought, we had reached the equivalent of the football promise land. Yet the game had not ended. We foolishly began to discuss plans for travelling to France for the 1998 World Cup Finals. Foolish because we were about to witness one of the biggest disasters in Australian sporting history.
Completely against the run of play, Bagheri pulled one goal back for Iran in the 71st minute. I became a little more nervous but was still confident because we were dominating the game. Then disaster struck - in the 75th minute Azizi poached Iran's second goal to level the score at 2-2. Iran were now in the box seat due to the away goals rule.
The Socceroos and the fans threw everything at Iran in the closing 15 minutes of the game. But there was no fairytale ending for the Socceroos - this was to be a sporting disaster of monumental proportions - the Socceroos had written themselves into Australian sporting history for the wrong reasons.
It is impossible to properly convey the atmosphere at the MCG after the game. 85,000 fans were leaving the stadium - there were people everywhere - yet there was silence - it was as if everyone was too stunned to speak. For some it was just too much and tears were streaming down their faces. One of those fans was Johnny Warren - he was openly weeping after the game.
Looking back it was a very cruel outcome for the Socceroos - we had failed to qualify despite not losing a single game. In our eight qualification games we had won six, drawn two, scored 34 goals and conceded only five.
One can not underestimate the impact of this result on Australian football. The sport would now enter its darkest era and would come close to collapse at a national level over the next four years.
Australia once again romped past its Oceania opponents on its 2002 World Cup qualification path. This left a final hurdle of overcoming the 5th placed South American side - Uruguay - over 2 legs. The first leg was to be played in Australia at the MCG.
So I ventured to the MCG again but this time I was a little more pensive for several reasons. Uruguay were tougher opponents than Iran, the Socceroo class of 2002 was, arguably, not as strong as 1998 and finally I had no forgotten the events of four years earlier at the MCG.
As per four years earlier, 85,000 fans sang the Australian National Anthem and then cheered their hearts out for their beloved Socceroos. Uruguay were proving to be tough opponents - they had come to Australia planning not to concede and hoping to snatch an away goal. Australia perfomed solidly but was finding it very difficult to create any real goalscoring opportunities. Then in the 71st minute a push on Agostino and we were awarded a penalty.
Kevin Muscat lined up to take the penalty. As he started his run my heart was pounding. He stroked the ball down the middle and the goalkeeper dived the wrong way - the MCG erupted 1-0 to Australia. For the remaining 20 minutes we sang, cheered and mexican waved. We had beaten Uruguay in the first leg. I left the MCG happy but with a slight nagging feeling that I tried to ignore - deep down most of us knew that 1 goal was not enough.
Australia headed to Uruguay for the return leg. Rather than attempt to defend his slender lead, Australian coach Frank Farina committed a tactical blunder. Farina opted for an attacking line-up with the aim of scoring an early goal and swinging the tie in Australia's favour. What made him think Australia was likely to score an early goal away from home when we had not scored, nor looked likely to score, a goal from the normal run of play in the 90 minutes played at home?
It took only 14 minutes for Uruguay to punish Australia - Silva made it 1-0 to Uruguay and the tie was level - Farina's gamble had failed and the balance had now swung strongly in Uruguay's favour. It took until the 70th minute for Uruguay to put the result beyond doubt through Morales. In the 90th minute Morales grabbed his second to make it Uruguay 3 - Australia 0. The old saying that a picture tells a thousand words is appropriate - the infamous picture of a distraught Tony Vidmar being helped from the ground tells the story - it was yet another World Cup heartbreak for the Socceroos and their fans..
In the aftermath of the Uruguay loss, my brother and I made a commitment. We agreed that we would travel to Germany 2006 if Australia qualified. So from November 2001 I set up a special bank account and began saving for Germany 2006. My reasoning was simple - Australia had to make the 2006 World Cup because our golden generation of players was coming to an end. There did not appear to be any new Harry Kewell's, Marco Bresciano's or Mark Viduka's coming through the ranks. If we did not qualify for Germany then we could quite possibly face another two or three World Cup's in the wilderness. I could live my adult life without ever seeing Australia qualify for the World Cup finals. But I was confident, I had a feeling in my bones, we qualified for Germany 1974 and history would repeat itself for Germany 2006.
Fast foward four more years. How things have turned around in Australian football. The Crawford Report has created a revolution. Soccer Australia has been replaced by Football Australia, the second richest man in the country is in charge, A-League games are being played in front of five figure crowds, football has taken the mantle of no1 sport in the country and arguably have the best coach in the world leading the Socceroos.
History repeats itself - we romp through the Oceania qualifiers and face Uruguay in a two legged playoff. The first leg is in Uruguay and the Socceroos do a fantastic job holding the score to a miserly 1-0 victory for Uruguay. The return leg is in Sydney.
Once again I travel to Sydney with a familiar crowd. The crowd includes the male members of my immediate family and several "in-law" converts to football. The "in-laws" had travelled to Melbourne four years earlier and had instantly become football converts. Since Melbourne they had almost be begged me to make sure that I include them in the next World Cup qualification pilgrimage.
On November 16 2005 the day of reckoning had arrived - either Australia or Uruguay were going to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany - and their aint no second prize!
We arrived at the impressive Telstra Stadium several hours before the kickoff. The two pubs outside the ground were already overcrowded and pumping out various Australian anthems. There were also a few clusters of fans outside the ground singing away - a popular theme being the pretty lame U-Ru-Gay taunts - I am sure many mistook the taunt as cheering for Uruguay.
We took our seats with the stadium less than a quarter full. Despite the stadium being quite empty the singing had already begun and we joined in. As the ground slowly filled the singing became louder and louder reaching a crescendo when the Australian players come out to inspect the ground. Next Uruguay came out to inspect the pitch - and we let them have it - the gloves were off this time - no being courteous - Uruguay had to know that this was an away game and their nightmare was just beginning.
What was incredible was the unanimous determination of the crowd to put in their all cheering on the Socceroos. While the support for the Socceroos at the MCG at the two previous sudden death qualifiers was fantastic - the support at Telstra Stadium was incredible. Not 5 or 10% louder - no it was more like 200% or 500% louder.
By the time the players came out on the pitch and lined up for the national anthems I had already lost most of my voice. But that did not stop me for partaking in one of the most controversial aspects of the evening - booing the Uruguay national anthem. I and 95% of the people inside the ground booed and boo and booed. So much so that in the stadium you could not hear the Uruguay national anthem - it was completely drowned out. As a spectator you could see the singer lips moving but there was nothing but one loud BOOOOO!. In the aftermath of the game there was much criticism from some sections of the media over the booing of the Uruguay national anthem - unsportsmanlike and un-Australian they said. But these critics are ignorant. Had they been following the Socceroos through 32 years of failure? Had they seen the sport kicked in the guts time and time and time again by the media? Had they witnessed the treatment handed out to the Socceroos in Uruguay four years earlier - when they were jostled, abused, spat on and had coins thrown at them? Did they really know how much this game meant to Australian football? The answer is no.
The impact of the booing had a very noticeable impact - it sent a clear message to Uruguay that this was a hostile venue and it showed on the faces of the Uruguay players. It also sent a message to the Socceroos - we were 110% behind you them we would stop at nothing to gain any advantage. Before the game had kicked off there was already one score on the board - Australian National Anthem 1 v Uruguay National Anthem 0.
Kickoff finally arrived - there is little point outlining the game here because everyone who is reading this would have either attended or watched the game and would have gone through pretty much the same rollercoaster ride. But of course there were the highlights - when Bresciano's goal hit the back of the net Telstra Stadium exploded. It was almost relief as much as sheer joy - the tie was level and we still had three quarters of a home tie remaining and therefore we were in the box seat.
At half time I was on the verge of collapse - I had lost my voice, had gone pale and was starting to get dizzy - for I had been singing for nearly three hours straight. The 15 minute break was enough for all of us to recharge our batteries ready for the critical second half. Full time - then Extra Time and then Penalties.
I was not confident going into the penalty shootout but the pressure on Australia was relieved when we went ahead early.
This attitude of the fans was epitomised later during the national anthems. The critical moment for me was when Tony Vidmar took his penalty. For while Tony Vidmar is a pillar of strength for the Socceroos - taking penalties is not the strongest aspect of his game. When Vidmar ran up and comfortably scored his penalty, with his weaker foot, I felt certain it was going to be our day.
It was left to another South Australian to finish off Uruguay. Once again Telstra Stadium erupted when Aloisi's penalty hit the back of the net. I have watched the game again on DVD and it just does not do it justice. There is a small recording taken with a mobile phone that is available from the internet - it best describes what it was like to be in the stadium - so much so that even Qantas has adapted the poor quality recording for television commercials.
John Aloisi recorded his name in history as having scored the penalty that sent Australia to the World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006.
This was arguable Australia's greatest sporting victory. It captured the hearts and minds of all Australians and dominated every conversation for days. Almost overnight football has gained acceptance in Australia as a mainstream sport.
The significance of the victory should not be under-estimated. While world cup qualification was the major prize on offer, the most important victory was for Australian football - it just may have won its battle for survival.
Memories of the 1978 World Cup Qualification are little better. I can recall the coach was Jimmy Shoulder and that we failed - not much more. By the time of the 1982 World Cup Finals I was 16 years old and I recall the disapointment of watching Australia go down to an inferior but well drilled New Zealand 0-2 in Sydney on TV. It was the one World Cup that Oceania had direct qualification and we had squandared it. But the disappointment was quickly overshadowed by the success of Italy in overcoming Maradona's Argentina, Zico's Brazil (one of the all time classic games), Boniek's Poland and Rummenigge's Germany to be crowned World Champions. For a second generation Italian/English kid the hero of the day was Paolo Rossi.
FIFA did the dirty on Oceania for the 1986 World Cup (not for the last time) - taking away the direct qualification spot. A strong Socceroos side confidently eliminated New Zealand, Israel and Taiwan only to face a play-off against the then quite mighty Scotland. Frank Arok's Aussies put up a good performances against Scotland then coached by the up and coming Alex Ferguson. We went down 2-0 at Hampden Park Glasgow and drew the return game 0-0. The Aussie heroes of that era were none other than local boys John Kosmina and David Mitchell - if only they could have scored a couple against Scotland!!
The 1990 World Cup Finals were being held in Italy. With a small group of English fans I made plans to travel to the World Cup finals - the timing was not perfect but if Australia qualified I was going. But Australia did the unthinkable for the 1990 World Cup - we lost to New Zealand again - at least this time it was in New Zealand. We had already drawn a crucial game with Israel and the loss to New Zealand elimated Australia. The worst part about it was the 1990 New Zealand side was crap crap crap. Australia could play them off the park. But the Kiwis were aided by playing the game at the Mount Smart Stadium on a disgraceful pitch - a very effective leveller.
By this time the Socceroos were gaining a solid reputation in Australia sporting under-achievers. The pain of following the Socceroos was starting to bite!
Australia's path to the 1994 World Cup looked more promising. The golden generation of Australian players were making a name for themselves overseas. Players like Bosnich, Zelic, Farina, Okon, Slater and the Vidmar brothers were household names. We comfortably dispatched arch rivals New Zealand. Next was Canada - a much tighter affair. We went down 2-1 in Canada and won 2-1 in Australia. So the game went to extra time and then penalties. A very young and raw Mark Schwarzer was deputising in goal after first choice Robert Zabica had been sent of in the 17th minute of the 1st leg. Schwarzer saved two penalties to send Australia through to the next hurdle - the sherry of all hurdles - Diego Maradona's Argentina.
I travelled to Sydney to watch the Socceroos take on Argentina in the 1st leg of the playoff. The odds were heavily against the Socceroos with many predicting a big score in favour of Argentina. But instead the Socceroos put in one of their best performances of all time - quite frankly we played Argentina off the park. Maradona was nowhere to be seen as he was marked out of the game. But the one time he did find space was enough for him to do the damage - a pin point cross from out wide - was headed home by Balbo in the 37th minute. Six minutes later the Socceroos hit back with brothers Tony and Aurelio combining to level the score at 1-1.
The Socceroos took the game to Argentina but just could not score that crucial second. It had been a fantastic performance but left us a near impossible scenario having to come away from the return leg in Argentina with a win. One particular player who stood out on the night was the quicksilver Robbie Slater - it was to be his best ever performance in the green and gold.
In the return game Australia surprised again by being very competitive away from home. Only a cruel deflection from defender Alex Tobin seperated the two teams over 90 minutes. Australia's strong performances sent some shockwaves around international football - the Socceroos had gone close to knocking out one of the giants of World football. But this was little consolation for the reality of another World Cup qualification failure. That also meant I was not going to USA 1994.
Fast forward four more years and Australia romped past its Oceania opponents during the qualification phase. This set up Australia for a home and away leg against the fourth placed Asian side - Iran.
The first leg was played in Iran in front of a hostile crowd of 128,000 men (women were banned). A young Harry Kewell scored the crucial away goal before Iran equalised through Azizi. Australia came away from Iran with what was considered to be an excellent result - a 1-1 draw. Everything was setup for Australia to capitalise on its home ground advantage in the return leg at the MCG.
I travelled to Melbourne for the match at the MCG. Over 85,000 fans turned up to support their Socceroos - something unheard of in Australia. Together we proudly sang the Australian National Anthem - it tugged at the heart strings and sent a shiver down the spine.
Kickoff - the atmosphere was absolutely electric - like nothing I had experienced before - 85,000 Australians screaming for their team. The Socceroos responded in kind by proceeding to completely outplay Iran. The MCG erupted in the 32nd minute when Harry Kewell made it one nil to Australia. The eruption was repeated in the 48th minute when Aurelio Vidmar made it 2-0. I swear that the Great Southern Stand felt like it was swaying under the weight of the thousands of jumping jubilant Australian fans.
The Socceroos had Iran on the ropes and it seemed certain they would add to their goal tally - such was their dominance of the game. 85,000 fans were ecstatic - singing, chanting and waving flags - finally, so we all thought, we had reached the equivalent of the football promise land. Yet the game had not ended. We foolishly began to discuss plans for travelling to France for the 1998 World Cup Finals. Foolish because we were about to witness one of the biggest disasters in Australian sporting history.
Completely against the run of play, Bagheri pulled one goal back for Iran in the 71st minute. I became a little more nervous but was still confident because we were dominating the game. Then disaster struck - in the 75th minute Azizi poached Iran's second goal to level the score at 2-2. Iran were now in the box seat due to the away goals rule.
The Socceroos and the fans threw everything at Iran in the closing 15 minutes of the game. But there was no fairytale ending for the Socceroos - this was to be a sporting disaster of monumental proportions - the Socceroos had written themselves into Australian sporting history for the wrong reasons.
It is impossible to properly convey the atmosphere at the MCG after the game. 85,000 fans were leaving the stadium - there were people everywhere - yet there was silence - it was as if everyone was too stunned to speak. For some it was just too much and tears were streaming down their faces. One of those fans was Johnny Warren - he was openly weeping after the game.
Looking back it was a very cruel outcome for the Socceroos - we had failed to qualify despite not losing a single game. In our eight qualification games we had won six, drawn two, scored 34 goals and conceded only five.
One can not underestimate the impact of this result on Australian football. The sport would now enter its darkest era and would come close to collapse at a national level over the next four years.
Australia once again romped past its Oceania opponents on its 2002 World Cup qualification path. This left a final hurdle of overcoming the 5th placed South American side - Uruguay - over 2 legs. The first leg was to be played in Australia at the MCG.
So I ventured to the MCG again but this time I was a little more pensive for several reasons. Uruguay were tougher opponents than Iran, the Socceroo class of 2002 was, arguably, not as strong as 1998 and finally I had no forgotten the events of four years earlier at the MCG.
As per four years earlier, 85,000 fans sang the Australian National Anthem and then cheered their hearts out for their beloved Socceroos. Uruguay were proving to be tough opponents - they had come to Australia planning not to concede and hoping to snatch an away goal. Australia perfomed solidly but was finding it very difficult to create any real goalscoring opportunities. Then in the 71st minute a push on Agostino and we were awarded a penalty.
Kevin Muscat lined up to take the penalty. As he started his run my heart was pounding. He stroked the ball down the middle and the goalkeeper dived the wrong way - the MCG erupted 1-0 to Australia. For the remaining 20 minutes we sang, cheered and mexican waved. We had beaten Uruguay in the first leg. I left the MCG happy but with a slight nagging feeling that I tried to ignore - deep down most of us knew that 1 goal was not enough.
Australia headed to Uruguay for the return leg. Rather than attempt to defend his slender lead, Australian coach Frank Farina committed a tactical blunder. Farina opted for an attacking line-up with the aim of scoring an early goal and swinging the tie in Australia's favour. What made him think Australia was likely to score an early goal away from home when we had not scored, nor looked likely to score, a goal from the normal run of play in the 90 minutes played at home?
It took only 14 minutes for Uruguay to punish Australia - Silva made it 1-0 to Uruguay and the tie was level - Farina's gamble had failed and the balance had now swung strongly in Uruguay's favour. It took until the 70th minute for Uruguay to put the result beyond doubt through Morales. In the 90th minute Morales grabbed his second to make it Uruguay 3 - Australia 0. The old saying that a picture tells a thousand words is appropriate - the infamous picture of a distraught Tony Vidmar being helped from the ground tells the story - it was yet another World Cup heartbreak for the Socceroos and their fans..
In the aftermath of the Uruguay loss, my brother and I made a commitment. We agreed that we would travel to Germany 2006 if Australia qualified. So from November 2001 I set up a special bank account and began saving for Germany 2006. My reasoning was simple - Australia had to make the 2006 World Cup because our golden generation of players was coming to an end. There did not appear to be any new Harry Kewell's, Marco Bresciano's or Mark Viduka's coming through the ranks. If we did not qualify for Germany then we could quite possibly face another two or three World Cup's in the wilderness. I could live my adult life without ever seeing Australia qualify for the World Cup finals. But I was confident, I had a feeling in my bones, we qualified for Germany 1974 and history would repeat itself for Germany 2006.
Fast foward four more years. How things have turned around in Australian football. The Crawford Report has created a revolution. Soccer Australia has been replaced by Football Australia, the second richest man in the country is in charge, A-League games are being played in front of five figure crowds, football has taken the mantle of no1 sport in the country and arguably have the best coach in the world leading the Socceroos.
History repeats itself - we romp through the Oceania qualifiers and face Uruguay in a two legged playoff. The first leg is in Uruguay and the Socceroos do a fantastic job holding the score to a miserly 1-0 victory for Uruguay. The return leg is in Sydney.
Once again I travel to Sydney with a familiar crowd. The crowd includes the male members of my immediate family and several "in-law" converts to football. The "in-laws" had travelled to Melbourne four years earlier and had instantly become football converts. Since Melbourne they had almost be begged me to make sure that I include them in the next World Cup qualification pilgrimage.
On November 16 2005 the day of reckoning had arrived - either Australia or Uruguay were going to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany - and their aint no second prize!
We arrived at the impressive Telstra Stadium several hours before the kickoff. The two pubs outside the ground were already overcrowded and pumping out various Australian anthems. There were also a few clusters of fans outside the ground singing away - a popular theme being the pretty lame U-Ru-Gay taunts - I am sure many mistook the taunt as cheering for Uruguay.
We took our seats with the stadium less than a quarter full. Despite the stadium being quite empty the singing had already begun and we joined in. As the ground slowly filled the singing became louder and louder reaching a crescendo when the Australian players come out to inspect the ground. Next Uruguay came out to inspect the pitch - and we let them have it - the gloves were off this time - no being courteous - Uruguay had to know that this was an away game and their nightmare was just beginning.
What was incredible was the unanimous determination of the crowd to put in their all cheering on the Socceroos. While the support for the Socceroos at the MCG at the two previous sudden death qualifiers was fantastic - the support at Telstra Stadium was incredible. Not 5 or 10% louder - no it was more like 200% or 500% louder.
By the time the players came out on the pitch and lined up for the national anthems I had already lost most of my voice. But that did not stop me for partaking in one of the most controversial aspects of the evening - booing the Uruguay national anthem. I and 95% of the people inside the ground booed and boo and booed. So much so that in the stadium you could not hear the Uruguay national anthem - it was completely drowned out. As a spectator you could see the singer lips moving but there was nothing but one loud BOOOOO!. In the aftermath of the game there was much criticism from some sections of the media over the booing of the Uruguay national anthem - unsportsmanlike and un-Australian they said. But these critics are ignorant. Had they been following the Socceroos through 32 years of failure? Had they seen the sport kicked in the guts time and time and time again by the media? Had they witnessed the treatment handed out to the Socceroos in Uruguay four years earlier - when they were jostled, abused, spat on and had coins thrown at them? Did they really know how much this game meant to Australian football? The answer is no.
The impact of the booing had a very noticeable impact - it sent a clear message to Uruguay that this was a hostile venue and it showed on the faces of the Uruguay players. It also sent a message to the Socceroos - we were 110% behind you them we would stop at nothing to gain any advantage. Before the game had kicked off there was already one score on the board - Australian National Anthem 1 v Uruguay National Anthem 0.
Kickoff finally arrived - there is little point outlining the game here because everyone who is reading this would have either attended or watched the game and would have gone through pretty much the same rollercoaster ride. But of course there were the highlights - when Bresciano's goal hit the back of the net Telstra Stadium exploded. It was almost relief as much as sheer joy - the tie was level and we still had three quarters of a home tie remaining and therefore we were in the box seat.
At half time I was on the verge of collapse - I had lost my voice, had gone pale and was starting to get dizzy - for I had been singing for nearly three hours straight. The 15 minute break was enough for all of us to recharge our batteries ready for the critical second half. Full time - then Extra Time and then Penalties.
I was not confident going into the penalty shootout but the pressure on Australia was relieved when we went ahead early.
This attitude of the fans was epitomised later during the national anthems. The critical moment for me was when Tony Vidmar took his penalty. For while Tony Vidmar is a pillar of strength for the Socceroos - taking penalties is not the strongest aspect of his game. When Vidmar ran up and comfortably scored his penalty, with his weaker foot, I felt certain it was going to be our day.
It was left to another South Australian to finish off Uruguay. Once again Telstra Stadium erupted when Aloisi's penalty hit the back of the net. I have watched the game again on DVD and it just does not do it justice. There is a small recording taken with a mobile phone that is available from the internet - it best describes what it was like to be in the stadium - so much so that even Qantas has adapted the poor quality recording for television commercials.
John Aloisi recorded his name in history as having scored the penalty that sent Australia to the World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006.
This was arguable Australia's greatest sporting victory. It captured the hearts and minds of all Australians and dominated every conversation for days. Almost overnight football has gained acceptance in Australia as a mainstream sport.
The significance of the victory should not be under-estimated. While world cup qualification was the major prize on offer, the most important victory was for Australian football - it just may have won its battle for survival.
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geordie-442
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Brown paper bag crew
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Leg 1 Adelaide to Hong Kong:
Spent several nights in Hong Kong – the city that never sleeps – the New York of Asia. The Hong Kong Island skyline is amazing. Great place to visit but not the destination it used to be – overcrowded, expensive and constantly getting over-charged for everything.
Leg 2 Hong Kong to Taiwan:
Spent several nights in Taipai Taiwan. Much more pleasant than Hong Kong. Went up Tapai 101 – tallest building in the world – impressive view.
Leg 3 Taipai to Frankfurt:
Horror overnight flight to Frankfurt – plane was full/overcrowded and leg room is non-existent. Was more comfortable dozing off standing up in the back of the plane. The leg from Asia to Europe is never very pleasant (unless your in business class) but this was pretty bad due to the overcrowding.
Day 1 Frankfurt to Stuttgart:
Off the plane and onto the train to Stuttgart. From Stuttgart into a taxi to collect our hired campervan. Taxi driver was a nutter who hit 200km/h along the freeway. Collected campervan without a hitch and drove back into Stuttgart in search of our pre-booked campsite. After an hour of driving in circles we finally found the campsite – the place was hidden from the road and had terrible signage. Felt less like an idiot when a couple arrived at the campsite a few hours later – they had left the McRent campervan hire place an hour before us – they spent 5 hours driving around in circles in search of the same campsite. They found it be going on foot rather than driving around.
Day 2 – Stuttgart to Prague
Spent several nights in Prague. I had been to Prague before but it was great to go again. Old part of town is magnificent – a time warp untouched by development. Prague spent some time as the home of the Hapsburg empire.
Day 4 Prague to Kaiserslautern
From Prague went south to another old Czech town called Cesky Kromolov – walked around the old castle/palace/old town for half a day. Then drove through southern Czech into Austria and then through Germany to Kaiserlautern. Arrived late the day before the Australia v Japan game.
Day 5 – Kaiserlautern
We had spent the night in the official FIFA campsite. The locals were magnificent – there were volunteers helping everyone out in the campsite. Campsite was free and it included power and toilets. Full marks to the locals.
(One problem we have been having is lack of world cup information. Campervan does not have a television. My plans for wireless internet access have been blown apart as all three providers in Germany are insisting on a 2 year contract. So far we have not seen a game and know very few of the results. Certainly not what I had expected – come to Germany and have trouble following the World Cup)
By the time we got ourselves sorted out we had to head into the city center for the big game.
The first game – Australia v Japan
We joined the flow of thousands of fans making the trek out to the stadium. Spirits were very high – green and gold everywhere – we outnumbered the Japanese fans by 5 to 1. Walking towards the stadium you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Australia.
As we continued the 25 minute march to the stadium there was much singing. The Japanese fans mingled with the Aussies – we chatted freely with each other – the Japanese are fantastic fans – happy and friendly.
Was noticeable that there were thousands of Germans wearing Australian tops – the neutrals were backing Australia – they were not content to just cheer for Australia – they also donned our gear!!! You would see what you thought was an Aussie fan – wearing the Australian top, with Aussie face paint and waving an Australian flag – then when you spoke to them you found they had a thick german accent!!
Arrived at the ground and the so called checking of tickets against your passport did not happen – if you had a ticket you went in – only bags were being checked. So you could have bought tickets off Ebay without a hitch. Ticket scalpers were around – if you wanted a ticket you could buy one – price ranged from 150 to 200 euro. (After the game I ran into an Australian film director who paid 1000 GBP for his scalped ticket in London– around $A2500 for one seat!!)
From the ticket entry point there was a quite demanding hike up to the stadium – up what seemed like a couple hundred steps – quite a few older people struggled big time – what a weird arrangement for a world class stadium.
Took our seats behind the goals – we were smack in the middle of the Australian section - and the singing began. The Aussie fans were in full voice – and the singing only get louder once the game kicked off. Atmosphere was like Australia v Uruguay all again.
One poor Japanese fellow must have bought a scalpers ticket and did not understand what he was getting. He was sitting right behind me smack in the middle of the Australian area – a blue fan surrounded by green and gold. Tried talking to him because he looked cabernet scared – I think I only scared him though.
Kickoff – stadium erupts and the Aussies drown out the Japanese fans. After a nervous opening few minutes we are on top. This only adds more momentum to the Aussie singing.
Then disaster – soft goal to Japan - from inside the ground it looked like Schwarzer was pushed off the ball. (after the game I did not met a single person who thought it was not a foul). The fans turn their wrath towards the referee – boo---boo---boo rings around the stadium for several minutes and are repeated regularly for the rest of the game.
The Socceroos are well on top of Japan – surely it is only a matter of time before we score. The fans continue all the singing. Second half is more of the same but gradually the Aussie fans are running out of steam while the Japanese fans are getting louder.
Starting to think that the Socceroos World Cup could be over after only one game - we are dominated but the ball just wont go in the back of the net.
Then Cahill snatches a goal. The stadium goes nuts – everyone is jumping – screaming and hugging complete strangers. It was a massive relief.
There is another surge of singing from the Aussie fans - urging their Socceroos forward. Then Cahill scores his second – a brilliant shot from range that goes in off the post. Stadium erupts again. We are still celebrating the second goal when Aloisi makes it three with a fantastic goal. Fans go even wilder.
Full time but the Aussie fans wont leave the ground. They stay behind . 20 minutes singing and singing and singing – enjoying the moment. Eventually it was time to leave though that was a drama in itself – took 30 minutes in searing heat to walk 10m towards the exit. Eventuall got out of the ground and the party began – the Aussie fans spent the night painting Kaiserslautern green and gold with a lot of help from the fans from other teams. The Japanese are incredible - they were congratulating us on the win, smiling and partying on with us. Fantastic fun night - difficult to describe - its not a drunken party - rather a big happy celebration.
There is an incredible feeling around the town - it was an amazing result - to come from behind so late in the game made it a rollercoaster ride - it was our first World Cup win and our first World Cup goals - absolutely brilliant.
I finally get to sleep around 5am in the morning – up at 8am – went into town and Aussies were playing football and still singing songs in the town centre.
The campervan convoy now moves onwards to Munich.
Spent several nights in Hong Kong – the city that never sleeps – the New York of Asia. The Hong Kong Island skyline is amazing. Great place to visit but not the destination it used to be – overcrowded, expensive and constantly getting over-charged for everything.
Leg 2 Hong Kong to Taiwan:
Spent several nights in Taipai Taiwan. Much more pleasant than Hong Kong. Went up Tapai 101 – tallest building in the world – impressive view.
Leg 3 Taipai to Frankfurt:
Horror overnight flight to Frankfurt – plane was full/overcrowded and leg room is non-existent. Was more comfortable dozing off standing up in the back of the plane. The leg from Asia to Europe is never very pleasant (unless your in business class) but this was pretty bad due to the overcrowding.
Day 1 Frankfurt to Stuttgart:
Off the plane and onto the train to Stuttgart. From Stuttgart into a taxi to collect our hired campervan. Taxi driver was a nutter who hit 200km/h along the freeway. Collected campervan without a hitch and drove back into Stuttgart in search of our pre-booked campsite. After an hour of driving in circles we finally found the campsite – the place was hidden from the road and had terrible signage. Felt less like an idiot when a couple arrived at the campsite a few hours later – they had left the McRent campervan hire place an hour before us – they spent 5 hours driving around in circles in search of the same campsite. They found it be going on foot rather than driving around.
Day 2 – Stuttgart to Prague
Spent several nights in Prague. I had been to Prague before but it was great to go again. Old part of town is magnificent – a time warp untouched by development. Prague spent some time as the home of the Hapsburg empire.
Day 4 Prague to Kaiserslautern
From Prague went south to another old Czech town called Cesky Kromolov – walked around the old castle/palace/old town for half a day. Then drove through southern Czech into Austria and then through Germany to Kaiserlautern. Arrived late the day before the Australia v Japan game.
Day 5 – Kaiserlautern
We had spent the night in the official FIFA campsite. The locals were magnificent – there were volunteers helping everyone out in the campsite. Campsite was free and it included power and toilets. Full marks to the locals.
(One problem we have been having is lack of world cup information. Campervan does not have a television. My plans for wireless internet access have been blown apart as all three providers in Germany are insisting on a 2 year contract. So far we have not seen a game and know very few of the results. Certainly not what I had expected – come to Germany and have trouble following the World Cup)
By the time we got ourselves sorted out we had to head into the city center for the big game.
The first game – Australia v Japan
We joined the flow of thousands of fans making the trek out to the stadium. Spirits were very high – green and gold everywhere – we outnumbered the Japanese fans by 5 to 1. Walking towards the stadium you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Australia.
As we continued the 25 minute march to the stadium there was much singing. The Japanese fans mingled with the Aussies – we chatted freely with each other – the Japanese are fantastic fans – happy and friendly.
Was noticeable that there were thousands of Germans wearing Australian tops – the neutrals were backing Australia – they were not content to just cheer for Australia – they also donned our gear!!! You would see what you thought was an Aussie fan – wearing the Australian top, with Aussie face paint and waving an Australian flag – then when you spoke to them you found they had a thick german accent!!
Arrived at the ground and the so called checking of tickets against your passport did not happen – if you had a ticket you went in – only bags were being checked. So you could have bought tickets off Ebay without a hitch. Ticket scalpers were around – if you wanted a ticket you could buy one – price ranged from 150 to 200 euro. (After the game I ran into an Australian film director who paid 1000 GBP for his scalped ticket in London– around $A2500 for one seat!!)
From the ticket entry point there was a quite demanding hike up to the stadium – up what seemed like a couple hundred steps – quite a few older people struggled big time – what a weird arrangement for a world class stadium.
Took our seats behind the goals – we were smack in the middle of the Australian section - and the singing began. The Aussie fans were in full voice – and the singing only get louder once the game kicked off. Atmosphere was like Australia v Uruguay all again.
One poor Japanese fellow must have bought a scalpers ticket and did not understand what he was getting. He was sitting right behind me smack in the middle of the Australian area – a blue fan surrounded by green and gold. Tried talking to him because he looked cabernet scared – I think I only scared him though.
Kickoff – stadium erupts and the Aussies drown out the Japanese fans. After a nervous opening few minutes we are on top. This only adds more momentum to the Aussie singing.
Then disaster – soft goal to Japan - from inside the ground it looked like Schwarzer was pushed off the ball. (after the game I did not met a single person who thought it was not a foul). The fans turn their wrath towards the referee – boo---boo---boo rings around the stadium for several minutes and are repeated regularly for the rest of the game.
The Socceroos are well on top of Japan – surely it is only a matter of time before we score. The fans continue all the singing. Second half is more of the same but gradually the Aussie fans are running out of steam while the Japanese fans are getting louder.
Starting to think that the Socceroos World Cup could be over after only one game - we are dominated but the ball just wont go in the back of the net.
Then Cahill snatches a goal. The stadium goes nuts – everyone is jumping – screaming and hugging complete strangers. It was a massive relief.
There is another surge of singing from the Aussie fans - urging their Socceroos forward. Then Cahill scores his second – a brilliant shot from range that goes in off the post. Stadium erupts again. We are still celebrating the second goal when Aloisi makes it three with a fantastic goal. Fans go even wilder.
Full time but the Aussie fans wont leave the ground. They stay behind . 20 minutes singing and singing and singing – enjoying the moment. Eventually it was time to leave though that was a drama in itself – took 30 minutes in searing heat to walk 10m towards the exit. Eventuall got out of the ground and the party began – the Aussie fans spent the night painting Kaiserslautern green and gold with a lot of help from the fans from other teams. The Japanese are incredible - they were congratulating us on the win, smiling and partying on with us. Fantastic fun night - difficult to describe - its not a drunken party - rather a big happy celebration.
There is an incredible feeling around the town - it was an amazing result - to come from behind so late in the game made it a rollercoaster ride - it was our first World Cup win and our first World Cup goals - absolutely brilliant.
I finally get to sleep around 5am in the morning – up at 8am – went into town and Aussies were playing football and still singing songs in the town centre.
The campervan convoy now moves onwards to Munich.
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geordie-442
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- Posts: 2959
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:07 am
Its just over 24 hours before Australia take on Brasil in Munich. Our last 2 days in Munich have been absolutely incredible - an amazing experience that words can not adequately describe.
After spending the day looking around Munich, in the evening we have been drawn to the worlds most famous beer hall - the Hoffbrahaus. The scenes inside the normally quite placid Hoffbrahaus are amazing. It has become a sort of moshpit for football fans from around the world. Aussies, Brasilians, Saudis, Mexicans, Argentinians, English, Amercianx, Canadians, New Zealanders and Germans - to name a few.
Inside the Hoffbrahaus Moshpit everyone is in full voice, singing songs. By far the loudest are the Aussies. As the night wears on we soon have everyone in the Hoffbrahaus singing Australian songs like Advance Australia Fair, I am Australian and Waltzing Matilda. Everyone is singing along - the Germans, the Brasilians - everyone. In turn we sing their songs - it is like one big happy family.
There is one exception - the USA. Ten years ago I recall in a nightclub in Florence an American song came on the radio - Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. All off a sudden the Italians went nuts. It was a similar story around the rest of Europe - everyone liked the USA. Fast forward ten years and how things have changed and this is epitomised by what is happening in the Hoffbrahaus. Every so often the American contingent break out into their chant - USA USA USA - immediately the boos start ringing out - within seconds the Amercians are drowned out. The booing is coming from everywhere and is reapeated time and time again.
I am sitting next to an Englishman from Coventry. He suddenly stands up singing a famous German song - "Berlin, Berlin, we are driving to Berlin". He says it in German (I have translated it) and suddenly all the Germans in the Hoffbrahaus join in - "Berlin, Berlin, we are driving to Berlin" rings out for several minutes - we all join in. I am sure none of the Germans realised the main instigator of their equivalent to Waltzing Matilda was a Brit.
From the Hoffbrahaus we visit several other pubs and cafes - meeting and chatting with more and more fans. After two games the Englishmen dont like their chances, the Germans are hopeful, the Italians confident and the Brasilians are supremely confident. Most others, like us Aussies, are just happy to be here. Wherever we go we can hear an Aussie chant breaking out somewhere nearby.
We return to the Hoffbrahuas for a second night - Friday night - and the same scenes are being repeated but in even more dramatic fashion. There are two main groups that have taken over the Hoffbrahaus tonight - the Aussies and the Brasilians. On one side of the hall you have the Aussies and on the other side you have Brasilians. Both are standing on tables and chairs creating a real stadium like feel with a moshpit corridor down the middle of the hall. Each side is involved in a singing contest - Australia v Brasil - its loud but all good natured. Through the moshpit corridor walk groups of fans from other countries. The English squeeze through in single file chanting away - this unites both the Aussies and the Brasilians against the English - together we sing "Ole Ole Ole Ole Aussie (Brasil) Aussie (Brasil)" and drown out the Englishmen. As the evening wears on the Aussies begin to totally dominate - we are the Kings of the Hoffbrahuas.
At Hoffbrahuas closing time the management are fantastic - rather than push everyone out - they allow the singing to continue for another hour. Eventually everyone rolls out into the street and heads off to the nearby plaza. It is the early hours of the morning but in the plaza a game is being played by roughly 100 people - there is a ball - and everyone is running around screaming "Kick it to me, kick it to me" - made famous by Australian swimming legend Perkins. The game quickly ends when the ball lands on a third floor balcony of a surounding historic building. At the other end of the plaza there is another game going in. I decide to join in but soon find out I am on the wrong team - it was English speaking v non English speaking.
As we started to make our way back to the campground we ran into the Vidmar brothers for a second time (we had run into them at the Australia v Japan game). We finished off the night in a fountain.
Over the past 48 hours I have met so many people of many different nationalities - so many friendly and happy fans - all united in the name of football. It is just an unbelievable experience and unfortunately I cannot adequately describe it.
The Australian fans have done themselves proud - everyone loves the Aussies - the Brasilians are famous for their partying/singing but the Aussies have raised the bar. We are by far the most prominent fans at the World Cup, we are many, we are happy, we are friendly and we welcome everyone from everywhere. We have brought our friendly, fun loving and multicultural attitude to the World Cup Finals. Us Aussies represent more than just Australia - for we have come from all corners of the globe and have united under one flag in a very short space of time - in a sense we are the United Nations of this World Cup - it gives us a unique ability to talk and mingle with everyone no matter their country of origin. It is a special trait that we do not really appreciate or understand and it is something that we could put to far greater use in spheres much greater than just football. (Enough of the serious stuff).
The campsite we are staying at is now FULL. There are turning away campervan after campervan. They have blocked off the end of the street to stop campervans coming to the campsite. Its only 1pm yet there are several singing parties going on already. Everyone is in high spirit.
Quite simply this is the biggest party in the World - and us Aussies are loving it.
Admin.
After spending the day looking around Munich, in the evening we have been drawn to the worlds most famous beer hall - the Hoffbrahaus. The scenes inside the normally quite placid Hoffbrahaus are amazing. It has become a sort of moshpit for football fans from around the world. Aussies, Brasilians, Saudis, Mexicans, Argentinians, English, Amercianx, Canadians, New Zealanders and Germans - to name a few.
Inside the Hoffbrahaus Moshpit everyone is in full voice, singing songs. By far the loudest are the Aussies. As the night wears on we soon have everyone in the Hoffbrahaus singing Australian songs like Advance Australia Fair, I am Australian and Waltzing Matilda. Everyone is singing along - the Germans, the Brasilians - everyone. In turn we sing their songs - it is like one big happy family.
There is one exception - the USA. Ten years ago I recall in a nightclub in Florence an American song came on the radio - Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. All off a sudden the Italians went nuts. It was a similar story around the rest of Europe - everyone liked the USA. Fast forward ten years and how things have changed and this is epitomised by what is happening in the Hoffbrahaus. Every so often the American contingent break out into their chant - USA USA USA - immediately the boos start ringing out - within seconds the Amercians are drowned out. The booing is coming from everywhere and is reapeated time and time again.
I am sitting next to an Englishman from Coventry. He suddenly stands up singing a famous German song - "Berlin, Berlin, we are driving to Berlin". He says it in German (I have translated it) and suddenly all the Germans in the Hoffbrahaus join in - "Berlin, Berlin, we are driving to Berlin" rings out for several minutes - we all join in. I am sure none of the Germans realised the main instigator of their equivalent to Waltzing Matilda was a Brit.
From the Hoffbrahaus we visit several other pubs and cafes - meeting and chatting with more and more fans. After two games the Englishmen dont like their chances, the Germans are hopeful, the Italians confident and the Brasilians are supremely confident. Most others, like us Aussies, are just happy to be here. Wherever we go we can hear an Aussie chant breaking out somewhere nearby.
We return to the Hoffbrahuas for a second night - Friday night - and the same scenes are being repeated but in even more dramatic fashion. There are two main groups that have taken over the Hoffbrahaus tonight - the Aussies and the Brasilians. On one side of the hall you have the Aussies and on the other side you have Brasilians. Both are standing on tables and chairs creating a real stadium like feel with a moshpit corridor down the middle of the hall. Each side is involved in a singing contest - Australia v Brasil - its loud but all good natured. Through the moshpit corridor walk groups of fans from other countries. The English squeeze through in single file chanting away - this unites both the Aussies and the Brasilians against the English - together we sing "Ole Ole Ole Ole Aussie (Brasil) Aussie (Brasil)" and drown out the Englishmen. As the evening wears on the Aussies begin to totally dominate - we are the Kings of the Hoffbrahuas.
At Hoffbrahuas closing time the management are fantastic - rather than push everyone out - they allow the singing to continue for another hour. Eventually everyone rolls out into the street and heads off to the nearby plaza. It is the early hours of the morning but in the plaza a game is being played by roughly 100 people - there is a ball - and everyone is running around screaming "Kick it to me, kick it to me" - made famous by Australian swimming legend Perkins. The game quickly ends when the ball lands on a third floor balcony of a surounding historic building. At the other end of the plaza there is another game going in. I decide to join in but soon find out I am on the wrong team - it was English speaking v non English speaking.
As we started to make our way back to the campground we ran into the Vidmar brothers for a second time (we had run into them at the Australia v Japan game). We finished off the night in a fountain.
Over the past 48 hours I have met so many people of many different nationalities - so many friendly and happy fans - all united in the name of football. It is just an unbelievable experience and unfortunately I cannot adequately describe it.
The Australian fans have done themselves proud - everyone loves the Aussies - the Brasilians are famous for their partying/singing but the Aussies have raised the bar. We are by far the most prominent fans at the World Cup, we are many, we are happy, we are friendly and we welcome everyone from everywhere. We have brought our friendly, fun loving and multicultural attitude to the World Cup Finals. Us Aussies represent more than just Australia - for we have come from all corners of the globe and have united under one flag in a very short space of time - in a sense we are the United Nations of this World Cup - it gives us a unique ability to talk and mingle with everyone no matter their country of origin. It is a special trait that we do not really appreciate or understand and it is something that we could put to far greater use in spheres much greater than just football. (Enough of the serious stuff).
The campsite we are staying at is now FULL. There are turning away campervan after campervan. They have blocked off the end of the street to stop campervans coming to the campsite. Its only 1pm yet there are several singing parties going on already. Everyone is in high spirit.
Quite simply this is the biggest party in the World - and us Aussies are loving it.
Admin.
Last edited by admin on Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
It has been an incredible few days since my last post. Have added some photos to the gallery - will write up a full post in the next couple of days.
A quick summary - good performance against Brasil but referee left a bad taste in everyones mouth - so one sided.
Aussies were everywhere in Munich - incredible.
Moved on to Stuttgart (via Poland). Australia v Croatia. Another rollercoaster ride - its tough on the heart being an Aussie fan.
Atmosphere was unbelievable in the stadium. At the end of the game none of the Aussie fans left the stadium - we stayed behind and kept singing for another half an hour - the stadium organisers played Australian songs over the sound system. The Aussie players came back out after the game and sang AC/DC with all the 20,000 Aussie fans - they really showed their appreciation. Many Croatian fans stayed behind just to witness the incredible scenes - it is something I will never forget - I think even the locals were a bit stunned by the scenes.
Admin.
A quick summary - good performance against Brasil but referee left a bad taste in everyones mouth - so one sided.
Aussies were everywhere in Munich - incredible.
Moved on to Stuttgart (via Poland). Australia v Croatia. Another rollercoaster ride - its tough on the heart being an Aussie fan.
Atmosphere was unbelievable in the stadium. At the end of the game none of the Aussie fans left the stadium - we stayed behind and kept singing for another half an hour - the stadium organisers played Australian songs over the sound system. The Aussie players came back out after the game and sang AC/DC with all the 20,000 Aussie fans - they really showed their appreciation. Many Croatian fans stayed behind just to witness the incredible scenes - it is something I will never forget - I think even the locals were a bit stunned by the scenes.
Admin.
The big game we have all been waiting for has finally arrived - Australia v Brasil. The Brasilian fans are very confident and most pundits gives the Aussies little chance. But us Aussie fans hold up some hope that we score an upset draw or maybe even an unlikely victory.
We headed out to the ground very early in an attempt to beat the crowd. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea. The trains to the stadium were jam packed - so much so that people had to be pushed into the train so that the doors would close - sardines in a can!. The exit from the train at the stadium station was a little better - they would not allow another train into the station until most of the commuters from the previous train had cleared the platform. From the station it was a ten minute march to the stadium gates, a bag and body search to get inside the outer perimeter and then finally through the ticket gate and into the ground itself.
The Munich stadium itself is very impressive. Its external appearance is unusual - it has been nicknamed the michelin man. The exterior appears to be made of some sort of plastic fabric that is held in place by air pressure - not sure. Inside the stadium is spectacular. It is a purpose build football stadium so all the fans are close to the action.
As the stadium gradually fills up it is difficult to work out who is supporting who - as most fans are wearing yellow or gold. Unfortunately part of the Aussie end of the ground is in direct sunlight - it is unbearably hot. So many fans do not take their seat until just before kickoff - of course the Brasilian end of the ground is shaded!
There is a middle section between the two tiers that has all the amenties plus a view of the ground - standing only though - many of the Aussie fans are staying in this shaded area watching the Japan v Croatia game on the stadium big screens. A big cheer erupts at the final whistle - a draw between Japan and Croatia- an excellent result for Australia.
The teams come out and are greated with huge roars and lots of singing. The Australian national anthem is second and we put in another rousing performance - however unfortunately the timing of the singing by roughly half of the fans is out of step with the anthem being played on the stadium pa system. Might have had something to do with the fans being split by the upper and lower tiers - the two tiers were out of time. Who cares though - we knocked the socks off the Brasilian anthem.
Kickoff - once again I wont repeat the events of the game as we have all seen it. We were under pressure early but then settled and were making a good game of it. As the game wore on the Aussie fans became increasingly frustrated with the referee who was clearly favouring Brasil. The referee was doing his best to take Mark Viduka out of the game. The Brasilian fans were relatively quiet - they were unhappy with the way their team was performing. Chants of "the referee is a chardonnay" regularly rang around the stadium as well as a more blunt Aussie one liner.
Early in the second half Brasil strike a killer blow by opening the scoring. The Aussies fought back and really took the game to Brasil. We deserved an equaliser. We created chances but just could not put them away - Kewell should have scored with almost his first touch as a substitute but blazed over the bar. Then Brasil killed off the game with a second goal - arguably offside as the goalscorer had gone from being passive (in an offside position) to active - but pundits back at home with the aid of television replays are in a far better position to judge this one.
Still we did not give up and went very close to pulling one back. The Aussie players and fans were getting increasingly frustrated with the referee. In one incident Viduka was pulled up for a foul when he did not even attempt to challenge for the ball - he was just nearby. Final whistle - the scoreline was a flattering 2-0 to Brasil. Kewell showed his frustration by getting in the referees face and giving him a verbal barrage at the end of the game - he was obviously very upset.
We exited the stadium in a sombre mood. The Socceroos had put up a strong performance but this was not reflected in the scoreline. The Brasilian fans were happy with the victory but probably dissapointed by their teams performance - it did little to justify Brasil's status as red hot favourites to win the tournament.
We opted to leave the Hoffbrahaus to the Brasilians to celebrate and headed back to the campsite to prepare to exit Munich for Dresden and Poland.
Fast forward a couple days - and we have made a 1200km drive to arrive in Stuttgart on the day of the crucial game between Australia and Croatia. The campsite is full but fortunately we have a booking. Befofre long we are heading out to the Stuttgart stadium that is only five minutes walk from the campsite. Everything at the stadium is well organised - it takes little time to get into the stadium. Once inside we are greated with the sight of another fantastic stadium. One surprise is the number of Croatian fans - they outnumber us - maybe 2 to 1. It seems they may have a little advantage - they get their country federation allocation - like Australia. But there are many croatians living in Australia and in Germany - so they have been able to pick up a few of the Australian tickets and the majority of the neutral tickets.
National anthem time - Croatian first and their fans do a good job of singing it - but they are blown away by the Aussie fans - we thump out Advance Australia Fair - the best effort so far of the tournament - a spine tingling few minutes.
Referee is Graham Poll - an Englishman - so the hope is we may finally get a fair deal - how wrong we were with that presumption.
Kickoff and the Aussie fans are once again in fine voice. But only a few minutes in and Croatia take an early lead. A great free kick over the wall - fans were a bit critical of Kalac who looked slow to move but the replay showed it was pretty much hit into the top corner. The Croatian fans in the stadium go nuts - us Aussie fans have to go quiet for five minutes - no point wasting any energy when they clearly outnumber us.
Before long we are back in full voice urging out team onwards. None more so than Bazza sitting two seats away. Bazza is an Aussie from Canberra - a rugby league fan. He flew to Germany from Canberra arriving the day before the game, bought a ticket from a scalper and was now attending his first Socceroo game ever. He was wearing thongs, sporting a fine pair of 1970's speedo swimming shorts, claimed to be wearing one of Shane Warne's cricket shirts which was covered by a moth eaten woolen jumper. Bazza was giving it all for Australia.
Things were not going well for us in the referee department. Two clear penalties (right in front of us) were turned down by Graham Poll early in the game. We pretty much out played and finally Graham Poll could not deny us a blatant penalty a third time. Craig Moore made no mistake from the spot and sent the Aussie fans into a frenzy.
Second half - another disaster - a harmless shot sneaks past Kalac - 2-1 to Croatia. Some fans are baying for his blood now - in his defence the ball kicked up in front of him but he still should have done better. Once again the Croatian fans are going nuts.
We throw everything at Croatia and completely outplay them. We are the better side but this is not reflected in the scoreline. We put the ball in the back of the net but it is disallowed.
As time ticks away and chances go begging I become increasingly anxious - how can we lose like this? how can we lose when we have outplayed our opponents? It is tough being a Socceroo supporter!!
The players do not give up - Harry Kewell in particular is turning in a masterful performance. It is fitting that it should be Kewell himself who scores the critical equaliser.2-2 to Australia - the Aussie fans go nuts.
First Croatia are down to ten men. Then Emerton is unfairly sent off - a leveller decision by Poll. It was right in front of us - the ball was kicked into Emerton from less than 1m. From our position the ball hit him in the midrift - not his hand and there was no way it was deliberate - but Poll saw it differently - hardly a decision you expect from a world class referee.
Incredibly Croatian/Aussie Siminuc is given his second yellow card but not sent off!!! Poll has screwed up big time. Imagine the problems if Simunic had subsequently scored the winner for Croatia!!!!
In the dying minutes we put the ball in the back of the net but it is disallowed again. Then Simunic gets his third yellow and this time is shown the red card. Final whistle and we go nuts. We have done it - reached the 2nd round - feeling of unbelievable joy are just washing over us all. All the fans are singing, hugging and high fiving each other - complete strangers have become best mates for a few long minutes. For the next 30 minutes the Aussie fans continue to sing refusing to leave their seats. The stadium PA system thumps out some Aussie classics like Men at Works Down Under. Everyone is in fine voice - so much so many Croatian fans remain behind to enjoy the spectacle.
Eventually the Aussie players come back out to thank the fans. They lock arms and orchestrate the 20,000 Aussie fans in another moving moment. Then the big finale - AC/DC - TNT comes out over the pa system - the fans quickly ignore the words and simply chant the chorus - oi - oi -oi - every single one of the 20,000 Aussie in the stadium is singing at maximum voice and pumping their arms in unison - it is absolutely incredible - even the neutrals are blown away by the performance.
Eventually we leave the stadium and most head into the city centre for a massive carnival. We opt to return to the campsite to recover. The game has sapped all our energy. Before long we head into the city centre - its party time - and it was great to see the many Croatian fans joining in. One thing about the World Cup is it seems to unite all the fans - all the barriers are broken down and there is a general feeling of goodwill towards all fellow fans. We are all part of the same football family.
Next day the Socceroos are on the front page of every German newspaper. Everyone loves the Socceroos and their fans.
As the Aussies move out of Stuttgart the English move in - ready for their second round game on the weekend.
We headed out to the ground very early in an attempt to beat the crowd. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea. The trains to the stadium were jam packed - so much so that people had to be pushed into the train so that the doors would close - sardines in a can!. The exit from the train at the stadium station was a little better - they would not allow another train into the station until most of the commuters from the previous train had cleared the platform. From the station it was a ten minute march to the stadium gates, a bag and body search to get inside the outer perimeter and then finally through the ticket gate and into the ground itself.
The Munich stadium itself is very impressive. Its external appearance is unusual - it has been nicknamed the michelin man. The exterior appears to be made of some sort of plastic fabric that is held in place by air pressure - not sure. Inside the stadium is spectacular. It is a purpose build football stadium so all the fans are close to the action.
As the stadium gradually fills up it is difficult to work out who is supporting who - as most fans are wearing yellow or gold. Unfortunately part of the Aussie end of the ground is in direct sunlight - it is unbearably hot. So many fans do not take their seat until just before kickoff - of course the Brasilian end of the ground is shaded!
There is a middle section between the two tiers that has all the amenties plus a view of the ground - standing only though - many of the Aussie fans are staying in this shaded area watching the Japan v Croatia game on the stadium big screens. A big cheer erupts at the final whistle - a draw between Japan and Croatia- an excellent result for Australia.
The teams come out and are greated with huge roars and lots of singing. The Australian national anthem is second and we put in another rousing performance - however unfortunately the timing of the singing by roughly half of the fans is out of step with the anthem being played on the stadium pa system. Might have had something to do with the fans being split by the upper and lower tiers - the two tiers were out of time. Who cares though - we knocked the socks off the Brasilian anthem.
Kickoff - once again I wont repeat the events of the game as we have all seen it. We were under pressure early but then settled and were making a good game of it. As the game wore on the Aussie fans became increasingly frustrated with the referee who was clearly favouring Brasil. The referee was doing his best to take Mark Viduka out of the game. The Brasilian fans were relatively quiet - they were unhappy with the way their team was performing. Chants of "the referee is a chardonnay" regularly rang around the stadium as well as a more blunt Aussie one liner.
Early in the second half Brasil strike a killer blow by opening the scoring. The Aussies fought back and really took the game to Brasil. We deserved an equaliser. We created chances but just could not put them away - Kewell should have scored with almost his first touch as a substitute but blazed over the bar. Then Brasil killed off the game with a second goal - arguably offside as the goalscorer had gone from being passive (in an offside position) to active - but pundits back at home with the aid of television replays are in a far better position to judge this one.
Still we did not give up and went very close to pulling one back. The Aussie players and fans were getting increasingly frustrated with the referee. In one incident Viduka was pulled up for a foul when he did not even attempt to challenge for the ball - he was just nearby. Final whistle - the scoreline was a flattering 2-0 to Brasil. Kewell showed his frustration by getting in the referees face and giving him a verbal barrage at the end of the game - he was obviously very upset.
We exited the stadium in a sombre mood. The Socceroos had put up a strong performance but this was not reflected in the scoreline. The Brasilian fans were happy with the victory but probably dissapointed by their teams performance - it did little to justify Brasil's status as red hot favourites to win the tournament.
We opted to leave the Hoffbrahaus to the Brasilians to celebrate and headed back to the campsite to prepare to exit Munich for Dresden and Poland.
Fast forward a couple days - and we have made a 1200km drive to arrive in Stuttgart on the day of the crucial game between Australia and Croatia. The campsite is full but fortunately we have a booking. Befofre long we are heading out to the Stuttgart stadium that is only five minutes walk from the campsite. Everything at the stadium is well organised - it takes little time to get into the stadium. Once inside we are greated with the sight of another fantastic stadium. One surprise is the number of Croatian fans - they outnumber us - maybe 2 to 1. It seems they may have a little advantage - they get their country federation allocation - like Australia. But there are many croatians living in Australia and in Germany - so they have been able to pick up a few of the Australian tickets and the majority of the neutral tickets.
National anthem time - Croatian first and their fans do a good job of singing it - but they are blown away by the Aussie fans - we thump out Advance Australia Fair - the best effort so far of the tournament - a spine tingling few minutes.
Referee is Graham Poll - an Englishman - so the hope is we may finally get a fair deal - how wrong we were with that presumption.
Kickoff and the Aussie fans are once again in fine voice. But only a few minutes in and Croatia take an early lead. A great free kick over the wall - fans were a bit critical of Kalac who looked slow to move but the replay showed it was pretty much hit into the top corner. The Croatian fans in the stadium go nuts - us Aussie fans have to go quiet for five minutes - no point wasting any energy when they clearly outnumber us.
Before long we are back in full voice urging out team onwards. None more so than Bazza sitting two seats away. Bazza is an Aussie from Canberra - a rugby league fan. He flew to Germany from Canberra arriving the day before the game, bought a ticket from a scalper and was now attending his first Socceroo game ever. He was wearing thongs, sporting a fine pair of 1970's speedo swimming shorts, claimed to be wearing one of Shane Warne's cricket shirts which was covered by a moth eaten woolen jumper. Bazza was giving it all for Australia.
Things were not going well for us in the referee department. Two clear penalties (right in front of us) were turned down by Graham Poll early in the game. We pretty much out played and finally Graham Poll could not deny us a blatant penalty a third time. Craig Moore made no mistake from the spot and sent the Aussie fans into a frenzy.
Second half - another disaster - a harmless shot sneaks past Kalac - 2-1 to Croatia. Some fans are baying for his blood now - in his defence the ball kicked up in front of him but he still should have done better. Once again the Croatian fans are going nuts.
We throw everything at Croatia and completely outplay them. We are the better side but this is not reflected in the scoreline. We put the ball in the back of the net but it is disallowed.
As time ticks away and chances go begging I become increasingly anxious - how can we lose like this? how can we lose when we have outplayed our opponents? It is tough being a Socceroo supporter!!
The players do not give up - Harry Kewell in particular is turning in a masterful performance. It is fitting that it should be Kewell himself who scores the critical equaliser.2-2 to Australia - the Aussie fans go nuts.
First Croatia are down to ten men. Then Emerton is unfairly sent off - a leveller decision by Poll. It was right in front of us - the ball was kicked into Emerton from less than 1m. From our position the ball hit him in the midrift - not his hand and there was no way it was deliberate - but Poll saw it differently - hardly a decision you expect from a world class referee.
Incredibly Croatian/Aussie Siminuc is given his second yellow card but not sent off!!! Poll has screwed up big time. Imagine the problems if Simunic had subsequently scored the winner for Croatia!!!!
In the dying minutes we put the ball in the back of the net but it is disallowed again. Then Simunic gets his third yellow and this time is shown the red card. Final whistle and we go nuts. We have done it - reached the 2nd round - feeling of unbelievable joy are just washing over us all. All the fans are singing, hugging and high fiving each other - complete strangers have become best mates for a few long minutes. For the next 30 minutes the Aussie fans continue to sing refusing to leave their seats. The stadium PA system thumps out some Aussie classics like Men at Works Down Under. Everyone is in fine voice - so much so many Croatian fans remain behind to enjoy the spectacle.
Eventually the Aussie players come back out to thank the fans. They lock arms and orchestrate the 20,000 Aussie fans in another moving moment. Then the big finale - AC/DC - TNT comes out over the pa system - the fans quickly ignore the words and simply chant the chorus - oi - oi -oi - every single one of the 20,000 Aussie in the stadium is singing at maximum voice and pumping their arms in unison - it is absolutely incredible - even the neutrals are blown away by the performance.
Eventually we leave the stadium and most head into the city centre for a massive carnival. We opt to return to the campsite to recover. The game has sapped all our energy. Before long we head into the city centre - its party time - and it was great to see the many Croatian fans joining in. One thing about the World Cup is it seems to unite all the fans - all the barriers are broken down and there is a general feeling of goodwill towards all fellow fans. We are all part of the same football family.
Next day the Socceroos are on the front page of every German newspaper. Everyone loves the Socceroos and their fans.
As the Aussies move out of Stuttgart the English move in - ready for their second round game on the weekend.
Spent the night in Ohringen, however it is spelt. It is the home base of the Australian side.
Watched their morning training session. It was a closed session but we found a spot to view it. Noticed some interesting things - but wont list them here as it was a closed session.
Took some photos but wont upload them until after the game even though they dont reveal anything of interest.
Watched the Aussie bus depart and gave them a small cheer - there were maybe 20 people at the ground outside the ground cheering the team bus.
Ohringen is a beautiful little town with the friendliest people in Germany. The number of times people tried to help us out was brilliant. Had lunch in the main square and they quietly gave me a double serving because I was an Aussie. Another stall gave us free drinks.
This afternoon we moved on to Kaiserlaitsen - for the big game tomorrow. Once again the town is turning it on for the Aussies. In the centre of town they are playing all Australia songs.
Ran into a couple Aussies - started talking to them and once again they were Germans kitted out as Aussie look alikes.
Around the shops it is impossible to find Aussie gear like flags etc because its all sold. Brasil gear is everywhere but no one wants it cos they all want Aussie gear.
Everyone wants Australia to win tomorrow - everyone is telling us they are backing Australia.
The number of Aussies over here appears to have dropped. Maybe under half doing a rough count of campervans in the campsite. Many only came for the first round and dont have tickets for the second round.
Admin.
Watched their morning training session. It was a closed session but we found a spot to view it. Noticed some interesting things - but wont list them here as it was a closed session.
Took some photos but wont upload them until after the game even though they dont reveal anything of interest.
Watched the Aussie bus depart and gave them a small cheer - there were maybe 20 people at the ground outside the ground cheering the team bus.
Ohringen is a beautiful little town with the friendliest people in Germany. The number of times people tried to help us out was brilliant. Had lunch in the main square and they quietly gave me a double serving because I was an Aussie. Another stall gave us free drinks.
This afternoon we moved on to Kaiserlaitsen - for the big game tomorrow. Once again the town is turning it on for the Aussies. In the centre of town they are playing all Australia songs.
Ran into a couple Aussies - started talking to them and once again they were Germans kitted out as Aussie look alikes.
Around the shops it is impossible to find Aussie gear like flags etc because its all sold. Brasil gear is everywhere but no one wants it cos they all want Aussie gear.
Everyone wants Australia to win tomorrow - everyone is telling us they are backing Australia.
The number of Aussies over here appears to have dropped. Maybe under half doing a rough count of campervans in the campsite. Many only came for the first round and dont have tickets for the second round.
Admin.
Post game in Kaiserlaitsen.
WE WERE ROBBED - another game decided by poor refereeing decisions.
The Italians should be partying in the town but they arent - they are very quiet and apologetic. Even they know Australia was robbed.
The vast majority of neutrals all supported Australia - so its fair to say around 75% of the people are very dissapointed. Another 20% are Italians who are apologetic and only maybe 5% are actually celebrating and waving flags etc.
I have to say the general feeling over here is that the match officials are favouring all the big teams - a sort of conspiracy.
More thoughts later when I get over the disapointment.
Admin.
WE WERE ROBBED - another game decided by poor refereeing decisions.
The Italians should be partying in the town but they arent - they are very quiet and apologetic. Even they know Australia was robbed.
The vast majority of neutrals all supported Australia - so its fair to say around 75% of the people are very dissapointed. Another 20% are Italians who are apologetic and only maybe 5% are actually celebrating and waving flags etc.
I have to say the general feeling over here is that the match officials are favouring all the big teams - a sort of conspiracy.
More thoughts later when I get over the disapointment.
Admin.
So Australia has made it to the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany.For non-Aussies the Socceroos are a cinderella story - a minow ranked 50 in World by FIFA that was not even expected to qualify for the World Cup Finals has reached thet last 16. For Australians is it not a complete surprise - we are used to punching above our weight in sport and we knew we had some real quality in our squad - it has just taken 32 years to get everything right on and off the field.
The draw is cruel though - we are matched up against Italy - one of the giants of the World football. No-one is giving the Aussies much chance of beating Italy but in football there is always hope. Certainly all the germans and other neutrals are supporting the underdog.
Our travels return us to Kaiserlaitsen - a beautiful little town of 100,000 people that has been very good to Australia - we had already beaten Japan here. In hindsight there was one bad omen though - it has also been the scene of some of the worst refereeing in the tournament - Japan's goal against Australia and the Italy v USA match after which the USA was absolutely seething over the match officials.
Match day - Kaislaitsen once again turns it on for the World Cup. They have turned the main mall/shopping district into one big street party. Our journey to the ground takes us straight though the middle of street party. Fans are all crammed together as we march towards the ground down this narrow mall. The fans have also turned it on for Kaiserlaitsen - innovative costumes, lots of blow up kangaroos, flags, face paint, wigs, hats, giant hands, trumpets etc etc.
The whole process of getting to your seat must take almost an hour - the body and bag searching is a real bottleneck. its a long wait when your nervous about the game but is made much easier by the carnival like behaviour of the fans. We finally get to our seats only 20 minutes before kickoff - despite having set out several hours early.
National anthems and for the fourth time in a row our anthem is last - is there some FIFA ranking system for national anthems? - anyway coming second suits Australia. The Italians do their best singing their anthem and then comes the Aussies - we blow them away. We sing it with such energy and volume - it is one of the factors that has captured the imagination of the german neutrals at all the games.
Finally kickoff - no need to repeat the detail of the game here because everyone has seen it - there was relief that we started well and did not concede an early goal.
As the game went on I was becoming increasingly surprised by the Aussies - we were completely outplaying the Italians. At times the Italians looked dangerous in attack but that was very rare. Half time 0-0 and that increases the chances of an upset.
Second half - we continue to outplay Italy. Then suddenly Italy are down to 10 men. More Aussie domination - and a few solid saves by Buffon. Mark Viduka has more than met his equal in Italian defender Cannavaro - but the introduction of Aloisi changes things - Italy are finding it much more difficult to clear the ball out of the danger zone. As the minutes tick away Italy are tiring - they are almost spent. Aussie coach Hiddinkn is playing for extra time - the Italians had used all 3 subs quite early and looked a spent force.
3 minutes of extra time passes - the referee should blow his whistle but allows one more Italian attack. They cut inside and the Italian goes down in the box - unbelievably the referee awards a penalty. The stadium is stunned. The fans look to the big screen to show the replay but they dont show it because they know its controversial. Then it happens - the chant rings out around the stadium "Barossa Pearl...Barossa Pearl...Barossa Pearl".
Totti steps up and makes no mistake with the penalty - then disgracefully the referee blows for full time - not even the decency to allow Australia to kickoff. So what is the ref saying....the dive in the box happened in the last milli-second of the game?
Absolute horror is etched on the faces of the Australian fans. Some turn to tears, some just hold their heads in their hands. What a way to lose the game. Without a replay the fans inside the stadium are left a little uncertain about the penalty - but then the SMS's start rolling in - "It was Barossa Pearl". The Aussie fans refuse to leave the stadium - instead waiting for the highlights to be shown on the big screen as is done after every game.
On come the highlights and once again they dont show the penalty decision - it only affirms the resolve of the fans that it was a Barossa Pearl decision.
As we leave the ground it is a very subdued attitude - even the Italians are relatively quiet - everyone knows what they had just witnessed - areferee mistake that had robbed Australia. Conspiracy thinking racks the brain - why had FIFA appointed a Spanish referee in the first place? Why was a Spanish referee appointed for the Italian game and an Italian referee for the Spanish game? But you can not really take the conspiracy thinking seriously - maybe there is a natural bias created by circumstances and the rules - but it was just a bad decision.
A steady stream of Germans come up to us to talk about it - its pretty much unanimous - terrible decision - Australia was the better side. The Italians are happy to be going through to the next round but even they did not want to win it in such a manner - they sort of understand the pain of the Australian fans because they were eliminated at the last world cup after some dubious referee decisions.
No matter the unjustice of it all - the result wont change - we are out of the World Cup Finals. It is hard to accept the manner of the exit but the reality is that the Aussies did us all proud. The Australian team and their fans have captured the hearts of Germany - we have become the most popular side for the neutrals in the World Cup finals. Walk around the stores in Germany - the Aussie gear is selling like hot cakes and is hard to get your hands on - while the Brasilian gear is still sitting on the shelves. Amongst the fans the Aussie strip is the most sought after for swapping. Frequently we see someone decked out in all Aussie gear and you have to look twice before noticing the little German flag they are carrying or have painted on their face.
One aspect about the Aussie fans is we party like no other fans - we party all night - we sing all night - we party with anyone from anywhere - and we are happy and friendly. This is our last night in the World Cup finals and we are going to party again - celebrate our achievements and enjoy the german hospitality.
We party until sunrise - five of us have the whole venue singing Australian songs for hour after hour - a hot favourite is the little ditty about Harry Kewell and Victoria Beckham. We mix up the Aussie songs with German songs - and any other countries song they want to throw up. At the sunrise the owner gets up on the bar and issues us with referee like instructions to leave the venue. So we take out singing into the street for another hour. Germans are starting to come into town for work and we are still singing.
Eventually its time to get some sleep. We say goodbyes and thank everyone for an unbelievable night.
The World Cup finals has been a fantastic experience. There is something about football that garners the hearts and minds of everyone - its almost as if football is the true meaning of life. The World Cup brings peoples from all over the world, from diverse cultures, from different environments and unites them through one common culture - football. In the name of football we are all friends.
The Aussies have really added something to the World Cup Finals in Germany. We have an innate ability to get on with everyone from all walks of life. It comes from our heritage of being a cosmopolitan mix of different peoples in a completely open society with no historical or class barriers. It is a gift most Australians do not appreciate. Throw in our fun loving and relexed nature and because of our sheer numbers over here in Germany, we have left our mark on the World Cup Finals and Germany.
Now about that referee.......
The draw is cruel though - we are matched up against Italy - one of the giants of the World football. No-one is giving the Aussies much chance of beating Italy but in football there is always hope. Certainly all the germans and other neutrals are supporting the underdog.
Our travels return us to Kaiserlaitsen - a beautiful little town of 100,000 people that has been very good to Australia - we had already beaten Japan here. In hindsight there was one bad omen though - it has also been the scene of some of the worst refereeing in the tournament - Japan's goal against Australia and the Italy v USA match after which the USA was absolutely seething over the match officials.
Match day - Kaislaitsen once again turns it on for the World Cup. They have turned the main mall/shopping district into one big street party. Our journey to the ground takes us straight though the middle of street party. Fans are all crammed together as we march towards the ground down this narrow mall. The fans have also turned it on for Kaiserlaitsen - innovative costumes, lots of blow up kangaroos, flags, face paint, wigs, hats, giant hands, trumpets etc etc.
The whole process of getting to your seat must take almost an hour - the body and bag searching is a real bottleneck. its a long wait when your nervous about the game but is made much easier by the carnival like behaviour of the fans. We finally get to our seats only 20 minutes before kickoff - despite having set out several hours early.
National anthems and for the fourth time in a row our anthem is last - is there some FIFA ranking system for national anthems? - anyway coming second suits Australia. The Italians do their best singing their anthem and then comes the Aussies - we blow them away. We sing it with such energy and volume - it is one of the factors that has captured the imagination of the german neutrals at all the games.
Finally kickoff - no need to repeat the detail of the game here because everyone has seen it - there was relief that we started well and did not concede an early goal.
As the game went on I was becoming increasingly surprised by the Aussies - we were completely outplaying the Italians. At times the Italians looked dangerous in attack but that was very rare. Half time 0-0 and that increases the chances of an upset.
Second half - we continue to outplay Italy. Then suddenly Italy are down to 10 men. More Aussie domination - and a few solid saves by Buffon. Mark Viduka has more than met his equal in Italian defender Cannavaro - but the introduction of Aloisi changes things - Italy are finding it much more difficult to clear the ball out of the danger zone. As the minutes tick away Italy are tiring - they are almost spent. Aussie coach Hiddinkn is playing for extra time - the Italians had used all 3 subs quite early and looked a spent force.
3 minutes of extra time passes - the referee should blow his whistle but allows one more Italian attack. They cut inside and the Italian goes down in the box - unbelievably the referee awards a penalty. The stadium is stunned. The fans look to the big screen to show the replay but they dont show it because they know its controversial. Then it happens - the chant rings out around the stadium "Barossa Pearl...Barossa Pearl...Barossa Pearl".
Totti steps up and makes no mistake with the penalty - then disgracefully the referee blows for full time - not even the decency to allow Australia to kickoff. So what is the ref saying....the dive in the box happened in the last milli-second of the game?
Absolute horror is etched on the faces of the Australian fans. Some turn to tears, some just hold their heads in their hands. What a way to lose the game. Without a replay the fans inside the stadium are left a little uncertain about the penalty - but then the SMS's start rolling in - "It was Barossa Pearl". The Aussie fans refuse to leave the stadium - instead waiting for the highlights to be shown on the big screen as is done after every game.
On come the highlights and once again they dont show the penalty decision - it only affirms the resolve of the fans that it was a Barossa Pearl decision.
As we leave the ground it is a very subdued attitude - even the Italians are relatively quiet - everyone knows what they had just witnessed - areferee mistake that had robbed Australia. Conspiracy thinking racks the brain - why had FIFA appointed a Spanish referee in the first place? Why was a Spanish referee appointed for the Italian game and an Italian referee for the Spanish game? But you can not really take the conspiracy thinking seriously - maybe there is a natural bias created by circumstances and the rules - but it was just a bad decision.
A steady stream of Germans come up to us to talk about it - its pretty much unanimous - terrible decision - Australia was the better side. The Italians are happy to be going through to the next round but even they did not want to win it in such a manner - they sort of understand the pain of the Australian fans because they were eliminated at the last world cup after some dubious referee decisions.
No matter the unjustice of it all - the result wont change - we are out of the World Cup Finals. It is hard to accept the manner of the exit but the reality is that the Aussies did us all proud. The Australian team and their fans have captured the hearts of Germany - we have become the most popular side for the neutrals in the World Cup finals. Walk around the stores in Germany - the Aussie gear is selling like hot cakes and is hard to get your hands on - while the Brasilian gear is still sitting on the shelves. Amongst the fans the Aussie strip is the most sought after for swapping. Frequently we see someone decked out in all Aussie gear and you have to look twice before noticing the little German flag they are carrying or have painted on their face.
One aspect about the Aussie fans is we party like no other fans - we party all night - we sing all night - we party with anyone from anywhere - and we are happy and friendly. This is our last night in the World Cup finals and we are going to party again - celebrate our achievements and enjoy the german hospitality.
We party until sunrise - five of us have the whole venue singing Australian songs for hour after hour - a hot favourite is the little ditty about Harry Kewell and Victoria Beckham. We mix up the Aussie songs with German songs - and any other countries song they want to throw up. At the sunrise the owner gets up on the bar and issues us with referee like instructions to leave the venue. So we take out singing into the street for another hour. Germans are starting to come into town for work and we are still singing.
Eventually its time to get some sleep. We say goodbyes and thank everyone for an unbelievable night.
The World Cup finals has been a fantastic experience. There is something about football that garners the hearts and minds of everyone - its almost as if football is the true meaning of life. The World Cup brings peoples from all over the world, from diverse cultures, from different environments and unites them through one common culture - football. In the name of football we are all friends.
The Aussies have really added something to the World Cup Finals in Germany. We have an innate ability to get on with everyone from all walks of life. It comes from our heritage of being a cosmopolitan mix of different peoples in a completely open society with no historical or class barriers. It is a gift most Australians do not appreciate. Throw in our fun loving and relexed nature and because of our sheer numbers over here in Germany, we have left our mark on the World Cup Finals and Germany.
Now about that referee.......
From Kaiserlaitsen our next game was the quarter final between Italy and Ukraine in Hamburg.
Our tickets were TST series 6 - that means that we are guaranteed tickets through to the semi-finals. The tickets follow Australia and then follow whoever knocks out Australia - that meant we now follow Italy.
As a second generation Italian (half Italian/English) you might think that it would be pretty straightforward to swing my support behind Italy. But after Australia's exit I was feeling no afinity for Italy. It was a weird / flat feeling and I was seriously considering selling my ticket for the quarter final. While my heart said to sell the ticket my head said I did not come all this way to Germany to miss this quarter final. Plus I reasoned that maybe when I got into the ground I might just get caught up in all the excitement again.
My brother had picked up an Italian top earlier in the tournament. I also had a top that, without realising when I brought it along, was Italian blue. I had worn it early during the trip and suddenly realised people thought I was an Italian fan. So it quickly found itself at the bottom of the pile at the back of the cupboard. So we both had the option of wearing Italian colours to the quarter final. Rightfully we could wear Italian colours - we are of Italian heritage and we both hold an Australian and Italian passport. But we both insisted on putting on our Aussie gear including our Australian flags. We are proud to be Aussies and we are going to continue onwards wearing our Aussie colours.
Hamburg itself is a great city with a fantastic football stadium. Before the game we easily scalped a ticket for a third person in our party who did not have a ticket for the game. For the Australian games the prices for scalped tickets were in the range of Euro 200 to Euro 500 - five to ten times the original ticket price. For this quarter final the price for scalped tickets was below the original price - we paid Euro 50 for a Euro 85 ticket. As we got closer to the ground the scalper prices kept falling - outside the ground they were virtually giving away the tickets - hundreds of tickets available with no one buyers. Interesting all the tickets we saw available were from the Italian allocation - we were attempting to swap our third scalped ticket (which was in the Italian section) for a ticket closer to our TST tickets. So something had gone on with the Italian allocation such that a large number ended up in the hands of scalpers.
Inside the ground we found our seats - there were a few familiar Aussie faces around us and lots of empty seats. We chatted with the familiar faces and quickly made friends with the new faces around us - that was one of the main themes of the world cup in Germany - A time to make friends.
As the game neared kickoff we had expected the seats to fill up - but they didnt. Later the ground announcer would announce that the game was sold out - there was an ironic cheer that went around the ground because everyone knew there were thousands of empty seats - lucky if the ground was 90% full. Sure they might have sold all the 50,000 tickets but 10,000 of them were sitting in the hands of scalpers outside the ground.
<more to follow>
Our tickets were TST series 6 - that means that we are guaranteed tickets through to the semi-finals. The tickets follow Australia and then follow whoever knocks out Australia - that meant we now follow Italy.
As a second generation Italian (half Italian/English) you might think that it would be pretty straightforward to swing my support behind Italy. But after Australia's exit I was feeling no afinity for Italy. It was a weird / flat feeling and I was seriously considering selling my ticket for the quarter final. While my heart said to sell the ticket my head said I did not come all this way to Germany to miss this quarter final. Plus I reasoned that maybe when I got into the ground I might just get caught up in all the excitement again.
My brother had picked up an Italian top earlier in the tournament. I also had a top that, without realising when I brought it along, was Italian blue. I had worn it early during the trip and suddenly realised people thought I was an Italian fan. So it quickly found itself at the bottom of the pile at the back of the cupboard. So we both had the option of wearing Italian colours to the quarter final. Rightfully we could wear Italian colours - we are of Italian heritage and we both hold an Australian and Italian passport. But we both insisted on putting on our Aussie gear including our Australian flags. We are proud to be Aussies and we are going to continue onwards wearing our Aussie colours.
Hamburg itself is a great city with a fantastic football stadium. Before the game we easily scalped a ticket for a third person in our party who did not have a ticket for the game. For the Australian games the prices for scalped tickets were in the range of Euro 200 to Euro 500 - five to ten times the original ticket price. For this quarter final the price for scalped tickets was below the original price - we paid Euro 50 for a Euro 85 ticket. As we got closer to the ground the scalper prices kept falling - outside the ground they were virtually giving away the tickets - hundreds of tickets available with no one buyers. Interesting all the tickets we saw available were from the Italian allocation - we were attempting to swap our third scalped ticket (which was in the Italian section) for a ticket closer to our TST tickets. So something had gone on with the Italian allocation such that a large number ended up in the hands of scalpers.
Inside the ground we found our seats - there were a few familiar Aussie faces around us and lots of empty seats. We chatted with the familiar faces and quickly made friends with the new faces around us - that was one of the main themes of the world cup in Germany - A time to make friends.
As the game neared kickoff we had expected the seats to fill up - but they didnt. Later the ground announcer would announce that the game was sold out - there was an ironic cheer that went around the ground because everyone knew there were thousands of empty seats - lucky if the ground was 90% full. Sure they might have sold all the 50,000 tickets but 10,000 of them were sitting in the hands of scalpers outside the ground.
<more to follow>
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Golden Greek
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