AchtungBono said:
Here's one Aussie supporter who totally agrees that you guys got cheated...
I love the Socceroos and I would love to read your article.....
Thanks and here it is! Be warned its a little long and I didn't know how to post a link. I think I also may have a few facts wrong. Leave some feeback please!
How the World Cup Stole the Hearts and Minds of a Nation
By Daniel Paproth
Guus Hiddink is a legend in many more ways than one. After a lacklustre career himself, he tackled coaching, and after successful stints in Holland, he came to the aid of 2002 World Cup host nation South Korea. Against all the odds, the country, previously virtually unknown on a world soccer level before, made the semi-finals before gallantly bowing out. Four years later he was back again, this time at the hands of Australia, a place where AFL dominates and Soccer is lucky to take out half a page in most newspapers. There was a mountainous task ahead.
Few will remember what happened in 2002. Australia, with the likes Viduka and Kewell and Schwarzer finally getting some recognition, traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay, to play for a spot in the World Cup being held in Japan and South Korea. Soccer grabbed the attention of Aussies back home, many unaware that Australia even had a soccer team. Needless to say, the Socceroos went down 3-1, their apparent World Cup dream over.
For a few weeks afterwards, soccer stirred interest. Coach Frank Farina was under pressure, players seemed uninspired. Australia was getting a harsh deal, they said. The Oceania group held only ½ a spot so the winner of the Oceania qualifiers would need to play another country to be guaranteed entry to the World Cup. Later this would be solved by moving Australia into the Asian section, but for a while Australian people sympathised for this Aussie squad. But then they realised footy was on that weekend, and soccer was all but forgotten.
Enter Guus Hiddink. Frank Farina, through all his trials and tribulations, it has to be said never lead the Socceroos to any real success, bar beating weak Oceania teams and England in a friendly. But Hiddink changed the team. Put them through a more rigorous training schedule. Dropped players who had always held the belief they were safe under Farina. Selected unknowns and put his faith into them. Eventually the Socceroos were off to, once again, Uruguay. The pains of four years before slowly came creeping back. But you sensed this time something was different. There was a hunger, a passion, a desire to attain recognition and support in the eyes of Australians.
The Socceroos left Uruguay still not guaranteed a place in the Germany 2006 World Cup, needing only a 1-1 draw to get through. And the decider would be played in Sydney. The stage was set. A record crowd got to the game to cheer the Socceroos on, and in amazing scenes the Aussies did what was needed to win. We were off to the World Cup. For the first time in 32 years. For a moment, Guus Hiddink became a saint.
On their way, Australia would beat the European champions Greece 1-0, draw with soccer superstars Holland 1 all, beat a Dutch side 8-1, and win against the lowly-ranked Lietechestein, albeit unconvincingly. All of a sudden, Australian soccer stole the hearts and minds of all Australians, both home-grown and oriental, who willed them on. The Socceroos became the little team that could.
The draw came out: Australia had ended up in Group F, with lightweights Japan, Croatia, who had half a team of Aussies, as we had half a team of Croats, and six-time World Cup winners Brazil. Not the easiest Group, but this team had already enough defied odds to prove they could overcome tough challenges.
Soccer even became THE sport in Australia for a while. As the opening game drew nearer, soccer expanded from brief stories in the back pages of the sport to two or three or four pages, and even AFL seemed to pale in comparison. Then the World Cup kicked off. And it well truly took a nation with it.
The game against Japan was awe-inspiring. The Aussies, the underdogs, the team who had never kicked a goal at world cup level, booted three goals in eight minutes, almost unheard of in general soccer games. That was all we needed. Soccer became huge after that victory. The hype leading into the Brazil game was massive, and all the talk was of an upset, maybe a draw or even a win. Unlikely, but we dared to dream.
But the referees – known to at times favour the bigger, more intimidating nations – gave Brazil 25 free kicks to the Socceroos 9. After a tight first half, in which Australia managed to keep the scoreline at nil-all, the Brazilians broke the deadlock with a skillful goal through Ronaldo and Adriano. And despite the relentless attacking by the Aussies, the shots by Bresciano, Kewell, Viduka, etc were all either stopped or off-target. In the dying minutes Brazilian substitute Fred came on and within minutes had a goal, leaving a previously respectable scoreline at 2-0.
The result meant that to get through, Australia needed to either draw or beat Croatia, and Japan had to lose to Brazil, which was almost a given. As the Croatia/Australia clash was talked up in the media, it seemed everyone had jumped on the growing bandwagon.
The Croatia game was a see-sawing affair. After a goal in the opening minutes to Croatia, the Socceroos attacked ruthlessly, eventually being rewarded with a penalty to Craig Moore, who duly delivered to the top-left corner. Another Croatian goal in the second half and the Aussies were in dire straits. But in a moment which has gone down in Australian sporting history, a long pass to Harry Kewell resulted in a brilliant goal, giving the Socceroos a 2-all draw and a place in the next round.
The goal was replayed at every opportunity, and scenes in Federation Square and other locations were wild and jubilant. As it turned out, Australia would be playing Italy in the second round, meaning that Melbourne’s most cultured street, Lygon Street, would become a loud and passionate place to be game time.
The euphoria surrounding the oriental clash between the Azzuri and the Socceroos was gigantic. Lygon Street shop owners even made the news, telling their stories of preparation for the perhaps the biggest sporting challenge any Australian team had ever faced. The game that followed failed somewhat to live up to exhilaration of the fans, that was until injury time. After a great display against the soccer greats, the Socceroos had kept the Italians scoreless, although they hadn’t managed to score themselves. But in the dying seconds of the game, Lucas Neill, in a desperate attempt to keep the score at nil-all, made a perfectly legal tackle. But in a disgraceful style true to soccer, the player took a blatant dive, cheaply falling over Neill’s chest, and in an a downright disappointing decision, the umpire decided it would a be a penalty, to be taken from point blank range. He scored, ending Australia’s magnificent and inspiring run against the powerhouses of international soccer, as all too familiar ‘hard-luck’ stories raged the nation. Even the Italians sympathised. For this aspiring journalist it was hard to get to sleep that night. As it would have been for millions of other Australians, turned into Socceroo fans, at least for a few weeks.
After some pain subsided, it became clear that the losses to Italy and Brazil, the draw against Croatia and the still-amazing win against Japan turned Soccer from virtually unknown in Australia to something that grappled the nation’s attention, overcame all odds to truly inspire a sports-mad country.
And the man who started it all, Guus Hiddink, has left behind a legacy which will no doubt transform soccer into a much more powerful being. To steal the attention of Aussie sports fans from AFL to a much less exciting game is no mean feat. It still isn’t the number one game in Australia, and it never will be, but we know that from now on, for one month every four years, the attention will turn to the world game.
And for that, we owe Guus Hiddink a beer or two.