The Road to Empyrean
OK, maybe the post heading is a bit grandiose... So sue me.
For the first time in living memory, Australia has beaten Uruguay in the World Cup Qualifiers to make it through to the World Cup in Germany next year. Well, my living memory at least - the last time Australia qualified for the World Cup was in 1974 (and I was born in 1973). Wahoooooooo!!!! (OK, yes, I'm a little bit excited....just a little...wahoooooo!)
In front of a crowd of almost 83,000 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney last night Australia scored (through a play started by Cahill, then Viduka, Kewell & finally Bresciano) after 36 minutes. That levelled the aggregate score (after Uruguay beat Australia 1-0 in Montevideo last weekend) and forced 30 minutes extra time when the game ended at 1-0 (despite some very dubious Spanish referring IMHO). Extra time yielded no more goals but Uruguay were very lucky to hang on that long - Australia was pushing very hard and obviously wanted to win but Uruguay just looked tired.
Next: the dreaded penalty shootout. The heathen tend to complain that soccer (i.e. football) is too slow, there aren't enough goals and that shootouts are exciting. But they can't grasp the fact that the elusiveness of goals just builds the tension making the game all the more exciting. (My wife was laughing at me last night because I was literally on the edge of my seat for the last hour fidgeting & jigging around.) Well, despite the 1-0 scoreline at the end of 120 minutes of football, I don't think anyone could claim that the game was boring.
Schwarzer is a bit of an Aussie legend this morning after saving two penalties in the shootout. I think Kewell & Schwarzer were the 2 best players on the pitch. Keepers are very under-rated (and being a keeper in a previous life and participating in a few shootouts I know what the pressure is like (although on a much, much smaller scale)). I lost a great deal of respect for Recoba not long before the game when he gave a press conference and was quoted as saying said stuff like Uruguay had a much grander football history, were much better than Australia, deserved to go to the world cup, had a divine right to go and he was sure at the end of the game Uruguay would be going to Germany next year. (I may have to trade in my Inter jersey for a Juvi one.) Well, guess what Alvaro? Australia aren't quite as weak as you think! And it wasn't just luck - Australia deserved that win and they deserved it in normal time (and then again in extra time) and not just as a result of a shootout.
I know it's "just" the qualifiers and not even the world cup itself, but to us Aussies this is a big deal. And while it may not literally be Empyrean, Elysiam, Heaven or Paradise, it's one hell of a national high! (gotta love endorphins).
Aussie Aussie Aussie...oi oi oi
For the first time in living memory, Australia has beaten Uruguay in the World Cup Qualifiers to make it through to the World Cup in Germany next year. Well, my living memory at least - the last time Australia qualified for the World Cup was in 1974 (and I was born in 1973). Wahoooooooo!!!! (OK, yes, I'm a little bit excited....just a little...wahoooooo!)
In front of a crowd of almost 83,000 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney last night Australia scored (through a play started by Cahill, then Viduka, Kewell & finally Bresciano) after 36 minutes. That levelled the aggregate score (after Uruguay beat Australia 1-0 in Montevideo last weekend) and forced 30 minutes extra time when the game ended at 1-0 (despite some very dubious Spanish referring IMHO). Extra time yielded no more goals but Uruguay were very lucky to hang on that long - Australia was pushing very hard and obviously wanted to win but Uruguay just looked tired.
Next: the dreaded penalty shootout. The heathen tend to complain that soccer (i.e. football) is too slow, there aren't enough goals and that shootouts are exciting. But they can't grasp the fact that the elusiveness of goals just builds the tension making the game all the more exciting. (My wife was laughing at me last night because I was literally on the edge of my seat for the last hour fidgeting & jigging around.) Well, despite the 1-0 scoreline at the end of 120 minutes of football, I don't think anyone could claim that the game was boring.
Schwarzer is a bit of an Aussie legend this morning after saving two penalties in the shootout. I think Kewell & Schwarzer were the 2 best players on the pitch. Keepers are very under-rated (and being a keeper in a previous life and participating in a few shootouts I know what the pressure is like (although on a much, much smaller scale)). I lost a great deal of respect for Recoba not long before the game when he gave a press conference and was quoted as saying said stuff like Uruguay had a much grander football history, were much better than Australia, deserved to go to the world cup, had a divine right to go and he was sure at the end of the game Uruguay would be going to Germany next year. (I may have to trade in my Inter jersey for a Juvi one.) Well, guess what Alvaro? Australia aren't quite as weak as you think! And it wasn't just luck - Australia deserved that win and they deserved it in normal time (and then again in extra time) and not just as a result of a shootout.
I know it's "just" the qualifiers and not even the world cup itself, but to us Aussies this is a big deal. And while it may not literally be Empyrean, Elysiam, Heaven or Paradise, it's one hell of a national high! (gotta love endorphins).
Aussie Aussie Aussie...oi oi oi
posted by Mike Hodgson | 09:41
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