Jesse, nice read, but i feel the romance has swept you away, a little. For all the marvels of Brazil and France, there was equally polar “dour” football being played in the then media dominant UK (has much changed, i wonder?) of the 70s and 80s.

It could be argued that presently there are teams still flying the flag of style AND substance. Not just athleticism of African nations, but the Silks of Japan, the silvery sardines of Portugal & Spain, the cohesion and selflessness of Turkey and the magnetic marauding mavericks of South America.

Australia needs to align itself with these types of footballing giants, aswell as the best robotics of Northern Europe. It may be a tricky marriage, but it’s a marriage worth saving, i think.

Only in Australian eyes…really. Nobody else thinks this. Absolutely nobody thought “Australia has showed us how to play without cynicism and still win” I think you will find that particular accolade goes to Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup who reached the Quarter Finals before very, very narrowly falling to England after one of the most incredible performances in World Cup history.

They beat Argentina, Columbia and Romania (with Hagi) along the way playing free flowing, flamboyant and pure football.

A little perspective please…..

Cannons HQ – a converted carport in Bruce…a terrible end for a wonderful franchise.

Let’s hope no A-League franchises end up in converted carports, eh Jesse! And to get back to your original post, in honour of the ‘06 Socceroos, here are some Old Myths I’d like to see destroyed for ‘08:

*That Sydney FC is the glamour club of the A-League
*That Europe is the only place to look to learn how to play (I am, you are, we are asia – or something like that)
*That clubs are more important than countries
*That diving is gamesmanship and therefore okay

I have a mate who was a Canberra Cannons nut (yeah really) whose prize possession is a video of him as this boganny boy from Tuggers (mullet, flanno, skin tight jeans and ugg boots) circa 1985 at Canberra airport to meet Herb and the boys bring the cup home, its gold.

My all time favourite cosmos moment was the last season when they moved to Seiffert to save costs and one night they beat Sydney Olympic 8 nil, unfortunately the rest of their existance was more comedy than cosmos.

Love the Raiders, also love the Socceroos because they instill some crazy emotion in my I can’t quite understand (PS – the greatest Australian sporting moment was Schwarzer SAVING the penalties not Aloisi kicking the goal…), Love North Melbourne football club because I was billeted with and AFL mad family when I was 13 and the impact of going to the G and watching this family scream like banshees had a huge impact on me.

I also love the French Rugby team because as they were being beaten by a bunch of lay about ACT amateurs in the early 80’s in front of my very eyes at Manuka oval they just looked SO GOOD (first time I’d seen a collar up in a footy jersey).

And I reckon even though I might take a Raider grand final win over a French test victory I’m pretty committed to all of them!

And it isn’t only cricket – Oz Cricket Team on Boxing Day = Lucas Neil at the Asian Cup

As for loving different codes equally, there are different perspectives Mick. When you grow up in Canberra you are at a weird cross section of States and as such we all grow up pretty well rounded in all of the major codes. The town is full of born and breds and blow ins who all have their own stories to tell.

I am a real Canberran (born next door in Queanbeyan like most of the founding fathers), I LOVE the raiders because I went to every game at Seifert Oval as a kid and (literally) stood around 22 gallon drums full of fire watching my beloved team get thrashed every week.

Now maybe thats just me, but ask yourself this hypothetical, In 2008 your team wins the AFL and the Socceroos get eliminated from the World Cup (and/or Perth Glory goes bust), is that a good year or a bad year?

If we’re all bringing up our earliest football memories i’ll tell you mine – it’s a bit more recent than all of yours… The late George Grljusich calling famous Glory names like Boutsianis, Kalegeracos and Despotvski over the radio as I kicked a ball around my front yard on Sunday afternoons in the 90s.

I think it might be that possession, time in opposition half, corners, free kicks, shots, shots on target all count for nothing if the other mob score more goals than you.

I feel for my 7 year old son, he should be able to enjoy his childhood without being exposed to such harsh realities.

Seemingly a lot of people don’t appreciate the truths in our great game and would much rather whittle away five days watching a match that they already know is only going to be won by one side. This is the same reason why our cinemas are full of badly made feel-good movies and rom-coms, where the losers predictably always win the big one and get the girls – something that couldn’t be further removed from reality. Everyone wants to be a winner, and the Australian cricket team is quite good at providing it’s followers with victories that they feel like they are a part of, if only because they are Aussies too.

When Australia equalised against Japan at the World Cup my closest friends (plus some strangers) and I celebrated like we’d won the lottery. When Totti slotted that penalty I sat in my living room stunned, heartbroken, and I didn’t move or speak much for about an hour. I’ve never come close to either emotional extreme while ever watching a game of cricket, or any other sport for that matter, regardless of the stakes.

In 90 minutes of football last night at Adelaide Oval I felt more emotion than I have experienced in the entirety of cricket, SANFL and Rugby matches I have seen at that venue. And believe me, I’ve been to quite a few. Perhaps the most telling feature of last night’s match was the atmosphere. I’ve never heard crowd interaction like that at Adelaide Oval ever before. I think that says something about the magical qualities of our game in comparison to the other codes. Maybe football deserves its own Boxing Day test.

Zico, skipper Socrates, Oscar & Junior (every Brazil team has a Junior?!). How could they lose with names like Socrates & Oscar? And 1986 also, but to an equally beatiful team in France. A Brazil-France final in either 1982 or 86 would have been what the game deserved. Or one title each. And Holland in 1990.

Sadly, it doesn’t always work out like that. johhny Warren argued we should play like the Brazilians. Like you Jesse, I watch sport to be moved. Sometimes, I can be over-critical. The hum-drum bores me. I can do that anytime!

p.s to josh of canberra. i is in spain, and yes 9 year olds are still allowed in bars, smoke, and ask for a” j.d and coke por favor”.

My first football memory was Buddy Curren scoring a goal from miles out that took the biggest deflection you ever saw for Newcastle KB United (circa ‘79) my recollection was NBN television repeating it ad naueseam.

Here is my theory on sport: sport is a bit like friendship. Kids can have lots of both and care deeply about them. As an adult you only have a limited capacity for a true close friendship, some say its only 1 some say 5. With sport my theory is that a true sports fan you can only have one sport that really grabs you. You can have a passing interest in others, you might watch a game, you can be moved by a particular athlete or story, but there is only one sport (or more likely even one team) that really grabs you. You mark games in your calendar, you arrange bbqs, family gatherings and holidays around them, you measure good or bad years by how your team went.

People who claim an interest in all sports are like the fakers with lots of mates but no friends. In the media Tracey Holmes is the worst example of this. The Back Page on Fox is home to a bunch of these fakers. In defence of your old foe Fitz at least he has the good grace to say he has no interest in certain sports.

I loved reading the late Matt Price talk about Freo footy club, Nick Hornby and Arsenal in Fever Pitch, Norman Mailer talk about boxing in When We Were Kingsor listen to Phil Liggett on cycling.

My theory diverges from you because I am not sure that I wouldn’t be happier if my team won ugly than lost gloriously.

I am always a bit sceptical about the robotics v style argument. The same examples come up McEnroe v Federer, Palmer v Nicklause, Seve v Faldo. Golf and Tennis are good case studies, the level that both are played at now is unbelievable, but I can’t watch more than 2 minutes at a time.

I think they are boring because I am not moved by it. There is no tribalism, they are events for what Roy Keane called the cucumber sandwich brigade. As an example my work has spent a small fortune buying tickets to the Men’s amd womens Aust open final to take some clients. No idea who will be playing but it doesn’t matter. It is an “event” and the whole crowd will be full of fakers. Presumably the same thing happens at every golf and tennis tournament around the world. I am not sure it would have been any better in Palmer’s or Seve’s or McEnroe’s day, its just the water cooler stories would have been better.

One of the things that caught my interest is how at the end you said that even if we lose but do it in style and grace that can sometimes overpower the sense of losing. Do you feel this is why aussies love their socceroos more post world cup because of the heart that they showed against italy even though weez were robbed at the end.

Also combining this cricket vs soccer blog what do you think of sydney fc playing adelaide at the adelaide oval tonight. Is it as kossie says a backwards step for the game or is it like another source of multi use that affects a-leage games(ie melbourne at home with the field messed up by afl, sydney league etc,)

P.S. Do the spaniards always allow 9 year olds into bars?