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If Tony Abbott thinks he understands pressure, he’d do well to actually learn the name of the Socceroos’ captain.
Mile Jedinak knows all about performing under scrutiny, and his courageous team has united the nation.
Australia’s gaffe-laden Prime Minister infamously called Australia’s national skipper “Mike” in a bumbling video tribute on the eve of the World Cup.
It was yet another measure of just how out of touch with everyday Australians the incumbent federal government is, with the notion that the Socceroos might be a multicultural outfit apparently lost on a former private schoolboy and his increasingly incompetent staff.
Yet when Jedinak stepped up to the penalty spot to face Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen from 11 metres yesterday, whatever anyone calls him was the last thing on Jedinak’s mind.
Not since John Aloisi sent the Socceroos to the 2006 World Cup has there been such pressure on an Australian penalty-taker, and Jedinak’s steely determination was practically etched onto his face.
When the Crystal Palace midfielder strode forward and smashed an unstoppable spot-kick into the bottom corner, he gave Australians everywhere hope that the Socceroos could beat one of the best teams in the world.
That they failed to do so was largely down to three pieces of poor defending and Tommy Oar’s inability to adequately get the ball out from between his feet.
But for all the plaudits Ange Postecoglou’s team received in the wake of one of Australia’s greatest ever performances, there’s one which bodes particularly well for our fast-developing side.
On the basis of the performances of Asian teams at the World Cup so far, Australia should fancy its chances of winning the AFC Asian Cup on home soil next January.
Granted, most teams have only played one game each, but the Socceroos have nevertheless looked the most impressive Asian representative by far.
The Japanese were bitterly disappointing in surrendering the lead during their meek 2-1 loss to the Cote d’Ivoire, where the introduction of the pedestrian Yasuhito Endo instantly killed whatever momentum the Samurai Blue had garnered in one fell swoop.
Iran were inexplicably negative in their scoreless draw with Nigeria, while Korea Republic fell to pieces as soon as Russia needed to chase the game following Lee Keun-Ho’s lucky opener.
That’s not to say that the likes of Japan and South Korea won’t recover, nor that results in the World Cup will seriously determine the heavyweights of the Asian Cup in six months’ time.
But what the results have so far reinforced is that Japan have a tendency to crumble under pressure, while the Koreans aren’t perhaps as strong as they’d like the rest of the world to believe.
When it comes to making a statement, it’s only the Socceroos who’ve done it so far.
It was hard not to sympathise with Postecoglou when he admitted to being “heartbroken” at losing a game against the Dutch that Australia had legitimate chances to win.
While everyone cried out for Oar to shoot when he had the chance, what most of the analysts missed was the fact that his poor second touch placed the ball between his two feet – forcing him to skew wildly into the path of the unsuspecting Mathew Leckie.
The latter has been one of the finds of the tournament – how on earth is he still playing in the German second division? – and if Oar’s ‘cross’ had landed at any height except for shin-level, we’d probably be toasting a famous Socceroos victory.
Instead, it’s yet another gallant defeat on the back of some painfully naïve defending.
However, even though Australia failed to collect all three points, for 90 minutes they unified the nation in a way our hapless Prime Minister can only dream.
What’s more, they did enough to suggest the Socceroos will be a serious force in next year’s Asian Cup.