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I sincerely doubt there will ever be another Australian crowd as loud as the one that greeted the Socceroos in Homebush on the night of November 16, 2005.
Nor has a visiting team ever been as intimidated as Uruguay were when they lined up to face Australia at what was then known as Telstra Stadium.
At one point defender Diego Lugano looked around nervously during the Uruguayan national anthem – vociferously booed by Australian fans – and it became clear La Celeste were spooked by the white-hot atmosphere raining down from the stands.
Never before has an Australian crowd generated such an intense atmosphere, not even on that fateful night against Argentina back in 1993. And if the volume was loud prior to kick-off, it was nothing compared to the noise when John Aloisi smashed home from the spot.
My first memory of that incredible night ten years ago is not actually from the game itself; it’s of the mad scramble to buy tickets the morning they went on sale!
I remember telling my boss I was “popping out for a quick coffee” and getting back from Ticketek a harrowing two hours later, nerves frayed but with tickets eventually secured over the phone, as more than 40,000 fans booked via the ‘Football Family’ within hours.
Taking my place on the night high above the corner flag at the Australian end, it soon became apparent Socceroos fans were in no mood for pleasantries.
The prescient “Divine Right? Not Tonight!” banner – unfurled in reference to Uruguay star Alvaro Recoba’s pre-match quotes that Uruguay had a divine right to appear in the World Cup finals – seemed to galvanise the locals.
But it was the national anthems that really got everyone going. By the end of the first Uruguayan line, which was the point most fans inside the stadium realised it had started, an unrelenting jeer began to ring out around the ground.
It got louder the longer the anthem progressed, to the point that by the end the only thing you could hear was the sound of some 80,000 fans booing.
Much was made of the booing of the Uruguayan anthem, with FIFA supremo Sepp Blatter – he of unimpeachable morals – said to have been disgusted by the behaviour of Australian fans.
You know what? As the Uruguayan anthem rang out, I reckon I was booing louder than anyone.
It was hard not to. After the Socceroos had been kicked off the park and allegedly spat on in Montevideo; after Argentina and Iran and Uruguay once before; after 32 years of seemingly endless hurt, I would have done just about anything to try and help get Australia across the line.
We can argue about the ethics of it until the cows come home, but I’d venture to say that the majority of the Socceroos fans inside the ground felt exactly the same way.
As for the game itself, I’ve never felt so stressed in my life. When Mark Bresciano rattled home to level the tie, I didn’t so much as celebrate as I did relax for the first time that night.
By the time the game went to penalties, my nerves were shot. It didn’t help that I had already successfully entered the ballot for World Cup finals tickets, meaning that if Australia won the shoot-out, I was packing my bags for Germany.
History shows that Aloisi was the man to guide the Socceroos to their historic second World Cup finals appearance – with more than a little help from goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
And as the fans unfurled an “I Told You So” banner in tribute to the late Johnny Warren, I hugged the complete stranger next to me in teary jubilation.
It was that kind of night. As exhilarating as it feels to re-live it, I’m not sure we’ll see another game like it ever again.