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Is it England? We all love to beat them. And that 3-1 victory sure was sweet. But what about Japan? The World Cup match was epic. We also faced them in the Asian Cup and Asian Champions League, and there’s always great competition between two regional powerhouses.
And then there’s Iran.
Anyone who saw ‘that match’ in 1997 is waiting for the day to get revenge. Only when we eliminate Iran from the World Cup Qualifiers will we ever exorcise that ghost.
South Korea?
In the 1974 World Cup qualifier, Australia was 2-0 down, but then came back to equalise. Australia did ‘an Iran’ over the South Koreans and that was their equivalent of that national disaster.
That playoff series was just as bad to South Koreans as what the Iran match was for Australia.
However, all that said, I think our greatest rival is Iraq.
Here’s a history to suggest why:
1. Australia send occupying forces to Iraq in 2003. You can’t have great rivalries without politics and it’s even better when war is involved.
2. Iraq played Oman in the first match of the Asia Cup. When Iraq scored the first goal, the players started hopping like Kangaroos. Already they were taking the piss out of Australia
3. When Iraq scored a goal against Australia, they went to the Australian crowd section and started taunting the fans.
4. Lucas Neill was getting incredibly frustrated (along with many Australian fans) with the diving and time wasting antics of the Iraq national team and started complaining to the referee about it. This got him sent off for dissent.
5. Mark Shield gave Captain, Younis Mahmood, a yellow card for diving in the Asia Cup final, which caused Younis Mahmood to threaten to lead his team off the pitch out of protest. Mark Shield called his bluff and just said go ahead. Hell, there’s even animosity between Iraq team and our Australian referee.
6. Nashad Akram, the star Iraqi player, in an interview with The World Game after the Asia Cup accused Australian players of arrogance and ignorance of Asian culture. He also accused us of complacency and underestimating the opposition. He claimed that Australia did not give the Iraqi team enough respect.
7. Vince Grella then accused the Iraq team (along with other Asian teams) of not giving the Socceroos respect. He complains about Iraqi hopping like kangaroos and taunting our fans and said that the Iraqi team were taking the piss out of our country.
8. Iraqi FA charged Australian fans twenty times more than Arab speaking fans, enraging every Socceroos fan.
9. Every match between Australia and Iraq at senior and Olympic levels has been competitive and a good stoush between two evenly match team. There’s no match where one side has been outclassed.
This has all the elements of an intense rivalry.
To the Iraqi people, Australia may be one of the sides they want to beat the most (along with the USA, Iran, and perhaps Kuwait). It ticks all the boxes for a good rivalry: it has politics, animosity from fans, a war of words between the players of the two teams, and evenly matched encounters.
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