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As Socceroos talisman Tim Cahill was flown by helicopter over Melbourne’s morning traffic into a city centre promotion for sponsor Weet-Bix, it neatly illustrated just what a rise in public consciousness the Australian soccer team has had in the past four years.
The Socceroos gathered for their pre-tournament training camp in Melbourne on Wednesday as a very big deal in Australian sport.
Last time it was celebrations just for getting there. They went into overdrive once Australia exceeded all expectations and went to the round of 16.
This time there’s genuine demand for Australia to at least match their second stage finish in Germany.
To go with that, the nation’s sporting fans now know exactly who they’re dealing with.
Four years ago, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka were the only two Socceroos the average Australian would have identified in a line-up.
Now, any of those who were starters in Germany four years ago – Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, Brett Emerton and company – register on the casual sports fan’s radar.
Cahill, Mark Schwarzer and skipper Lucas Neill have gone to a higher plane.
The Everton midfielder has emerged as the Socceroos’ go-to man, goalkeeper Schwarzer its rock, and Neill its heartthrob since the 2006 cup.
More than one thousand fans braved a six-degree morning to share a Weet-Bix brekkie with Cahill, Schwarzer and several teammates as part of a public feting in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday.
Then a thousand more did the night shift, turning up at Melbourne’s new rectangular stadium AAMI Park for a Socceroos’ training session open to the public.
A team photograph opened proceedings, then fans cheered their slow warm-up laps ahead of the first session of their pre-World Cup tournament.
The rock star, chopper-to-the-door treatment for Cahill suggests the Socceroos have well and truly arrived.
But it will be how far they go in South Africa which determines whether the obvious public goodwill for the team can sustain it beyond a huge year for Australian soccer as the World Cup campaign and World Cup hosting bid loom.
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