- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Australian Socceroos during a training session in Brisbane. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Leave it to Vinnie Grella to drum up a bit of trans-Tasman rivalry. The midfield enforcer has always been one of Australia’s most passionate players, but he was less than impressed with Rory Fallon’s claim that there could be “a few injuries” when the Socceroos meet the All Whites on Monday night.
It was Fallon’s claim that New Zealand were ready to “get stuck in” during Monday night’s friendly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that managed to get Grella’s goat up, with the Socceroos veteran labelling the suggestion “unprofessional.”
Maybe Grella and Fallon can duke it out State Of Origin-style after the first throw-in, but I for one am just glad that someone has got the mainstream media talking about what is supposed to be Australia’s glittering farewell clash.
A final fling on home soil it may be, but compared to the scenes of jubilation when Josip Skoko volleyed home before a crowd of more than 95,000 screaming fans in 2006, this farewell match has the potential to be a bit of a damp squib.
Already an underwhelming choice of opponent for many fans – despite the long-standing Antipodean links with our Kiwi cousins – the build-up to the game is also markedly different from what it was four years ago.
Where Guus Hiddink enjoyed the momentum generated by one of the most thrilling sudden-death victories ever witnessed in Australian sport, Pim Verbeek instead watched his team bulldoze through Asian qualifying with maximum efficiency and the bare minimum of high drama.
It’s been a slow-burn kind of build-up to Australia’s second consecutive World Cup appearance, and far from viewing the MCG showdown as a chance to settle old scores, the Socceroos understandably see the match as little more than a useful opportunity to shake out a few cobwebs.
There’s nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned, but unfortunately for those monitoring box office sales, one wonders what kind of impact such a low-key approach will have on the overall attendance figure.
And unlike previous crowd figure debates – which admittedly have had little to do with the actual football on display – this time the friendly marks the first match played after Football Federation Australia officially submitted its bid to host the World Cup.
The potential sight of thousands of empty seats ringing the cavernous MCG is not a good look, however I’m not sure that ticket prices ranging between $40 – $95 to watch a Kiwi side containing plenty of A-League talent is a sure-fire seat filler.
That said, I hope that the growing football culture in this country persuades tens of thousands of supporters to turn out in support of their team, and I expect that a crowd figure of around 60,000 will be considered a success.
New Zealand might not be the kind of glamour opponent that many fans expected to see in a venue that was booked eons ago, however the chance to farewell our footballers en route to a World Cup is something that we could only dream of in the not so distant past.
On a different note, this column marks my 100th for The Roar, and I’d like thank each and every one of you for reading my thoughts and for sharing your own on this beautiful game we call football.
I never wracked up the magic milestone in my dashing park cricket career, but in the one hundred columns to date it’s been a privilege to engage with readers as far afield as Phnom Penh and Osaka, and of course with those of you a little closer to home.
Regardless of our our personal opinions, it’s a love of football that makes us a community, and I – for one – couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.