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This article is intended as a bit of a plea, mainly to those Socceroos fans who are writing such bile, and taking the 4-0 result against Germany so badly.
I join you all in being sad at this result, and in the way we played. However, rather than throw it all in remember:
1. We are in the World Cup. Repeat that again… we are in the World Cup. Ask a Socceroo fan 10, 20 or 30 years back just how worse off we are given that basic fact. We could only dream of being here just a few campaigns ago.
2. In our much-lauded 2006 campaign, we also lost a group game against a seeded opponent. However, we got through the group. Sure, we played poorly, but we are actually not in any worse position than we were last time around.
We got our points from two games then, and we need to do so again this time around. Our one hope is that Germany help us by winning its other two games as convincingly as they did against us.
3. Bear in mind that Serbia has also lost a game, yet they still have to face Germany. I’d argue they are in a worse position than us.
4. Most of all, remember that finally we are playing the world game. A game where just being there and competing is an amazing achievement. I’ve read a whole lot of blog posts writing off football and the Socceroos, and saying we can now get back to ‘our’ games. Piffle.
What an un-Australian reaction – to take a loss so badly that we throw in the towel and go back to less competitive, smaller sporting pastimes. No, let’s take this result in all its honesty and brutality and step up. As supporters, we should look at this and say that in 20 years we want to be able to do to teams what Germany did to us the other night.
So for me, yes it was a reality check of our standard, and of what can happen when we do not bring our ‘A’ game. But it is not a disaster for this World Cup. And it’s not time for us to wave the white flag. Whether in the coming weeks, or in the coming years, we should use this to move forward.
I will always be proud of the Socceroos.
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