Well, the dream of winning the 2011 Asian Cup and hosting the event as defending champions in 2015 is over.
In the coming weeks and months, the machine that is football in Australia will shift its focus to the longer term goal of generational change and qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the dreaming will begin all over again.
I was reading an article from The Guardian about the remarkable rise of Tiago Manuel Dias Correia, otherwise known as Bebe.
The quote at the end of the article caught my attention: “I had a dream of playing for a major club. That dream has come true. Football can change lives.”
This got me thinking about the football dreams that every fan has. I have often wondered what it would be like to step onto the pitch to represent your country. I am sure I am not alone.
The problem for me is that this is more of a football fantasy than a football dream; the difference being that the former simply won’t happen while the latter might just one day become a reality.
The lack of anything closely resembling a first touch and the inability to dribble with my head up are just two of the many nails in the coffin of my chances to earn a living from playing football.
But this does bring me to my football dream. Whilst I may not be able to pay off my mortgage through my efforts on the field, I still have a dream that I will be able to make a living from football.
That living could be earned from writing about football or having a role in an organisation that works in football or working on a football related project like hosting an Asian Cup. Actually getting paid for working at a job that involves a passion of mine is very appealing.
There are some obstacles in the way of such a dream and in the end some of these may prove insurmountable, but such a situation is more realistic than me scoring a hat-trick on debut for the Socceroos (and before you ask, yes I have thought about which three goals I would like to score, but that’s a topic for another post).
It will also involve the making of choices, some of which will be quite difficult. Do I compete to progress in my current career so one day my family has limited problems when it comes to money? Or do I take a massive career change (and most likely pay cut) and follow my dream in working in a field that is linked to football?
I guess that it was this dream that motivated me after the World Cup to start getting my posts published as a tentative first step in exploring what options may be out there.
I’m a long way off becoming the next Fozzie (I can’t even get the knots on my ties to be as big as his) but I believe there is some usefulness in holding onto some dreams if they allow you to pursue alternatives that you might otherwise write off.
In 12 months time, I could still be writing these posts and still trying to work out how to make my dream a reality.
Alternatively, I could be paid for working on or writing about Australia’s efforts to be ready to host the 2015 World Cup and the development of football in this country.
If it’s the latter, it will be safe to say that I will be living the dream.
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Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
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