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Where were you when Tim Cahill scored Australia’s first ever goal in the World Cup finals? Cast your mind back, because that was precisely five years and one day ago, and I doubt there’s a football fan in Australia who can’t remember watching Cahill’s historic toe-poke trickle home.
I was high up in the stands of the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern on that fateful afternoon, and I vividly recall it as one of the hottest days I’ve ever experienced.
I also recall a German fan who’d spent the entire match complaining about the heat hovering to my right, and he walked directly in front of me just as Cahill pulled the trigger.
So it was that I saw Australia’s first ever World Cup goal through the armpit of a neutral fan trying to leave, and I’m left to wonder if these kinds of things ever happened to Nick Hornby?
Eight days earlier my significant other and I rolled into Rotterdam to meet up with some fellow Australians for the friendly against the Netherlands at De Kuip.
It was another fun-filled afternoon of unforgettable football, particularly when we realised our tickets – bought from an agent at the appropriately exorbitant rates – meant we were standing amongst the hardcore Holland support.
Several Amstels and a crash-course in Dutch later and I left with the distinct impression the locals weren’t particularly fond of the Socceroos, especially when a couple of kids gave us the finger on our way out.
It’s hard to believe that was five years ago, and Australian football has come a long way since.
As a keen student of history, I’m humbled by the fact I was able to see so many historic moments in the flesh – a first World Cup goal, our first ever win, knocking out a European giant like Croatia.
And when I think back at just how much fun that trip was, I’m struck by the urge to implore fellow football fans to start saving and plan a football trip of their own.
For many Australian supporters, overseas football trips are a rite of passage – whether it’s something as momentous as a World Cup or simply hurtling across the ditch to catch an A-League game in Wellington.
That’s the beauty of football, it’s a sport universally loved across the globe, and I’ve made more friends and life-long memories than one might think possible simply by watching 22 players kick a round ball across some grass.
I’ll never forget the Socceroos’ feats in Germany, even though I’ve seen plenty of impressive performances from them since – not least a trip to the Asian Cup final earlier this year.
And I’ll never forget Tim Cahill’s little toe-poke to beat the hapless Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, a goal which set in motion an exhilarating emotional roller-coaster for every sports fan in Australia.
On a day when the Order of Australia medals are doled out for services to the country, surely we could do worse than spare a momentary thought for our Timmy?
I’ll go one better and raise a toast to the combative midfielder, who five years and one day ago conjured one of the greatest moments in Australian sports – then another – on one of the most memorable days in recent Australian sports history.