Where were you when John Aloisi scored that penalty? It is a question that any Australian sports fan can answer without hesitation as Australia leaped into its first world cup since 1974 in dramatic fashion.
My answer to that question is that I was an 11-year-old boy sitting in the living room of my family home erupting when Fozzy screamed that ‘Australia have done it’, finally we had a ticket to the hottest event on earth.
That moment produced the catalyst for support and momentum building towards a successful world cup campaign.
Yet the 2010 world cup campaign failed to build the same momentum, the Socceroos a victim of their own clinical success. Without a major hiccup they qualified for South Africa and it seemed that the Australian public had accepted that qualification in Asia was easy, as the tide now changed from hope to expectation.
Yet four years later Australia’s attempt for one of 32 prized tickets to Rio was far from easy. Defeats to Jordan and a hapless draw against Oman had halted momentum and Australia now had to face the fact that the rest of the region had caught up, they no longer intimidated nations within Asia.
So Tuesday night saw the most important game of football played in Australia since that infamous night, the equation was simple, a win and a guaranteed plane ticket to Brazil.
But a spirited Iraqi team proved that nothing is a done deal in football, as a nation held its breath in the 74th minute when scores were locked and several missed opportunities had gone begging. 1997 all over again, we were all thinking it as the ghost of Australia’s troubled world cup past seemed to suffocate the 80,000 supporters that had sold out Stadium Australia.
The mood then swept from suffocation to disbelief as the sideline official held up the number 4, signalling that Tim Cahill was to be replaced. The look on Australian fans’ faces was all the same, surely not Cahill? if anybody was going to send us to Brazil it was going to be our Talisman, one of the greatest men ever to pull on an Australian jersey who always rose to the occasion.
But a Frustrated Cahill became replaced by Josh Kennedy and this is where another Australian sporting fairy- tale begins. Kennedy had been in the international wilderness and many doubted if he would ever return but finally his chance of redemption had come on the biggest of all stages.
Six Minutes later veteran midfielder Marco Bresciano produced a majestic cross that was leaped upon by Kennedy, the tall man getting high to head the ball into the back of the net and skyrocket the Socceroos to Brazil.
For the second time in his life, Marco Bresciano had produced a piece of brilliance at the biggest of stages, following his goal against Uruguay in 2005. Yet the spotlight will not shine on Bresciano, instead on a 30 year old striker from Victoria whose face shares an uncanny resembles to Jesus Christ himself.
Hands spread wide in jubilation before he was swamped by his team mates, Kennedy had produced a moment that captured the hearts of a nation.
The underdog, the man who nobody gave a chance, had redeemed himself on the biggest of all stages. Australians love it when the underdog wins and this is exactly why the footage will before etched in Australian sporting folklore.
Without a doubt it will not rival the emotion off 2005, it is doubtful that any Australian sporting moment ever will. But Kennedy’s header will be right up there. While Aloisi’s penalty signalled hope and opportunity the dawning of a new era, Kennedy’s header represents just how far we have come since that night in 2005.
Three consecutive world cups ensures that 2005 was no fluke, that it was not due to a brilliant coach or an era of superstars. In 2013, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka were absent, instead Tommy Oar and Robbie Kruse emerged as the new talismen of Australian football.
Sport is all about producing moments of brilliance, moments that captivate and inspire people, that unite individuals together from all walks of life, no matter race, religion or gender.
Tuesday night produced another one of those moments and it is why Australian sporting folklore will always remember ‘that Josh Kennedy header’.
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