The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

'A national disgrace!' The silly reaction to our defeat to Jordan

9th October, 2015
Advertisement
Massimo Luongo helped QPR to a controversial win. (AFP PHOTO/GLYN KIRK)
Roar Pro
9th October, 2015
59
1740 Reads

One loss in nine international fixtures and the Socceroos are once again the victims of ridiculous, uneducated hyperbole on social media.

Armchair experts from Perth to Penrith are using Friday morning’s 2-0 away loss at the hands of the un-fancied Jordanians as a reason to vent the ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’ built up internally following an inexplicable number of opportunities ignored by the Socceroos to disgrace the nation.

Let’s get one thing straight, no one was happy with this result. That goes for both true supporters of Australian sport and those ‘Australians’ who have spent the last ten months waiting for the Socceroos to fail.

However, performances like these must be considered rationally, rather than from a viewpoint of nationalistic ethnocentrism, where our society is so focussed on national affairs – and success in less global sports – thereby creating a sense of historically-ignorant self-importance where anything less than immediate, tangible success is not worthy of recognition.

This specific complexity of the game’s status in Australian culture can be compared to its position in the US. Both nations are, almost by default, global powerhouses in their national sports. Anything less than sweet, sweet victory in sports such as football being seen as an affront to national pride and something that should be obnoxiously shunned from societal water-cooler chit-chat.

Naturally, this is not susceptible to a thoughtful critique of games such as the loss in Amman. As such, they should instead be analysed by using mystical innovations such as “facts” and “historical evidence”.

By using these oh so wonderful tools, we recognise that the Socceroos have never really had a qualification campaign without at least one subpar result. This dates all the way back to our very first qualification match in 1965, a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the North Koreans.

Qualification for 1970 started promisingly, with back to back wins away to Japan and South Korea being the highlight, but the boys in green and gold fell at the final hurdle against the Israelis.

Advertisement

Our fabled team of 1974 made history by qualifying for the World Cup, but this was not a bump-free ride. A 3-3 draw against New Zealand followed a narrow 2-1 home draw against Indonesia were just enough for the Aussies to qualify for the final round and even then they needed three games to overcome South Korea.

Shocking. I feel my sense of patriotism escaping my very being.

The immediate years following qualification was underlined by results such as home losses to Kuwait (1977) and New Zealand (1981) as well as an away defeat to Indonesia (1981) and, more astoundingly than that, a 1-0 loss in Fiji in 1988.

The start of the 1994 campaign was also cause for concern with narrow wins against the likes of the Solomon Islands (2-1) and Tahiti (2-0). The 1998 and 2002 campaigns were highlighted by the infamous one-sided affairs in the OFC, namely the 31-0 demolition of American Samoa in 2001.

Shockingly, these individual results had no bearing on the success of our performance overall and we again faced disappointment at the final hurdle.


Then came the one we’ll never forget, the qualification campaign for the 2006 World Cup and that magical night in Sydney where we broke the Socceroo hoodoo. However, as we all remember, celebrations were soured by the national feeling of embarrassment after only winning 2-1 away to the Solomon Islands.

If anything, I think it should be stricken from the record.

Advertisement

It’s not all bad though. Our participation in the Asian confederation has brought about losses away to the likes of Iraq, China, Oman and Jordan (now twice!) haven’t stopped us qualifying for three consecutive World Cups, nor have poor results against Thailand (2-1), Uzbekistan (1-0) and Oman (2-2). 

What we must realise when looking at qualification results in Asia is that we have struggled on away trips, regardless of opposition. Further, when we do win, it’s rarely by a cricket score and that is in no way against a criticism.

We have all seen enough ‘underdog’ performances in recent years, both at club and international level, to recognise that no game of football is a guarantee (Faroe Islands versus Greece anyone?). Games like Jordan’s victory are examples of what makes football great.

It’s nothing new for Australia, or any supposed favourite, to be on the wrong side of games like these. By all means be disappointed by the performance, poor tactics or perceived lack of effort but look at the facts before blurting out nonsense. It happened in the bad times and it’ll happen in the good times ahead.

close