It still gives me goose bumps. A whole decade on, any snippet of that famous football night at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium can bring tears, elation and astonishingly, nerves.
It’s like there’s a chance Doc Brown has somehow got into the Delorean and gone back in time to do something to change the end result.
Football fans can get crazy like that. I mean, we blamed a Mozambique witch doctor’s curse for 32 years of glorious failure when it came to qualifying for the World Cup finals.
There will be many articles written, opinions ventured and debates raged in the coming week, a week in which football celebrates the 10th anniversary of probably the most memorable night in Australian sporting history, let alone football history.
It is also a week in which the man most responsible for the change in the game here steps down as chairman of Football Federation Australia. Frank Lowy, along with FFA executives Phil Wolanski and Brian Schwartz will relinquish their positions.
But back to that night.
No Australian football fan needs reminding of the story; the narrative of the Socceroos’ quest for the holy grail of the sport is hard-wired into every heartbeat, every held breath, every shed tear.
And on November 16, 2005, there were tears, but finally they were tears of joy not sorrow. One of my best friends bought me a ticket to that game as a birthday present. He had never been to a Socceroos game in his life.
Afterwards, as I wept on his shoulder he declared that this was the greatest sporting event he had ever witnessed. I think he meant the game, not my waterworks. Hours earlier, as he watched me throw my uneaten hot dog into a bin by mistake, he laughed at my nerves. By 11pm that night, his had been shredded too.
Two memories stand out. I received a phone call from my other best friend, who had seen me ride the peaks and valleys of this crazy game as a player, coach and fan. I couldn’t hear a word she was saying, but I just kept repeating loudly, “This is the greatest night of my life. I can’t believe what’s happened!”. She would say later that I sounded crazy.
The other memory is a text message to another great friend, the late Ian Gray, former Socceroo and a masterful coach in his own right. My text to ‘Iggy’ was, “Where’s the party going to be?”. His response was, “I’d say everywhere”.
He was right. I went to work the next day still dressed in my Socceroos shirt, having not had a moment’s sleep. After celebrating with thousands of delirious gold-clad fans in the city I watched a recording of the Australia-Uruguay game in full.
Craig Foster’s total abandonment of any kind of rational neutrality in the commentary box sounded like beautiful music. When he started yelling Johnny Warren’s name after John Aloisi scored the winning penalty, he invoked the collective spirit of every fan who dared to dream because Johnny had told us so.
It was unhinged barracking that might not have been part of the commentary handbook, but on that night, who could not forgive him? Foz was as nervous as the rest of us.
We as Socceroos fans had become accustomed to ‘what ifs’ as failed campaigns mounted. Finally, we could afford to talk about what ifs on our side of the ledger.
What if Tony Popovic’s elbow on Uruguay maestro Alvaro Recoba had been punished by more than the early yellow card he received? Or, conversely, what if the incident had never occurred? Would coach Guus Hiddink have moved to bring on Harry Kewell as early as he did, worried that Popovic may not last the game on a yellow?
Of course, Kewell’s impact was immediate, front and centre, albeit with a great air swing, in the lead-up to Marco Bresciano’s goal.
What if Hiddink had carried out the unlikely substitution of goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer for Zeljko Kalac towards the end of extra-time? It were Schwarzer’s two amazing saves that paved the way for the shootout victory but it was clear to all in the stadium that night that Kalac was warming up, with the general feeling that Hiddink was about to take a huge gamble.
It is something his Dutch contemporary Louis van Gaal did do almost nine years after Hiddink was considering it, at last year’s World Cup. Brett Emerton’s late substitution, having run himself to a standstill, ensured we’ll never know, but on this occasion we didn’t have to wonder.
Australian sports fans will always debate which moment or event is the country’s finest. No opinion is wrong.
The 1983 America’s Cup win, Cathy Freeman’s 400 metre victory at the 2000 Olympics, the original ‘Mean Machine’ relay victory at the 1980 Moscow Games with Norman May’s legendary commentary. But for those who were there 10 years ago, and for those who had waited so long for what had become the impossible quest, there is only one event.
The night football in this country said, “I told you so”.
JR Salazar
Guest
10 years ago, I was keeping tabs of the action over at Cal State Long Beach as a student when I heard the news that the Socceroos returned to the World Cup. Never have I been prouder to be a follower of a great team.
Fadida
Guest
Having been at both Iran 97 (still hurts) and Sydney '05 I have to say I've suffered the biggest high and the biggest low. What a high. Oh what a high!
marron
Roar Guru
Great memories middy.
Midfielder
Guest
Punter naughty ... who must ... not who should...
Sydneysider
Guest
Al you're a bit older than me. My first world cup qualifying experience was v Scotland in late 1985. 2-0 in Scotland, 0-0 at the old Olympic Park in Melbourne. then 1989 v Israel at the SFS. 1993 v Canada (Mark Schwarzer's first game for the national team) and then Argentina (Maradona coming back to help his country out) 1997 v Iran. 2001 v Uruguay and finally 2005.... every 4 years there was heartbreak and the game did everything to shoot itself in the foot in this country. (Soccer Australia going bankrupt, NSL dying a slow death, no genuine full time professional dometic league, no meaningful national team games except for 2 legged play offs once or twice every 4 years). It meant so much to so many people because of the heartache of 32 years.....
Punter
Guest
1997 worst night of my sporting life.
Punter
Guest
AWESOME even after 10 years.
Punter
Guest
OH what a night. I too was there. Greatest sporting moment of my life!!!!! SHE, who should be obeyed actually booked plane tickets to Europe to coincide with the WC. I remember yelling out 'I'm going to Germany' & someone else shouted 'we're going to Germany' to which I shouted 'no I'm going to Germany, my wife book tickets today', I heard a women turn to her partner saying 'did you hear, his wife booked tickets to Germany, we should book tickets tomorrow'. I ended up seeing all 3 round robin games Aussie games in Germany.
Midfielder
Guest
The night after 1997 which help make 2005 so great... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGOKVELNI-U
sheek
Roar Guru
Ahhh Waaaaaa, All those happy, wonderful emotions come flooding back!
Al
Guest
For me it was a very personal experience. I remember as far back as the 1981 world cup qualifier against NZ at SCG where we lost the game and were out of 82 world cup. This was a constant every 4 years. I kept asking why me???? I took it as a personally failure. So being there 10 years ago was like a huge weight of my shoulders especially the way it happen. I have to say it was one of the best nights of my life!!!!
Midfielder
Guest
AApa Mate I was there with She who must be obeyed and six mates ... we had been playing together in a team for maybe 15 years at the time and two had played NSL one even winning a grand final... Unless you were at the ground that night its impossible to describe the vibe ... the tension even in the bus on the way in was almost unbearable ... JON had done three very clever things leading into the game ... first he said wear something gold or yellow to the match does not matter what just where something either yellow or gold... everyone did and its the first time ... second he talked to the Stadium management and some kinda history here if you are a member of Homebush stadium and don't wish to go to a game then you can sell your ticket back to the stadium and get a percentage of the final sale price... JON had stadium management send out a number of letters and essentially those not going sold their tickets meaning a near full house... Finally JON carried tho on what Johnny Warren had suggested get Football folk to a major match not cricket fans or RL or AFL fans... JON took the gamble he did not need the members as per point two above and then started a first in Australia... FFA sold tickets to the Football family you had to play or coach to be able to by tickets.. The above resulted in a full house all wearing yellow or gold and almost all hard core rusted on.... and very revved up… WE [the crowd] stood the entire night in an all seat stadium from what I could see everyone stood and sat down at half time or some sat down... We booed everything they did and cheered everything we did and when Popa smashed Recoba with a stiff arm that would make Noel Kelly [famous RL player who through a lot of stiff arm tackles] proud. We all booed Recoba for diving and I think the ref said yellow because of the crowd it was the most obvious Red card I have ever seen. WE stood cheered, booed, screamed when we won everyone was hugging everyone around them everyone was signing ... over the PA they started playing we come from the land down under and around us everyone stood on the seats and was jumping arms lined belting out the song... the same at the start Advance Australia Fair was belted out like a war cry .. I have been to a number of sporting events but nothing comes close to inside the stadium that night ... I can still recall an hour after the match few had left and the guy on the PA pleading with people to leave the stadium... A bit of post script ... my mates and I had made a pack if we won we would stay up all night and not change out of our Socceroo shirts... We somehow finished up at the Epping [near my house in Sydney] pub about 1:00 in the morning although it was a young crowd in the pub they had all watched the game... we started singing the old Dorris Day song with our own words and totally drunk we had the whole pub signing songs with us till the wee small hours ... back to Dorris Day and "que sers sera.. Our song went que sera sera what will be will be We’re going to Germany que sera sera If you met folk who were there that night they all say the same thing it was with daylight second the match with the most vibe / feeling or whatever name you care to give it...
peeeko
Guest
its definitely not the americas cup win, the ost overrated sporting achievement in australias history i remember using a computer on the red sea in Egypt following "live" score updates on fifa.com
Kaks
Roar Guru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pfdIztpOmQ Still get goosebumps
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
Oh what a night. I think every football fan and even those who only have a passing interest in football could write a few paragraphs on the emotion rollercoaster that game put us through, unbelievable. Can't wait the ''November 16" doco tonight on fox, apparently some Uruguyuan players including Recoba will be giving their insights into the match which will be interesting.