In Kaiserslautern June 2006, my affections were torn: I had been visiting and watching Japan for years but then the Socceroos had two Blackburn Rovers players.
I was tipped towards the Samurai Blue after it seemed as all the bars on the way to the stadium were blasting out Men at Work’s biggest hit. Once is fine, twice is nice but it soon got older than Holger Osieck’s ideal footballer.
It was my first game of the 2006 World Cup and the one I enjoyed the most. Beautiful sunshine, great drama and a sense that the tournament ahead was going to be special. On the way out of the city back to Frankfurt, the cacophony of ‘Down Unders’ didn’t sound half bad.
If I was Australian, I don’t know which would be better: those crazy six minutes at the Fritz-Walter Stadion or that night in Sydney a few months earlier that made it possible.
As any Socceroo supporter knows after the stories in the media this week, it is now a decade since that penalty shootout victory over Uruguay in Sydney. Times flies faster than a John Aloisi spot-kick. With the A-League just weeks old and the country about to jettison Oceania for Asia, the success came at the right time.
It was not exactly mission impossible though. Was it dramatic? Yes and then some. Meaningful? Of course. Against all the odds? Not really.
While obviously the Oceanic route to the World Cup was hit-and-miss and perhaps unfair, it was – at least to those watching from outside and untouched by past Socceroo failures at similar stages – hardly a massive surprise that Australia qualified.
A team full of big European league experience led by one of the most successful, in-demand and experienced names in the world of coaching, drawing twice with a mid-ranking South American team and then winning a penalty shootout was a big deal. In terms of sporting achievement, however, it pales alongside that of Western Sydney Wanderers winning the 2014 Asian Champions League.
On Saturday Al Ahli and Guangzhou Evergrande meet in the second leg of the 2015 final and early Sunday Australia time, as the Red and Black Bloc sleep, the continental crown will be lifted from their collective heads and sent north.
Perhaps when it is gone, how it was won will be more appreciated. It was an amazing achievement. It may not have galvanised the entire nation like 2005 but it was something that will surely never be repeated.
For a club in its second season in existence to win the biggest club competition was staggering. Sure, the Wanderers were lucky, Al Hilal should have had penalties in the second leg and there were other times when the football gods winked at the western suburbs, but even so, it was mighty.
It is not all about the money but finance is a factor. Guangzhou has spent lots, more than $150 million since 2010 on coaches and players. Such investment has brought five Chinese Super League titles, two World Cup winning coaches, a fair proportion of the Chinese national team and plenty of big-name foreign talent.
So far, though, the club has won the same number of Asian titles as the Wanderers.
Sections of the west Asian media have tried to portray Al Ahli as the romantic underdog, the 2015 equivalent of Western Sydney. It’s not quite true. The Dubai outfit signed Rodrigo Lima from Benfica for over $8 million earlier this year, but it is true that the Red Knights don’t have the same firepower as the Chinese champs.
They still saw off Al Hilal in the semi-final. Last year’s finalists have been desperate to add to the second Asian title it won in 2000 but just can’t do it. If fans of ‘The Boss’, who never tire of telling others of their illustrious history, found losing to the Wanderers in the final painful, the fact that the victor was just a toddler added a little extra stab.
On the way to meet Al Hilal, the Wanderers beat some of Asia’s best and biggest. It wasn’t pretty but it was gritty.
So celebrate the ten-year anniversary but the one year that has elapsed since Western Sydney was crowned continental champion should be marked too. Perhaps by the time 2024 comes along, there will be a greater recognition of the work that these men from down under actually did.
Gentile
Guest
Agree the Iran game was the worst I have ever felt after a sporting event. In hindsight though the experience of the Uruguay game, and attending the world cup in germany made up for it. At the time when the old kiwi guy abstained from voting for south africa hosting that world cup , handing it to germany, I thought it was grossly unfair. But the world cup in Germany will never be surpassed and I would thank him if I saw him in the street today. Would we have the a-league, if Australia had qualified in 1997?
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
The ACL final should be full of action. The first leg was a rather dull affair as Guangzhou played an uncharacteristic conservative game, negating Al Ahli which secured a 0-0 result putting them in the box seat for the return leg. This leg they will cut loose and which will flood Al Ahli but also leave gaps in the midfield for Al Ahli to exploit if, and it is a big if, Al Ahli can maintain their composure.
Kaks
Roar Guru
I will never be able to bury the feeling of '97. I watched some of the game on youtube just to see how good the football was and had to close it before any goals were scored because I couldnt go through it again. I still refuse to watch it now. However, I am honestly glad that '97 happened because '05 was the best thing to happen to the sport in this country not just because we finally made it to the World Cup but the way we did it (penalties just made it that much sweeter). I dont think our '97/98 team would have done well at the world cup which would have backfired on the sport in the long run in my opinion. When you look at all the grief we went through as a footballing nation to then be a whisker away from the quarterfinals in a world cup, you really feel like that is the reason why the sport is doing so well in this nation.
Fadida
Guest
Absolutely Kaks. Heartbreak is a term overused in sports, but Iran was heartbreaking. God it was heartbreaking. We were behind the goal that we defended second half. The memory of the Bosnich spreadeagled as the ball slipped past..... There was time to score again but we all knew we were gone. I couldn't eat for days. Grieving and empty. I can still feel it now, though it is buried under some great days since. 05 was redemption, the righting of wrongs, the burying of the Iran ghost, though probably not for some of the 97 players.
Fadida
Guest
"Very competitive"? I'm sure last week you were predicting a title next season? :) It's well and good going guns blazing, but you've only scored 9 in 7, and have conceded plenty. While I love to watch the CCM this season, and I admire the youth stance, how long until Tony (whom I know very very well from his Tasmania days), decides losing 2-1 and 3-1 every week is attractive but futile? It should have been 6 last night. They lack both the firepower and defensive stability. One has to be adjusted. How good is Caceres by the way? If he was at a winning club there'd be an enormous pressure for an NT call up. Perhaps Mooy aside there isn't a bigger home grown talent in the league. He could easily play in Holland right now. Glorious player who the commentators surprisingly overlook. If he was a certain Spaniard at the Roar they'd be orgasm1c
marron
Roar Guru
what is happiness without suffering....
Kaks
Roar Guru
Fadida, Do you agree that '05 would not have felt as good as it did if it werent for 97?
Herbal Lint
Guest
"The greatest moment in Australian football was when Frank Lowy fell from the stage after the A-League GF… Reply " Everyone fancies themselves a comedian nowadays...
marron
Roar Guru
"blow the f&(*ing whistle" for about 10 minutes then http://i61.tinypic.com/2uqzx1g.jpg
Brian
Guest
Your way off I doubt anyone on this forum of hardcore football supporters would be able to name the last 10 ACL winners without GoogleWikipedia. The height of football is the World Cup and European Champions League. What WSW did was good but not impossible. Adelaide made the final before them
marron
Roar Guru
I largely agree but not with the part about the Italy moment being our worst. That has to be 97, or one of the other failed attempts at qualification.
Sergio Gonzales
Guest
The greatest moment in Australian football was when Frank Lowy fell from the stage after the A-League GF...
Swampy
Guest
For me 2005 was momentous - finally getting over the hump. But that hump wasn't the final prize. Once over greater glory beckoned at the World Cup. Hence in my view, anything we have done at the World Cup is by my own definition a greater moment than Nov 16 2005. Including playing at the 1974 World Cup. Beating Japan was stage 1, playing Brazil well (ranked no.1 at the time) at a World Cup Stage 2 but needing a draw to qualify for the final 16 of a World Cup and doing it was our greatest moment. If you were to ask 'what was our worst moment in history' then surely that would be Totti slotting away his penalty and blowing a kiss to the heavens. By converse, should he have missed or the penalty have not occurred then Australia well may have been in the quarters and maybe beyond - and no one would argue against that as being our greatest moment. I think people maybe under rate the achievement of making it out of the pool matches at a World Cup. For a moment we were one of the best 16 teams on earth.
marron
Roar Guru
fair play AR.
AR
Guest
"the socceroos have achieved greater things than qualifying for the world cup finals." marron, that might be right, but you're changing the title of the article. The article is not what is "Australia's greatest football achievment". It's about the greatest moment. *My* greatest moment was the 2005 WCQ. I'm not disagreeing with anything else you've said.
AR
Guest
Oh dear. In an article discussing "Australia’s greatest football moment" - I described the Wanderers win as an "extraordinary achievement". The best josh could do was some inane irrelevant reference to GWS.
Baracuda
Guest
that kind of success and placement is something pre FFA could of only dreamed about.
Sydneysider
Guest
Agree Marron. Highest achievement: Socceroos Asian Champions 2015 Matildas Asian Champions 2011 WS Wanderers Asian Club Champions 2014 Socceroos World Cup Round of 16 2006 Matildas World Cup quarter finalists 2015 Joeys Runners up Under 17's world youth Cup 1999 Olyroos - 4th place Olympics Barcelona 1992 Australia Under 20's - 4th place World Youth Cup 1991 Socceroos - Runners up Confederations Cup 1997 Obviously the Socceroos won the OFC Nations Cup on several occasions. Those are our highest achievements. so yes, to distinguish between best and highest and obviously best is a referring to personal connection to the team.
Baracuda
Guest
That night in 2005 started the ball rolling for football's revolution down under, it was 32 years in the making and arguably the most satisfying moment in Australian football. 10 years later though, advancing from the final qualifying round is less monumental because the Socceroos are expected to qualify consequently becuase of the improvements made on and off the field at the top. Therefore the debate regarding our greatest moment is good problem to have; without a trophy it has be to reaching the last 16 of Germany 06 and with a trophy it has to be winning the Asian Cup in our own backyard.
Fadida
Guest
Couldn't agree more Al. As a kid I didn't realise we had a national team. I saw the 78 WC final on tv with my dad. I remember plenty about the 82 finals, but until the Scotland games in 85 I don't know that I was aware we even were allowed to try and qualify. From there on in Australia making the finals was my ultimate, given that the WC is the ultimate football experience. The absolute devastation of being at the Iran game in 97 and the consequences of failing to do so, the injection it would have given the code here (as we saw after 05) , means for me 05 has to this point yet to be topped. The Japan 06 game was close. The Asian Cup was great, and I see the massive achievement, but I didn't spend 20 years dreaming about it, as I did the WC. Ditto WSW winning the cup. Brilliant achievement, but it wasn't my childhood dream. This isn't meant to sound overly dramatic, but the grief I felt in 97 was only rivalled by the death of my father. Even now when I catch up with a mate that I went to the Iran game with mention of that fateful night silences us both. It was that bad, the consequences of that loss on the game we have dedicated our lives to indescribable. Iran was more than just a game. I know we aren't the only ones haunted by it still.