When Australia travelled to Mozambique to tackle Rhodesia in a World Cup qualifier in late 1969, few could have imagined the long-lasting effect the trip would have on the team we now call the Socceroos.
With successful qualification still another four years away, the match against Rhodesia was part of a jet-setting journey that took the team from South Korea, to Mozambique and Israel, before their fate was eventually decided back in Sydney, when the Israelis managed a 1-1 draw to go along with the 1-0 win they had secured on home soil some 10 days prior.
As a result, Israel advanced to the World Cup finals in Mexico and Australia lamented a long and arduous journey that had proven fruitless.
Of course, times would change and fortunes turn in subsequent years, yet had the Australian players not engaged with a questionable local whilst in Mozambique, plenty of pain and heartache over the next quarter of a decade could perhaps have been avoided.
Whilst in Africa, a group of Australian players consorted with a local witch doctor and after he buried some bones near the goal posts and cursed the Rhodesian team at the request of the men in green and gold, victory by three goals to one followed.
Sadly, with the players probably believing the entire situation to be as silly and meaningless as it potentially was, the witch doctor’s request for payment of $1000 was either ignored or forgotten, and the Australians left without his invoice being honoured.
As a result, revenge was sought through the application of a simple curse on the Aussies, which was to allegedly plague the Socceroos for decades.
The misfortune was to continue until comedian John Safran returned to Mozambique in 2004 as part of his comedy series ‘John Safran vs God’, where he employed the services of another witch doctor who kindly reversed the curse.
Those of the believing mind will see a direct correlation between the reversal and the Socceroos’ subsequent qualification for the 2006 World Cup in late 2005.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Sadly, they may also choose to ignore the simple fact that after the initial curse was cast upon the Australians, the team was to make history in 1974 by travelling to the finals and securing their place via a similarly tricky qualifying campaign.
2006 was, of course, brilliant, yet with the curse supposedly lifted, Socceroo success at the World Cup since has been almost non-existent. In fact, across the next three tournaments, the Socceroos have won just a single match against Serbia in South Africa in 2010 and the team earned just a lone point in group play across both Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.
Frankly, one wonders whether Safran’s work has achieved anything at all.
Whilst logical folk may allude to a playing squad without the raw talent to threaten the top sides and struggles in recent qualification campaigns that perhaps reflect exactly where the team sits internationally in the big scheme of footballing things, others believe more in the metaphysical and the fact that the Socceroos could still be under the control of that mysterious man in Mozambique.
If that is indeed the case, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold should be proactive in his attempts to ensure that the team actually has a fighting chance in Qatar and not be wasting their time attending, whilst still possessing the demons placed inside them by a witch doctor.
Football Australia are reimbursing Arnold well for his services and along with the leadership group in the squad, the coach needs to rustle up some funds in brisk time and move into the dark arts space before it is too late.
A quick Google search for a local witch doctor – or the Qatari equivalent – could well provide a cleansing of the Socceroos’ soul.
Plenty of money will be changing hands in Qatar, sections of fans are being paid to cheer for their allocated teams, bidding favours will be returned to the international delegates who will be in attendance for the event and Qatari hotels, airlines and live sites are clearly cashing in, with prices of a simply absurd nature being charged to overseas visitors.
In that sense of financial freedom and the apparent power of the local currency to curry favour and pretty much achieve whatever one intends, the Socceroos cannot be sitting on their hands.
Gather the funds, find the witch doctor for the job and clear the curse once and for all.
Whacking a counter one on the French, Tunisians and Danes along the way might also be a wise move.
Based on contextual value, I would suggest A$50,000 should cover it.
Money well spent, should the Socceroos enjoy their best World Cup since 2006.
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Nestory Irankunda has sensationally rejected the chance to play at the Paris Olympics this June after a late bid from the Olyroos to include…
Mathew Ryan's tenure at AZ Alkmaar appears to be over, as the Eredivisie side are seemingly moving on from the 93-time Socceroo. The decision…
One down 49 to go. Socceroos striker Kusini Yengi raised some eyebrows this week when he declared himself to be the talisman striker the…
