I watched Australia beat Uruguay in the World Cup play-off last night. It was a terrific game, and Australia dominated it. It went to penalties. Our keeper Mark Schwarzer made a wonderful save, which put us ahead. Then our captain Mark Viduka fluffed his penalty, throwing away the advantage. Schwarzer dug deep and saved again. John Aloisi nervelessly put his penalty away and that was it. The relief!
I've watched us fail in home and away sudden-death ties like this against Scotland (1985), Israel (1989) Argentina (1993), Iran (1997) and Uruguay once before (2001). Thank God we've finally done it.
On SBS the commentators left it until near the end to invoke the name of Johnny Warren (recently deceased Father of Australian Soccer). After the winning spot kick all Craig Foster could say was "Johnny Warren". Beautiful.
1 comment:
Mate,
Just had to rub this one in re: the World Cup qualifier for Australia. I got invited to the game by a guy I coach who is a Marketing Rep for TNT Freight. They had a corporate box booked out. I did have to wear a suit but the free beer, free food and a high box on the half way line more than made up for it.
I have to admit i was slightly aroused at full time when I hugged a complete stranger - who was also a dude. Is that wrong?
Cheers
Sonny
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