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The DreamImage: Getty Images
There has never been a time like it for football Down Under. A country with a proud sporting tradition - whose cast of legends runs from cricketer Don Bradman via tennis champion Rod Laver to Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe – Australia now has a new breed of football heroes.
Football, for so long the poor relation of Australian sport, was the talk of the nation after the Socceroos secured their first FIFA World Cup™ finals appearance in more than three decades by beating Uruguay on penalties in their dramatic Sydney play-off.
When Australian prime minister John Howard rang from the Korea Republic with a message of congratulations after watching the drama unfold in the Telstra Stadium, he was following the lead of millions of ordinary 'Aussies' captivated by the qualifying cliffhanger.
After falling four times in play-offs past, the focus on Australia's footballers could not have been more intense heading into the decider. The match attracted the country's third highest television audience since 2001, with a peak of 3.4 million viewers (roughly one in every six Australians). Thousands packed Sydney's Olympic Park and Melbourne's Federation Square to watch on giant screens while inside the Telstra Stadium, 82,698 lucky souls saw an Australian dream come true.
The public undoubtedly played their part in their team's success.
Before flying back to all parts of the globe, the Australia squad addressed their fans at the Domain, a park in Sydney, where captain Mark Viduka thanked them for their support.
"The crowd helped us along so much, there were so many people going for us," Viduka said. Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who saved two Uruguayan penalties in the shoot-out, added: "It was the best atmosphere I've ever experienced in Australian football, if not full stop."
Australia had played previous play-offs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a vast arena but one whose dimensions served to dilute the noise of the crowd. There was no such danger in the venue built for the Sydney Olympics, which glittered gold under the floodlights as fans answered the call to wear their national colours.
By the end of the night, green and gold paper swirled in the air as the players celebrated on a platform in the centre of the pitch. And the PA system blasted out the 1980s hit Down Under - an old song for a distinctly modern Australia. Football in these parts was once seen as the preserve of immigrant communities and such names as Aloisi, Bresciano and Viduka on the Socceroos team sheet testify to that.
Football's Bright Future
However, change is in the air. Peter Smith, communications manager of Football Federation Australia (FFA), described the crowd in the Telstra Stadium as "a broad cross-section of Australian society" and with the new national A-League up and running since August and the federation's impending move to the Asian Football Confederation, there is real hope that football's mainstream appeal will grow.
Australia's presence at the FIFA World Cup will only accelerate the process, according to FFA chief executive John O'Neill, who said: "Supposedly the chairman of the leading football code in this country (Australian Rules) said at one stage that every time the Socceroos fail to qualify for a World Cup they open a bottle of good French champagne - I think last night they were trying to figure out how to put the cork back into the bottle."
At present only one member of the national squad, Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson, plays in the A-League but striker John Aloisi, taker of the winning penalty against Uruguay, said: "With us qualifying for the World Cup I can only see football going ahead in this country."
Aloisi, whose brother Ross captains Adelaide United, added: "I'm sure that in a few years a lot of the players will come back and play in Australia and I'm sure that it will be the number one sport."
Whether 'soccer' can one day surpass the popularity of the other football codes – Australian Rules, Rugby League and Rugby Union – remains to be seen, but first things first. Now Australia have secured their return to Germany, venue of their one previous FIFA World Cup appearance in 1974, just how far can Guus Hiddink's team go?
The Dutchman told the fans congregated at the Domain: "We are now in a good mood, so let's say today, let's go all the way."
While Hiddink was only reflecting the celebratory mood, there is no doubting the self-belief that has been instilled into the squad by the man who took the Korea Republic to the 2002 semi-finals.
Before facing Uruguay there was a conviction in the Socceroos camp that this could be their year; in the aftermath of their victory, the Sydney Morning Herald declared: "Now for the world." Australia's cricketers may have lost The Ashes to England, but their footballers are going to the FIFA World Cup.
In the land Down Under, sporting convention has been turned on its head.
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