Go Soccerroos!

The World Cup in Germany!

The Australian team, otherwise known as the Socceroos (as in kangaroos...get it?), has finally made it into the World Cup after 32 years. And boy were they put in one of the toughest groups in the first round. Group F - Brazil (the best of them all), Japan (supposedly the best team in Asia), and Croatia (you can't underestimate).

So who am I supposed to root for? Of course, there's team USA but they seem to suck. And there seem to be not much support in the good old land of US of A. Maybe because the team isn't winning and getting to the semis or finals. Or from what I've read, its a low scoring game, or there are other sports more interesting to watch on TV, or there isn't that much action besides kicking the ball, etc. Unfortunately, team USA didn't make it into the 2nd round.

Then of course, there's the socceroos. Australia is known for being the underdogs.

My friend, Amin, did the pilgrimage to Germany to watch some of the games, to see his home country, Iran, fight it off with Mexico, Portugal, and Angola. Sorry, Amin! Sorry you didn't come back home to the US with a win. Maybe in the next four years.

First game was against Japan. Natasha and I went bar hopping on a Monday night to look for a bar where we can watch the game. Since our place is near tons of bars and restaurants, we just stayed within the neighborhood. Norton St was closed for any Australian games so bars and restaurants can open all night and all morning to show the games. And since its also the Italian community, the street was closed for Italian games. First half, we went to the Royal Hotel, just a block away from our house. Second half, we moved to the Vanilla Room. Nobody expected the aussies to win against Japan but what'd you know. They beat them 3-1!!!

Aussies vs Brazil - I didn't stay up for this. Most of the games are played at 11pm, 2am, 5am here so its hard to stay up or get up. Brazil was expected to win anyway...and they did.

Finally, the third and deciding game. Australia has to beat Croatia or at least get a draw (with Japan losing to Brazil) to get into the second round. I woke up at 6am to catch the 2nd half of the game. At this point, the game against Croatia was tied. And when Croatia scored another goal, the yellow and green (that's the aussie team color) crowd at the stadium was silent. It was nerve racking. The game was getting intense. Fouls here and there, right and left. Penalties. One guy from the Croatian team got two yellow cards but I guess the referee wasn't keeping track and should have given him the red card (after two yellow cards, you get a red card and out of the game). But the socceroos was able to get in one more score to tie the game. In the last few minutes, that same guy got a third yellow card and finally got the boot. The socceroos has made it into the 2nd round. Even if Japan wins over Brazil, they would have to score a lot of points to beat Australia getting into the 2nd round. If you win a game within your group, you get 3pts. A draw gives you 1pt. At the end of 3 matches within your group, the top two teams that has the most points get into the second round. If there's a tie, whoever scored the most goals gets in.

That morning when the aussies got into the second round (I believe first time ever), it was traffic all over the city. People were out celebrating, honking their cars, people getting to work late. They were all excited.

Next game: Italy vs Australia. Leichhardt, where we live, is the Italian community of Sydney. Norton St, just five houses from our home is the place to be. Natasha and her friend went out at around 10pm to check out the crowd. The pubs were packed. There were a lot of people on the streets. So they decided to come home and watch the game indoors. The game didn't start until 1am so in the meantime, I took a nap and got up at 1:30 am. The game was pretty much decided until the last 8 seconds of the game when Australia was penalized. Italy got a spot kick (penalty kick infront of the goal) and made it in. And that was the end of Australia's run for the cup...although that would be very unlikely. The game ended at 3am...I had to be in the office at an 8am training (set by the people in the US!!!! aghhh!!!)

Well now we can all go back to our normal sleeping patterns. Thank goodness! I don't think I ever got into soccer until now. Goodnight!