My November 16th

So a bunch of lads from Adelaide including myself headed over to the big smoke of Sydney town for the game, the game that stopped a nation…like that horse race.  It was the Socceroos v Uruguay World Cup Qualifier and the prize at the end of it was qualifying for the greatest sporting event on the planet, the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

After seeing us lose only 1-0 in the first leg over a boozy beer and bacon breakfast the week prior there was certainly an air of optimism in the Australian football family and certainly a feeling that magic could unfold this time finally.  Thirty-two years of pain and crying over missed opportunities may be coming to a sudden end.

Game day and I find myself nervous but excited, order of the day was getting Viduka steamed on the back of my new Socceroos shirt as ‘Aussie Guus’ had made a call to the nation for everyone to wear Gold in the stadium…so of course that justified a new Socceroos shirt being purchased and Viduka stamped firmly on the back.

Now with my new Viduka Socceroos shirt I was a foot taller and strutting around the streets of Sydney like a man about to start in the first XI along with the boys. Someone in the group thought it would be a good idea to do a harbour cruise.  Yes normally a smart idea but on game day this was the worst idea in the world.  For about an hour all I wanted to do is jump off the ferry, swim to shore and get the train to the stadium.  I was seeing the opera house and harbour bridge for the first time but sorry although beautiful I needed to be at the stadium no time for sightseeing, “get me off this god damn boat” I was screaming in my head…hopefully not out loudly.

Finally on the train to the stadium and it is chokers! Green and Gold is everywhere, people are singing and chanting, the Socceroos express is in full swing now, express to glory, erasing the 32 years of heartbreak.

Inside the stadium and still two hours before kickoff, so yeah I may have been over anxious during the harbour tour but who could blame me this night was going to be huge and history was in the making, a sea of plastic beer cups began to surround us as we drank the pre game nerves away; it was time to get this show underway.  The Stadium was filling and before we knew it 80,000 nervous, anxious and pumped up football supporters were joining us. The time had come and we belted out the national anthem with ferocity and gusto.

To be honest the next 90 mins, 30 mins and penalty shoot out is a little blurry, but I will do my best to sum it up…When Bresciano scored in the first half, my best mate fell down 5 flights of stairs and somehow got mosh pitted back to us on the shoulder of fellow supporters… at half time we treated him for cuts and bruises in the first aid room.

During the penalty shoot out the stadium exploded and to say electricity was in the air and that the noise was overwhelming would be doing it an injustice.  All I know is that I could not hear my mate sitting next to me and that grown men were physically crying around me with emotion….Aloisi scores the penalty and we all lost our minds, beer was flung to the sky and people were embracing everybody and anybody.  I had never hugged and kissed so many people in the space of two minutes in my life.  To see three of my mates literally be picked up and ride on top of supporters in a state of crowd surfing you usually see at rock concerts I will never forget.

The stadium had lost it and the fans were officially going nuts. I found myself shedding a quiet tear and thinking to myself how good is this we are going to GERMANY!!

So thank-you Sydney, Socceroos and my 82,000 new found friends in the stadium.  I will never forget that night and still to this day I cannot watch that penalty shootout without goose bumps and tears of joy, it will be a night that will stay with me forever and never be matched…this is my November 16.

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