i heart the socceroos

Lucas Neill is a fox. Tim Cahill’s sleeve is amazing. Harry Kewell gets better looking the shorter his hair gets. Oh, and they can also play football.

These three players, and many others, make up the Australian Socceroos. I heart the Socceroos and only wanted good things for them as they headed to South Africa for the World Cup. Thankfully, I was without television coverage for the match against Germany, which I’m sure would have left me in tears (I was in Woodend, I didn’t even have a signal on my iphone. It was liberating…sort of.) I watched the Ghana match (but have blocked out the 25th minute and Harry’s red card) and was also up this morning to see Australia take on Serbia.

I stumbled from my bed, to my couch and prepared myself for an upset. As much as I wanted Australia to win and go through to the round of 16, I feared the worst. I think this cautious hope was symptomatic of the Australia v Italy match in 2006. I was in Fed Square with the rest of Melbourne watching that horrible game and still find it hard to talk about those last, terrible minutes of the match and that look on Neill’s face when he knew he’d given away a penalty that would secure Italy’s win.

But moving on. That was 2006 and this is 2010.

I kept the volume of my television down to a low roar, hoping I wouldn’t wake my neighbours. Turns out I didn’t have to worry. They were up. And since I know them to be German, I suspected they were biting their own nails while watching Germany take on Ghana. My suspicions were confirmed when I heard a cheer from beyond my lounge room wall and then promptly heard the SBS announcer declare that Germany had scored. But I digress.

Australia played well. They played very well. Cahill’s goal was stellar and Holman was inspired. If only Australia hadn’t taken such a beating from Germany during that first match (and then if only Germany had scored just a few more times against Ghana…thanks for NOTHING Germany!) and if only Kewell had been playing…but I could go on like this all night, so I’ll stop. Australia exited the 2010 World Cup on a high. It’s just sad to think that Neill, Cahill, Kewell, Schwarzer and the rest have probably seen their last World Cup. It’s too bad, I could have easily waited another 4 years to see them play football on the world’s stage. Good on ya, boys. And don’t forget, you’re all FOXES!!