With Euro 2024 being the first time Germany has hosted a major tournament since the 2006 FIFA World Cup, I noticed it was the 18th anniversary of one of our great sporting moments...
June 12, 2006 in Kaiserslautern
A great moment in time, as it had been 32 long years since Australia had last featured in the World Cup finals, in more or less the same country where they'd last featured in 1974 (When it was West Germany), and first up in 2006 the the Socceroos faced Japan in Kaiserslautern, the very same city where Mark Schwarzer played a handful of games in the mid-1990s prior to moving to England with Middlesbrough, where he became a world-class goalkeeper.
Of course, it gets forgotten that for 84 minutes, that historic day (Which was a late night in Australia) was nothing but misery, as Japan scored midway through the 1st Half when Celtic free-kick legend Shunsuke Nakamura got his head to a cross, during which Schwarzer was seemingly balked & fouled by Atsushi Yanagisawa, but the referee allowed the goal to stand, which wouldn't even be the most contentious refereeing decision against Australian during the tournament.
However, Guus Hiddink stuck to his guns and brought on 3 attacking players during the 2nd Half (Tim Cahill, Josh Kennedy & John Aloisi) to batter the Japanese defence, and in the 85th minute, the Samurai Blue failed to deal with a Lucas Neill long throw that Rory Delap would've admired, and substitute Tim Cahill came to the rescue after a Harry Kewell shot was blocked and slotted the equaliser past the stranded Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, a landmark maiden goal for Australia at a FIFA World Cup...
Then after Japan missed a good chance in the 88th minute, Australia pinned the Japanese deep in their own half in the 89th minute and Cahill got a pass from John Aloisi on the edge of the penalty area, letting fly with an out swinging cracker that got past the outstretched arms of Kawaguchi, and went in off the left post to give Australia an unthinkable 2-1 lead, sparking wild celebrations across the globe as the Socceroos stared down the barrel of their maiden win at a World Cup finals match...
"Aloisi, Cahill ... CAHILL! ... TIM CAHILL HAS DONE IT AGAIN! What a goal by Tim Cahill! 2-1 Australia! It's a wonderful moment in Kaiserslautern, and Tim Cahill has come off the bench and maybe won the match for the Socceroos - Magical stuff!" - Simon Hill on SBS
Then in stoppage time, the 3 substitutes sealed the result, as Kennedy won the ball in midfield, passed to Cahill, who fed it to Aloisi, who took on a tired Yūichi Komano 1 on 1, beat him easily and sent the 3rd goal past Kawaguchi, and the player who got them there in the penalty shootout against Uruguay sealed one of the most memorable moments in 21st Century Australian sport.
Of course, it's even better with Simon Hill's wild commentary on SBS:
- This remains the only time Australia have won a World Cup finals match by more than a goal - The wins since then have been against Serbia in 2010 (2-1), Tunisia in 2022 (1-0) and Denmark in 2022 (1-0).
- It remains the only time Australia have played an Asian country in a World Cup match, in what was the last tournament prior to Australia leaving the OFC and joining the Asian Football Confederation.
- Current Socceroos manager Graham Arnold was Guus Hiddink's assistant.
- The Japanese team featured none other than Shinji Ono, who came on as a substitute in the 2nd Half, and later made a great impact on the A-League when he signed as the Western Sydney Wanderers' maiden marquee signing in 2012, becoming a cult hero in Parramatta in his only 2 seasons in Australia.
- In a sign of how good that Australian team was, every player in the Socceroos line-up that day (Including the 3 substitutes) were playing in Europe, spread across England, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland:
Schwarzer and captain Mark Vidula were at Middlesbrough, having recently appeared in the UEFA Cup Final.
Tim Cahill was at Everton
Harry Kewell was on the other side of Stanley Park at Liverpool, having won the 2005 Champions League and the 2006 FA Cup.
John Aloisi was at Deportivo Alaves
Craig Moore was at Newcastle United.
Brett Emerton and Lucas Neill were at Blackburn Rovers.
Scott Chipperfield was a mainstay at FC Basel.
Luke Wilshere had just left Bristol City (He signed with FC Twente that summer)
Josh Kennedy was at Dynamo Dresden.
And Vince Grella & Mark Bresciano were at Parma, with Grella becoming the captain in 2006-07.
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