THIS is the day Australian football came of age. Forget 2006 when we beat Japan at our first FIFA World Cup finals appearance in 32 years. That was a game we always dared to dream our green-and-golden generation could win.
€It's all about defining moments. I've said this every single time being one of the older boys, this is the stage to do it and when you're called upon you have to show up. At the start we showed a bit of fear early and then we stepped up and we started getting in their faces and started rolling them a bit.
€The good thing is, we believe in our football, we believe in our structure and last week they were questioning whether we can create chances. Tonight tonight we created quite a lot.€
That last Cahill quote embodies what this game was all about for Australia. Belief. The Socceroos have that now, with a team of no-names who most Aussies couldn't pick in a line-up. Heck, even our PM doesn't know the captain's name, as he embarrassingly showed today.
But Australians will soon know Mile Jedinak's name and more. Matthew Leckie stood up today, weaving his magic all over the field. Alex Wilkinson cleared what looked like a certain Chile goal off the line. Jason Davidson impressed.
Before today, only families and clubmates knew anything about half the guys in our youngest ever squad at a World Cup. Now the whole of Australia knows they can play. And the world knows too. That sounds like the sort of overstatement the inimitably optimistic SBS commentator Craig Foster is prone to, but it's true.
For all this, coach Ange Postecoglou can take the credit. Aussie Ange has made our team value the ball. For him, football is a game to be won with the ball at your feet rather than with counterstrikes.
Australia's hopes of opening a fourth World Cup with victory were dashed after a 3-1 defeat against Chile.
THIS is the day Australian football came of age. Forget 2006 when we beat Japan at our first FIFA World Cup finals appearance in 32 years. That was a game we always dared to dream our green-and-golden generation could win.
Today was different. In the Socceroos' first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, nobody expected anything. Not Chile, not neutral fans watching in their hundreds of millions, and let's be honest, not many of us Aussies either.
That's what made this so special. Forget the 3-1 scoreline. If you're one of those people who only reads headlines and tweets, you'll have missed what made today's match so enthralling from an Australian perspective. In short, we were competitive. We held our own. Simple as that.
Timmy and a man whose nickname is definitely not Mike did OK today at the 2014 FIFA World
Timmy and a man whose nickname is definitely not Mike did OK today at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images). Source: Getty Images
Actually there's a little more to it than that. It wasn't just that we held our own, but the way we did it. Australia attacked. Australia recovered from the most horrific start imaginable to take control of the match. In the second half, we gave Chile the fright of their lives. You only had to see their coach pacing the sidelines and replacing attackers with defenders to see that.
The best part is, we didn't put the fear of god into Chile with some indecipherably complicated game plan hatched by a grim-faced mercenary European coach, but with good old-fashioned Aussie have-a-bloody-go.
€It's all about defining moments. I've said this every single time being one of the older boys, this is the stage to do it and when you're called upon you have to show up. At the start we showed a bit of fear early and then we stepped up and we started getting in their faces and started rolling them a bit.
€The good thing is, we believe in our football, we believe in our structure and last week they were questioning whether we can create chances. Tonight tonight we created quite a lot.€
That last Cahill quote embodies what this game was all about for Australia. Belief. The Socceroos have that now, with a team of no-names who most Aussies couldn't pick in a line-up. Heck, even our PM doesn't know the captain's name, as he embarrassingly showed today.
But Australians will soon know Mile Jedinak's name and more. Matthew Leckie stood up today, weaving his magic all over the field. Alex Wilkinson cleared what looked like a certain Chile goal off the line. Jason Davidson impressed.
Before today, only families and clubmates knew anything about half the guys in our youngest ever squad at a World Cup. Now the whole of Australia knows they can play. And the world knows too. That sounds like the sort of overstatement the inimitably optimistic SBS commentator Craig Foster is prone to, but it's true.
For all this, coach Ange Postecoglou can take the credit. Aussie Ange has made our team value the ball. For him, football is a game to be won with the ball at your feet rather than with counterstrikes.
Australia's hopes of opening a fourth World Cup with victory were dashed after a 3-1 defeat against Chile.
THIS is the day Australian football came of age. Forget 2006 when we beat Japan at our first FIFA World Cup finals appearance in 32 years. That was a game we always dared to dream our green-and-golden generation could win.
Today was different. In the Socceroos' first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, nobody expected anything. Not Chile, not neutral fans watching in their hundreds of millions, and let's be honest, not many of us Aussies either.
That's what made this so special. Forget the 3-1 scoreline. If you're one of those people who only reads headlines and tweets, you'll have missed what made today's match so enthralling from an Australian perspective. In short, we were competitive. We held our own. Simple as that.
Timmy and a man whose nickname is definitely not Mike did OK today at the 2014 FIFA World
Timmy and a man whose nickname is definitely not Mike did OK today at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images). Source: Getty Images
Actually there's a little more to it than that. It wasn't just that we held our own, but the way we did it. Australia attacked. Australia recovered from the most horrific start imaginable to take control of the match. In the second half, we gave Chile the fright of their lives. You only had to see their coach pacing the sidelines and replacing attackers with defenders to see that.
The best part is, we didn't put the fear of god into Chile with some indecipherably complicated game plan hatched by a grim-faced mercenary European coach, but with good old-fashioned Aussie have-a-bloody-go.