10 epic Australia versus the United States of America clashes
FOR one of the few times in its sporting clashes with the United States, Australia will be embracing the Goliath role instead of David.
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FOR one of the few times in its sporting clashes with the United States, Australia will be embracing the Goliath role instead of David in the Rugby League World Cup quarter final.
One of the surprise packets of the tournament, the American team's run will end on the weekend in one of the greatest mismatches. This is going to get ugly.
The big names of Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis and Johnathan Thurston should run riot against a team of slightly smaller names such as Gabriel Farley, Mark Offerdahl and Bureta Fairamo. Never heard of them? Neither have we.
Although there are a few familiar faces within the American team.
A proud American, Clint Newton can be found eating turkey on Thanksgiving with his famous father, golfing great Jack.
Joseph and Junior Paulo can often be found tailgating in the car park of Parramatta Stadium before an Eels game, while Eddy Pettybourne spends his off-season relaxing with his family in the Hamptons.
In light of this latest clash between the two nations, here are ten of the biggest encounters between Australia and the US of A.
1983 America's Cup
Trailing 3-1 in the 1983 best of seven series, Australia II won the final three races to claim the America's Cup, breaking America's 132-year stranglehold on the event and ending US domination of the racing series.
Prime minister Bob Hawke said any boss who sacked a worker for not turning up to work that day was a "bum".
The loss for Liberty was considered a time of shame in US sailing and they are still calling on Aussies to help them win the event as they did in this year's series.
Danny Green ends Roy Jones Jnr in record time
Only two minutes into their 2009 bout, the referee stopped the fight announcing Danny Green as the winner after hitting Jones with a left and right to the side of the head. A flurry of fists saw the American posted against the ropes before the fight was finished. The eight-time world champion later accused Green of cheating but the only ones who were cheated were the fans who paid to watch what they thought would be a lengthy fight. An Aussie still won which eased the pain.
The Shark Greg Norman
In the battle of Greg Norman v America, it was the United States that trampled our Aussie hopes into the turf. The great Jack Nicklaus denied Norman the 1986 Masters but it was a string of anonymous flash-in-the-pans that crushed us, if not Norman himself, mentally.
Chief among the American culprits are Bob Tway at the '86 PGA Championship and Larry Mize at the '87 Masters who both hit once-in-a-lifetime shots to deny Norman that elusive American major. We're still trying to cope with the pain.
Sally flies
Coming into the 2012 London Olympics, for the 100m hurdles Sally Pearson had won 32 races from 34 starts. Everyone expected her to blitz the opposition but she just edged out Americans Dawn Harper (12.37) and Kellie Wells (12.48) to win in a new Olympic record time of 12.35 seconds.
Nail-biting water polo win
The women's water polo gold medal game was one of the most nail-biting and frantic events of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
The evenly matched US and Australian sides were tied 3-3 with 1.3 seconds remaining on the clock.
A blistering nine-metre shot from a free throw through three defenders from Australian Yvette Higgins snatched the historic win from the Americans 4-3.
Steven Bradbury's heroic victory
Who remembers Apolo Anton Ohno? Nobody in Australia except for Steven Bradbury. Ohno was an American hero and favourite to win the 1000m speed skating final at the 2002 Winter Olympics. But Ohno squandered his chance in a dash for the line along with the rest of the field except for Bradbury who skated through to claim the most unlikely of gold medals.
The "smash 'em like guitars" relay team
A rocks star team with a rock star celebration.
Gary Hall Jr, infamously promised the US 4x100m men's freestyle relay team would "smash the Australians like guitars" at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Australia's team of Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Todd Pearson and Bill Kirby swam in world record time to win the gold medal and soaked up the jubilation of the crowd with a memorable celebration.
Hewitt becomes youngest US Open champ
Pete Sampras was ruthlessly outplayed in 2001 as Lleyton Hewitt became the youngest US Open champion since the American won the first of his four titles in 1990.
In an astonishingly one-sided final, the feisty Australian, almost 10 years younger than his opponent, produced the performance of his life to triumph 7-6 6-1 6-1.
Parko v Slater
Early in 2013 Kelly Slater took out current World Champion Joel Parkinson in an action packed Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast final. Slater and Parkinson opened their 40-minute final with a rapid-fire exchange of tube-riding displays, vaulting the lead back and forth before Slater nailed a 9.93 for the win.
USA v Opals
In the past four Olympics it is the Americans who have ended up on the positive side of the ledger in women's basketball in one of sport's great rivalries. In three Olympics from 2000-2008 the teams have faced off for the gold medal with America winning on all three occasions. They knocked us out in the semi finals in London in 2012 for good measure. However, we did manage to win the 2006 World Championships although we did avoid the United States which based on recent history wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
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