By John Huxley
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 13th June 2006
Raining goals after 32 years... AMAZING. Absolutely amazing. For 85 minutes, the Socceroos looked down and effectively on their way out of the World Cup finals. Then came one, two, three dramatic goals.
Tim Cahill shoots his 2nd goal during to put Australia into 3-1 lead over Japan at the 2006 Cup in Germany.Credit: Vince Caligiuri, Fairfax Archives
Two from the Sydneysider Tim Cahill, who has been recovering from injury but was brought on in the second half to add some spark to the wilting Australian attack. And one from John Aloisi, a penalty hero when Australia qualified last November.
It was Australia's first-ever win in the World Cup finals.
And their first goal in almost 360 minutes of World Cup football - given they did not score in their three group matches in 1974.
Thousands of Aussie fans arrive from Frankfurt by train to the station before Australia's Word Cup game with Japan in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Credit: Vince Caligiuri, Fairfax Archives
They could not have come at a better time. The Socceroos can now face Brazil - the world champions - and Croatia with high hopes of gaining enough points to progress to the second stage of the tournament.
As early as the sixth minute, the captain, Mark Viduka, had chances to score Australia's first goal in the World Cup finals, but twice the Japanese keeper blocked his shot.
Instead, it was the Japanese who made the breakthrough after 25 minutes, with a controversial goal that was booed to the steel rafters of the Fritz-Walter Stadion.
Shunsuke Nakamura's speculative shot-cum-cross drifted into the goal over a tangle of players after the Socceroos keeper, Mark Schwarzer, appeared to have been barged out of the way.
Earlier, Australia's coach, Guus Hiddink, had pulled two big surprises, deciding to start the match with the crowd favourite Harry Kewell and a relative unknown, Luke Wilkshire.
Kewell had been expected to play only a limited, late part in the match, while Wilkshire seemed to have blown his chance of selection after being sent off in the Socceroos last warm-up match.
No one had problems getting warm yesterday. As the players discovered when they came out on the pitch 90 minutes before kick-off, the Germans had laid on a typical Sydney summer's day, with dazzling sun and temperatures soaring into the 30s.
It provided the sort of mid-afternoon heat that had the English players complaining of dehydration
last weekend. The stands, too, provided a home from home as Australian fans unfurled a rich
cultural mix of flags: the Southern Cross, the boxing kangaroo, the Eureka and one honouring the late Johnny Warren, a football hero.
Most local neutrals appeared to be getting behind the Socceroos - in recognition, perhaps, of their underdog status.