Game of the tournament? Wonder goal, two late twists and one big upset

“It’s pumping,” came the message from a friend at the Sydney Football Stadium an hour before the match. He sent a photo of Colombian fans partying outside the ground. There was even an impersonator of Rene Higuita, the hirsute former Colombian goalkeeper who became a cult hero for his scorpion kicks and leaving his net unguarded to score goals at the other end.

This was just a taste of the most exciting sporting and cultural event I have attended anywhere in years. It took place in the centre of Sydney on Sunday, and like most of the Women’s World Cup, it was hidden in plain sight. To those who didn’t see the match either live or on television, all I can say is poor you.

There were 35,033 people in Australia who were born in Colombia in the 2021 census, according to the Bureau of Statistics, and it felt like every last one of them was at the SFS. Probably more, given the neutrals became Colombian for a night. Poor Germany, too. They can’t have expected to travel to Sydney to play an away match against Colombia, but that’s what they got. Unable to overcome the crowd noise and a dauntless opponent, the world No.2 team lost to the world No.27 in dramatic circumstances.

The debate in Australia has been how we have so successfully hidden a global sporting event from ourselves. Former SBS football commentator Lucy Zelic wrote on these pages: “Perhaps most jarring is that this particular World Cup is on Australian soil, and given our tapestry of cultures, which encompasses more than 270 ancestries, it’s baffling. Each of the 32 nations competing at this tournament has a proud community living in Australia.”

Australia’s Colombian community made sure it didn’t miss out, watching the team defend staunchly against a bigger, precision-crafted opponent – at one point, the Germans had completed 118 passes to Colombia’s 36 – before grabbing the lead through Linda Caicedo’s sweet strike, missing a late chance to double the margin, giving away a penalty to surrender their lead, and then, off a stoppage-time corner, snatching a win thanks to Manuela Vanegas’ perfect header. And all this amid an atmosphere lifted straight out of Bogota into Moore Park.

It’s not just the demographic segments of our community that missed out on the thrills: it’s everyone, except for Optus Sport subscribers. For Sydney, it was the best international event since the 2000 Olympics, yet it passed mostly unseen.

Linda Caicedo scored a wonder goal for Colombia.Credit: AP

Who knew a World Cup might be like this? Not the federal government, which omitted to put this global sporting carnival on its anti-siphoning list for television rights. Optus has copped some heat for only onselling 15 of the 64 games to its free-to-air customer Seven, but really, having committed itself to football and been allowed to buy the rights, Optus is entitled to get what it can.

Football Australia has offered reassuring but ineffectual statements, and the government says it is reviewing the rules to ensure such a stuff-up is not repeated. A stuff-up, by universal consent, it is.

Looking for an optimistic take after such an exhilarating dose of the Colombian, I was struck by how this World Cup has reversed the trend of most professional sports being made for, subservient to, and warped out of shape and messed up by, television.

Forty-thousand people were at the SFS, and crowds have packed other venues in Australia and New Zealand because, for goodness’ sake, it’s a World Cup. There is some consolation in knowing that events like Sunday’s revive the joy of a unique experience that can be absorbed only live at the place where it is on.

Australia has failed itself by concealing most of this World Cup behind a television paywall. No question of that. But even if the Colombia-Germany match was on free-to-air TV, viewers would still not have got anywhere near the full-throttle noise and jubilation. You had to be there. Our tickets were $30 for the nosebleed seats and we bought them six weeks ago, so it was pretty accessible. Sport was created as a living occasion when you had to block your ears and fight the traffic, climb stairs and weave through a sea of knees with your tray of refreshments and spend a couple of hours riding your emotions with the complete stranger beside you.

Sport is better than a product for slobs at home. Totally by accident, and yes, to the disadvantage of millions, this World Cup has reminded those who were able to be on the spot that there’s no substitute for the real thing.

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