Socceroos back to the days of living on the edge

It wasn’t long ago Australian fans hankered for a return to the days when the sport lived on the edge.

The Socceroos train in San Pedro Sula before this morning’s World Cup qualifying playoff against Honduras

It wasn’t long ago some Australian soccer fans wistfully hankered for a return to the days of old when the sport lived on the edge and the Socceroos’ hopes of qualifying for the World Cup came down to two games.

Perhaps their views were ­coloured by the events of November 2005 when John Aloisi ­famously slotted home the ­penalty against a devastated Uruguay that secured Australia’s passage to the 2006 finals in Germany for the first time since 1974.

The collective outpouring of emotion from a sporting nation saw grown men cry, strangers hug each other and celebrations go on well into the next day.

We’ve supposedly moved on — a busy but secure path through Asia got us to the World Cup in 2006, 2010 and 2014 — but now we’re back to where we were: ­battling through the Americas to make the big dance in Russia next year after failing to qualify ­directly.

Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou is faced with what appears a near-impossible away leg in Honduras this morning from 9am AEDT before the return game in Sydney on Wednesday.

An angry crowd of locals and an unfavourable pitch are playing against the Australians.

“I just had a walk on it now, the pitch is not in a great condition,” Postecolgou said yesterday. “It’s a little bit bumpy and a little bit soft.

“We were prepared for that — we understand it’s going to be hard to play the kind of football we want to play. We’ll adjust.”

The Socceroos made tough work of running laps around the ground, appearing to sink into the pitch — which has different types of grass in different patches. The turf could affect Tim Cahill’s chances of seeing game time, given the star forward is recovering from an ankle injury suffered last weekend. Postecoglou did say yesterday that every player in his squad was “fit and ready to go”, ­although Cahill will surely be tested again before the match starts with a view to keeping him fresh for the return leg.

The other factor that could disadvantage the Socceroos is the weather. The tropical city has a muggy climate to match, though Jackson Irvine suggested previous experience — including in last month’s Asian playoff with Syria — held the team in good stead.

“Conditions here are similar to Malaysia. It’s not roasting hot but the humidity will play a part,” he said. “It feels fine but once you start playing you feel the humidity. We’ve had to deal with some extreme conditions over the last year (and) in comparison to some of those I would say this is definitely something we’ll be able to handle.”

This is all a strange case of deja vu — a return to the days we’d rather forget.

In 2001, Australia had beaten Uruguay 1-0 at the MCG only to fall to pieces in the return leg in Montevideo, losing 3-0 and missing out on the finals in South Korea and Japan.

The NSL was in its death throes and a gloom came over the sport in this country.

Dutch master Guus Hiddink ushered in a new phase of positivity for the 2006 World Cup. Under Pim Verbeek, the Socceroos fairly cantered through the Asian qualifiers to book their spot at the finals in South Africa in 2010.

There were a couple of bumps along the way under Holger Osieck in 2013 before Australia secured their spot at the finals in Brazil, a nervous 1-0 win over Iraq courtesy of a Josh Kennedy header in the final group match doing the trick.

The bumps of 2013 never diminished the feeling that Australian fans could take our place at the World Cup for granted but now those bumps have become a mountainous task in 2017, if ­history is any guide.

Australia has never won an away leg of a World Cup qualifying playoff stretching back to 1969 when they lost 1-0 to Israel in Tel Aviv.

And only once have they won a playoff at home — the penalty shootout win against Uruguay.

Yesterday, the usually gruff Postecoglou couldn’t help but share his excitement at the ­occasion.

“As (an international) coach there’s a real frustration you don’t get the week-to-week adrenaline going for a football match which every coach wants,” he said.

“The beauty of international football is when there’s a big game there’s nothing bigger.

“When the big moments come, you really cherish the fact you’re involved in international football and able to be involved in big games.”

Additional reporting: AAP