The day the Socceroos scared Brazil to death

The Socceroos began training in earnest on Friday with their World Cup opener against Chile nearing.

Australia still had its moment of destiny, successfully advancing to the second round after drawing with Croatia. But against Brazil, we just fell short. AFP PHOTO/Torsten BLACKWOOD Source: News Limited

IT'S BARELY two weeks now until the 2014 FIFA World Cup. This should help you get in the mood.

In the second of our exclusive excerpts from Jesse Fink's new e-book World Party: The Inside Story of the Socceroos' Greatest Campaign (Xoum, $3.99), we remember the day the Socceroos played the world champions … and played like world champions.

THIS WEEK: THE DAY WE (ALMOST) SCARED BRAZIL TO DEATH

Three weeks out from the start of Germany 2006, while the world was devouring profiles of the two Ronaldos (the Portuguese and Brazilian versions) and betting agencies were installing Brazil as unbackable favourites to win a sixth World Cup, a civil war was raging in Brazil's biggest city, São Paulo.

The few images coming out of the country were cinematic in their rawness and violence. Gangsters from the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital), a ruthless crime syndicate, had mounted coordinated terrorist attacks inside 80 prisons and on the streets in protest over the relocation of hundreds of its members to a remote penal facility. Police and fire stations were bombed, vehicles torched, hundreds of civilians slaughtered. The four days of carnage only ended when the gang's kingpin, Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, aka 'Marcola', called for his foot soldiers to release their hostages. In return for their compliance, Marcola had a simple request: new plasma TVs for his men to watch the World Cup.

So in a country where even civil wars come to a halt for football, to earn the yellow shirt of the national football team marks a player as exceptional. It's when 11 of those players come together that the real trouble begins. The boys from Brazil have forever grappled with the curse of overconfidence, what they call oba oba. The better the Seleção, the more crippling oba oba becomes. The curse struck instantly at the 1966 World Cup in England after Brazil had won the previous two tournaments in a canter. The 1982 team, regarded by some experts as the best Brazilian side ever assembled, didn't get past the quarters in Spain, eliminated by eventual winners Italy 3-2 in Barcelona.

In addition to overconfidence, Brazil also had to overcome this guy. Source: AFP

In Germany, the spectre of oba oba was bigger than ever. With a line-up containing Ronaldinho, Kaká, Adriano, Ronaldo, Robinho and Roberto Carlos, among others, and a World Cup-winning coach in Carlos Alberto Parreira, there could be no excuses. How could there be? Failure was not an option — it never has been in Brazilian football. Dida, the team's number one, had spent the previous months begging his country to forgive the 'crucified' figure of the late and unlamented Moacir Barbosa, the goalkeeper who'd had the grave misfortune of letting in Uruguay's winning goal in the World Cup final ... in 1950.

The Socceroos knew it would take an extraordinary effort to come away with a result at Allianz Arena in Munich. The key to an improbable victory wasn't technical ability but mindset. Lucas Neill, the most headstrong of the Australian players, wasn't buying into the David-versus-Goliath talk about the match.

'If you worry too much about your opponent, then you take away the strength of your own game,' he told me. 'We're an unpredictable team and we're a very good team. If we play to all our strengths, hopefully that will cancel out what everybody else is trying to do. Maybe Brazil will find themselves defending more than attacking.'

And maybe CAFU would revert to dirty tactics against Tim Cahill. The giant Brazilian earned a yellow card for this effort. Pic: Gregg Porteous. Source: News Limited

Germany's Circus Maximus demanded something special. Yet the Socceroos weren't overawed by the occasion. In fact, they took to the pitch with nothing to lose. A win or draw would see the Socceroos qualify for the second round. A loss would mean that the game everyone expected to be the crunch clash of Group F, against Croatia, would be just that. Australia could run onto the field and just play.

The opening minutes followed a fairly predictable pattern: the Seleção building up their attack with short, carefully measured passes. Australia, a step off the pace, conceded a free kick to Kaká within the first two minutes but Ronaldinho's lame effort was cleared away by Mark Viduka downfield. Then Brazil showed what it could do in the blink of an eye. Roberto Carlos punted the ball back down the left flank, it bounced once and found Lúcio, who was dispossessed by Craig Moore; only the Australian defender's miskick ended up in the path of Kaká, who headed on to Ronaldo. The heavyweight striker received it cleanly on his chest, then volleyed over his head to where Kaká, now steaming in directly behind him, smacked it hard into the advertising hoarding behind the left goalpost. Mark Schwarzer, who'd barely had time to spit on his gloves, was sent rolling on the grass.

'The spirit of Australia is the flying kangaroo, mate,' Viduka had laughed when we spoke before the tournament. 'We've gotta fly at 'em. We've gotta take 'em on. It would be a shame if we tried to play "bunker system" or something like that. It wouldn't utilise what kind of players we have. Going forward we've got so many good players. My philosophy is attack is the best defence.'

Australia really bared its teeth against the likes of Ronaldinho. AP Pic: Christof/Stache Source: AP

It was a wonderful sentiment, and that's all it might have stayed. But, true to the captain's word, the Australians immediately hit back, Viduka himself unleashing an inswinging strike that came off his boot at half pace. Neill then made a terrific run through midfield, beating Ze Roberto, but was foiled by Lúcio. On seven minutes, Moore, falling to his feet after a back pass from Jason Culina, kicked a 30-metre cutout pass to Scott Chipperfield who sent Mile Sterjovski scuttling through to the byline. There were signs of life in this team. Brett Emerton was containing Ronaldinho. Chipperfield was outfoxing Cafu. A pumped-up Vince Grella was tormenting anyone who came his way and was lucky not to be sent off for a studs-up tackle on Ronaldo.

A flummoxed Brazil had reverted to playing long balls for their strikers to get through the six-man midfield. The Socceroos, in contrast, were pushing the ball around on the deck, keeping possession. 'GO AUSSIE! GO AUSSIE! GO AUSSIE!' reverberated around the stadium. Emerton and Culina combined for a dazzling one-two down the left, fooling Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos. Culina then linked with Viduka to set up a rampaging Mark Bresciano, whose strike whistled over Dida's crossbar.

It had been a bravura show by the Socceroos, a performance that in just 45 minutes had exploded the myths about the Australian game — the resorting to thuggery, reliance on the long ball, lack of invention, poor tactical discipline. Whatever historical baggage Australia had taken into the World Cup had been unceremoniously dumped.

So how to account for what happened just after the break? The goal seemed too easy. It was made from a Ronaldinho straight pass from near the centre of the pitch to a fractionally off-side Ronaldo on the left edge of the box. He drew Emerton, Neill and Moore and crossed square to Adriano, who had no trouble threading it through Chipperfield's legs.

Bugger. AP Pic: Anja/Niedringhaus Source: AP

It was a bitterly disappointing goal to concede. More disappointing, though, was the failure to snatch a goal back when Australia had the world champions back-pedalling on the counter-attack.

When Australia manager Guus Hiddink brought on John Aloisi to buttress an attack that was already running hot laps around the Brazilians, his adversary Parreira, like an old man on the other side of a chessboard, had his own plan. On came Robinho for Ronaldo, Gilberto Silva for Emerson. With almost his first touch, Robinho danced around Chipperfield and unleashed a fierce strike past Schwarzer's left post. Minutes later, he forced the Australian goalkeeper to save off his legs.

The action was end to end. Bresciano had a half-bicycle kick from an Aloisi header saved by Dida, and Viduka, under pressure, had a volley swallowed in the roof of the net. Downfield, Brazil's best chance came when a zipping header from Kaká hit the near post off a Ronaldinho corner. The Brazilians had been pushed back onto the ropes. It was a measure of how good the Australians were playing that the Seleção were relying on long aerial balls to mount any sort of effective offence.

But Parreira had one final trick up his sleeve. He pulled off Adriano and threw on Fred, a striker who had the enviable record of scoring the fastest goal in Brazilian football. It was the killer blow. It took less than two minutes to open his World Cup account.

Perhaps Schwarzer shouldn't have ducked off to the shop for a packet of chips midgame. In all seriousness, he was one of our best and had good reason to be protecting the near post in the lead-up to this goal. Source: AP

In the 'mixed zone' where journalists gathered to conduct post-match interviews, Grella was asked how the Brazilians had reacted after the final whistle. What had they said to the Socceroos? 'Well done. Good luck. Same sort of bullshit everyone says after a game,' he said, wiping his chin and looking at the floor. 'Nothing special, mate, nothing special.'

His honesty was charming but jolting. Life went on. It was over. No matter how valiantly they had played, or how amazing the experience had been, Brazil had still won and Australian football, after a short flight in orbit, had been brought crashing back to earth.

On the positive side, few Australian heads would have been hurt if it had suddenly started hailing. Pic: Adam/Smith. Source: News Limited

Jesse Fink's iTunes #1 Sports & Recreation e-book World Party: The Inside Story of the Socceroos' Greatest Campaign, with an introduction by Tim Cahill ($3.99), out now through Xoum and available on iTunes, Amazon Kindle and Google Play. Click here for details.

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