by
For many Australians the wounds of June 26, 2006 have never healed.
Ecstasy quickly turned to agony for the Socceroos in their first World Cup appearance in 32 years.
Zayas v Ennis | Sunday June 28 from 8am AEST | New York City plays host to a scintillating matchup at super welterweight, as unified champion Xander Zayas looks to defend his WBO and WBA titles against pound-for-pound star Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.
A tournament opening come-from-behind victory against Japan and a scintillating 2-2 draw with Croatia put Australia into the knockout rounds for the first time in the nation’s history.
Kaiserslautern and Stuttgart had been the scenes of an explosion of green and gold joy never seen before on the global stage.
The former would become the site of unforgettable despair.
Australia have made the Round of 16 at a World Cup once since. Graham Arnold’s unheralded squad stunned the world by pushing eventual champions Argentina until the final whistle in Qatar four years ago.
The Socceroos fell to the eventual champions, Italy, in 2006 too.
But while Arnold’s team largely walked away proud of their unexpected run, two decades later Guus Hiddink’s men still feel the burn of a golden opportunity missed.
In a series of articles looking back on the 2006 World Cup, foxsports.com.au spoke with some of those Australians who were there when the Socceroos ended the nation’s World Cup drought!
PART ONE — ‘Absolute torture’: Inside brutal camp that made 06’ Socceroos
PART TWO — ‘Never f***ing do this again’: How fuse was lit for ‘06 Socceroos explosion
PART THREE — Guus’ ‘nightmare’ after bold Brazil act: Inside ‘06 Socceroos’ ‘mental’ night
‘CERTAINLY A DIFFERENT VIBE’
From the pre-tournament training camp to the immediate aftermath of the draw with Croatia when he made them train the next day, Socceroos manager Guus Hiddink made sure his players never got complacent.
After the nation had endured a painful World Cup drought for more than three decades, they would not be satisfied with simply making up the numbers in Germany.
But Italy was always going to be a major test.
The Azzurri were a powerhouse in 2006 – not the brunt of many jokes like they are now after failing to qualify for the last three World Cups.
The then three-time champions, who would add a fourth star to their jersey weeks later in a gripping penalty shootout against France, had topped their group by defeating Ghana and Czechia, and drawing with the United States.
Marcello Lippi’s squad were the overwhelming favourites.
Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who would be reinstated to the starting XI after being dumped from the Croatia game for Zeljko Kalac, recalled that within the Australian camp, they knew it too.
“There was certainly a different vibe, a different environment, a different feeling once you got out of the group stages,” Schwarzer told foxsports.com.au.
“There was a sense of the manager feeling like I’ve done what I needed to do. Now, this is a bonus.
“It was more of a relaxed kind of feel about – rightly or wrongly.
“It didn’t change anything in the way in which we played. It probably helped us because it was a big deal, but don’t make too big of a deal out of it.”
The more relaxed feeling did not mean the occasion was lost on the Australians.
They had shown immense spirit throughout the group games – coming from 1-0 down to defeat Japan 3-1, fighting admirably against Brazil and twice equalising to secure the draw they needed against Croatia.
It had fostered a belief within the group that they could do anything.
“That we deserved to be where we were and this was a big opportunity playing against a very formidable opponent,” Schwarzer recalled when asked what the feeling was like among the playing group.
“And that this is the World Cup, this is what it’s about. It doesn’t matter what rankings are, or who’s perceived to be the favourite.
“It was about going out there and believing in what we do. Knowing what our strengths are, playing to our strengths and giving Italy the biggest possible game we could have.”
THAT PENALTY
The Australians had been dealt a cruel blow in the days leading into the game.
Harry Kewell, who scored the decisive goal against Croatia, was sidelined with a toe infection.
Australia’s golden boy had hobbled into the stadium on crutches for the biggest game in Socceroos history.
Like the Japan game, it was once again a scorching hot afternoon in Kaiserslautern.
As a result the game was played at a slower pace with both teams eager to control the ball, but in the first half there was no shortage of opportunities to break the deadlock.
In the opening minutes, Tim Cahill headed across the face goal, while Luca Toni almost put the Italians in front but his chance flew inches wide of the far post from an Alessandro Del Piero cross.
Lucas Neill and Scott Chipperfield’s desperation at the back quelled attacks from Del Piero and Simon Perrotta.
Schwarzer also denied the Italians by tipping an Alberto Gilardino volley over the bar and stopping a Luca Toni shot with his legs.
It was not all one-way traffic, however, as Viduka put a powerful header straight into Gianluigi Buffon’s arms.
The Italian shot stopper – who conceded two goals all tournament, one via an own goal and one from the penalty spot – soon after made an excellent save to deny Chipperfield.
After half-time, the match flipped on its heads.
Marco Materazzi was sent off in the 53rd minute for a two-footed tackle on Mark Bresciano as he charged through the Italian defence.
Italy were down to ten men and, suddenly, Australia had the advantage.
But they were unable to capitalise.
Cahill’s header from a Bresciano corner fired over the bar.
Bresciano also sent a shot over the bar, while a free kick of his went agonisingly wide of the far post.
Buffon mopped up a John Aloisi cross before Viduka could get his boot to ball.
Then, in stoppage time, Socceroos hearts broke.
Many Australians cannot watch it back.
Others still pan over the replay to mount the argument that Fabio Grosso dived.
The Italian left back wove his way into the box and Grosso fell over Neill, who went to ground to try stop his run.
Spanish referee Luis Cantalejo pointed to the spot and after several minutes Fransesco Totti converted a 95th minute penalty to put his nation through to the quarter-finals.
Schwarzer came awfully close to being the hero as he was in the shootout against Uruguay a year earlier.
Totti slammed a powerful kick into the top left corner of the goal, simply out of reach of Schwarzer’s glove.
“Obviously you hope and you believe that you could save it, and I knew where Totti was going,” Schwarzer recalled to foxsports.com.au.
“I knew and I waited, I didn’t want to go too early, and he hit hard enough and well enough that unfortunately I couldn’t get to it.”
As he said, there was nothing Schwarzer could do.
There were no hard feeling towards Australia’s No.1, but there certainly was towards the referee and the Italians.
Everyone handles grief differently and Australians blew up over the decision.
The referee was widely slammed and Grosso was labelled a diver.
But not everyone was outraged.
Then football editor of The Daily Telegraph Tom Smithies was in the stands in Kaiserslautern as he spent that World Cup following the Socceroos.
Smithies did not buy into the narrative that the referee got it wrong.
“I still say it was a penalty,” then football editor of The Daily Telegraph Tom Smithies told foxsports.com.au.
“I think it’s the most clever piece of manoeuvring of your body by Grosso. The way he flicks the ball back inside and just puts himself in a position.
“He could see Lucas has launched into a sliding tackle and just waits for the contact.
“Doesn’t dive. He gets nudged and falls over.
“It’s a little soft but I still maintain it’s a penalty.
“But I’ve got friends who maintain it’s not after all these years.”
GUUS’ BLUNDER?
Less common in the aftermath of the cruel end to Australia’s campaign was people pointing the finger at Hiddink.
The Dutch manager became a national icon down under as he took the Socceroos to the World Cup and then out of the group.
But Hiddink did make a few blunders along the way.
The decision to ditch Schwarzer for Kalac backfired when the latter gifted Croatia their second goal with an absolute howler.
He took another gamble in the Italy game that did not pay off.
On a scorching hot day with Australia chasing a winner, Hiddink made just one substitution.
John Aloisi replaced Mile Sterjovski in the 81st minute.
Every other member of the starting XI stayed on the pitch until the final whistle.
“The manager made a call that he was banking on going to extra time,” Schwarzer recalled to foxsports.com.au.
“He was going to save extra substitutions for extra time. It makes sense with the impact that can have.
“But it worked against us in some ways that we didn’t get that player on sooner.
“Johnny (Aloisi) could have come on sooner because he was very impactful throughout the tournament.
“But the manager is there to make those decisions, spur of the moment decisions.
“Hindsight’s always a wonderful thing. You can critique and say you would have done things differently.”
Hiddink’s options were more limited with Kewell sidelined, but the likes of Josh Kennedy, who was used off the bench against Japan and Croatia, remained wearing their bibs.
Archie Thompson, who did not get on the pitch in the tournament, thought he may get a chance to come on and make an impact.
“We were all sort of getting up and preparing for extra time,” Thompson told foxsports.com.au.
“All the players on the bench, we’re all kind of excited because it’s like this is the time now.
“We’re all getting ready and warming up. We all thought we were going to go on but you never know where he’s going to go.
“Then we cop a penalty.”
The potential of going to extra time and another penalty shootout like Uruguay was a reality laid bare by Hiddink in his pre-match planning.
“I suppose the only thing you could say that was adjusted was the reality of penalties,” third choice goalkeeper Ante Covic told foxsports.com.au.
“Coming to the Round of 16, you knew that was a possibility, and at nil-all, ten men, there probably was a bit of that trying to hang on for extra time.
“There was that talk of if the time comes, we’ve been in that situation before.
“There was still that trying to win the game before it gets to that stage, but if there was a change in mentality – that was the only one that it could go down to that.”
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY MISSED…
There was a split among not just the Australian camp, but the entire country, in the aftermath.
There were those like Thompson, who put the result down to Italy simply being the better team.
“That Italy team was amazing,” he told foxsports.com.au.
“That’s how good they were. We couldn’t break them down with a man extra.”
While there were others like Schwarzer, who rued missing a chance to stun the eventual champions.
“What for me was the disappointment was that we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity we had in front of us,” he told foxsports.com.au.
“I think a lot of us, and certainly I did at the time, we all to this day see it as a missed opportunity.
“It was a phenomenal opportunity to knock one of the biggest nations out of a World Cup.
“We didn’t do enough in the game. We probably showed them too much respect in some ways.
“But it’s Italy and they defended incredibly well, down to ten men, and we just couldn’t find that cutting edge.
“And they made the most of their opportunity.
“There is certainly still a huge sense of disappointment and frustration to this day on how we didn’t quite take it.
“Looking back on it, I still feel like we should have beaten them.
“We should have knocked them out and the rest is history.”
That night after the game, the Australians handled their mixed emotions by either drowning their sorrows or celebrating what they had achieved.
The group returned to the former castle which served as their base in Öhringen and nearly drank the place dry.
“The town wasn’t big. There wasn’t much going on but we shook it up as much as we could,” Thompson recalled.
While Football Federation Australia were hit with a big bill.
“Hiddink was apparently up all night in the hotel bar smoking cigars and drinking very expensive red wine at the FFA’s expense,” Smithies said with a chuckle.
After such a gruelling campaign that began with the high of the Uruguay shootout, took in a monster farewell game against then European champions Greece at the MCG, before a brutal training camp in the Netherlands prior to the tournament proper in Germany, the Socceroos deserved to let their hair down.
“We were obviously gutted. It was a very sombre feeling in the change room,” Thompson recalled.
“But we got all together at the compound where we were staying, and it wasn’t just the World Cup. It was everything leading up to it.
“It was like wow, okay. We took Italy right to the end. Super disappointed we didn’t make it through, but we should be proud and we do what we always do best – party.
“That was the fun part about the Socceroos. We worked hard but we always had fun.
“We reflected on what we’d done, and it was pretty incredible.”
Such is the nature of football, however, that there was little more time to spend together as a group and reflect.
The day after the Italy game, the entire group were headed to the airport.
They were either headed home to Australia or to other parts of Europe to enjoy a week or two of rest and recovery before linking back up with their clubs for pre-season.
“I remember the next morning outside the hotel, the players shaking hands with Hiddink, each other and there were a few hangovers,” Smithies recalled.
“And there was an overwhelming sense of how close they’d come.
“If they’d gone through, they’d play Ukraine, who weren’t great. Suddenly if you beat Ukraine, you were in the semi-finals.”
For Smithies the tournament was not done.
He stayed on until Italy defeated France in the final.
In the following weeks, he once again linked up with members of the global media who had been stunned by the Socceroos after the Japan victory.
With the underdog story and so many of the players playing in Europe’s top leagues, Australia quickly became everyone’s second team that tournament.
And there was a wave of disappointment that their wild rise could not have lasted longer.
“I bumped into a bunch of English journos when Italy beat Germany in the semi-final in Munich,” he recalled.
“Looking back, they said they were amazed at how well Australia did and that they could have gone on.
“There was a sense that they had that opportunity but were unable to take it.
“I think one of them said you got ‘Italyified’. That’s what Italy do. They win World Cups by playing terribly.
“They always have a lucky escape and then they come good at the right time.”
Those words did not it any easier pill to swallow for Australians.
But perhaps if Tony Popovic’s current squad can become the first Socceroos team to win a World Cup knockout game, the wounds of June 26, 2006 may finally become scars.
