About 43 hours ago the wind must have changed direction because I simply cannot wipe this huge smile from my face. I read newspaper articles and see TV footage and I get goose bumps and that overwhelming feeling of happiness and pride that makes you want to shed yet another tear.  

The nerves that we had all day, wondering could we, would we. We would pause at work or at home and dream of how good it would be for football in this country if the Socceroos could win. Of course we quickly snapped ourselves into check because we had been devastatingly let down on so many occasions.

I tried to convince myself that if I didn’t get too attached to the idea of Australia winning then I wouldn’t be too disappointed by a bad result. But I simply couldn’t restrain my expectation, I couldn’t put the thought of winning out of my head, no matter how hard I tried.   

There was an amazing feeling around Sydney and particularly Olympic Park with the Overflow Bar belting out Aussie tunes and climaxed with a rendition of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ to the tune of ‘Working Class Man’. No one would say it out loud but everyone had that little feeling that maybe we could, maybe we would do it.

There were a few quick drinks to calm the nerves before entering Telstra Stadium. Once inside you couldn’t help but be swept up by the sea of gold. Everywhere you looked people were in gold, whether it was a 2005 Socceroo’s jersey, or one of the many hideous combinations of green and gold that Australia has worn in the past, or just an old yellow t-shirt that you would never have thought you would wear in public ever again.  

The Boooos erupted as the Uruguayan team came out to warm up. Even a half full stadium was deafening. Finally the Aussies took the pitch and the crowd cheered in unison for the first time for our Heroes in Green and Gold. The fallen Hero of Australian soccer, Johnny Warren was  remembered with an emotion tribute. As the footage took over the big screens, a stirring rendition of ‘You Will Never Walk Alone’ was sung by the growing crowd. Watching the faces around me, you could see the anxiety in the faces of the crowd as everyone reflected upon how fitting it would be to make the World Cup and dedicate it to a man that has worked so hard for the potential of the moment we were experiencing.

The crowd reach capacity and there was gold everywhere. Everyone was cheering something because it was too nerve wracking to just sit there patiently. One wise Hippo, Alice, then leant over and said, “We don’t know what it is to lose, so we can’t lose now.” And even with that I couldn’t bring myself to wholeheartedly agree.  

Stand Up for the Socceroos, Stand Up for the Socceroos, Stand Up for the Socceroos, Stand Up for the Socceroos then filtered around the Stadium and stand up we did as they took the field. You couldn’t hear the Uruguayan National Anthem but my god, you could of heard ‘Advance Australia Fair’ from Melbourne it was that loud.

Tweet and so began the greatest chapter in the drama that is Australian Football. It felt like you were kicking every ball, making every tackle and feeling every knock that the boys in gold were feeling. Every time something even slightly exciting happened we would jump to our feet in hope that either Schwarzer would make that save or Viduka would score that goal. The cheering was deafening but the booing and jeering the Uruguayans was just as loud and certainly intimidating.  

And then came Harry Kewell and just when you thought the intensity couldn’t possibly get any greater, Bresciano sent Colosseum Telstra into euphoria. Jumping around and falling over and hugging random strangers that you had never met before. But we all had a few things in common - screaming, smiling, jumping, green and gold clothing sticking to our skin with the sweat of, "imagine if we make it..." or that clothing flying around in concentric circles above heads, crying, nervely shaking, just absorbing every drop of the atmosphere that was on offer.  

The atmosphere didn’t relent for a second as we rode the waves of emotion from the realms of despair when Uruguay would manage to get  shot off to the elation as our defense diffuse the situation. And the crest that formed as we all rose to our feet when Australia was building in offense, only to be dumped back to our seats when the shot fizzled wide.   

As we went into extra time the crowd sensed that the Socceroos needed a lift and began a timely version of ‘Walzing Matilda’ that filtered from a small section of the crowd to soon engulf the whole stadium. We then braced ourselves for penalties and when Aloisi hit top right, we went ballistic, crying, shaking, screaming, jumping hugging, cheering, whistling and of course singing “I Come From a Land Down Under.

Oh what a night!Leish