It's described as a state of restlessness, excitement, delusions and hallucinations. And it starts right about now.
Sure we've had months of speculation, weeks of nail-biting injury concerns and heated conversations about "friendly" results. But all of that has been blown out of the nearest vuvuzuela now that The Real Thing is descending upon us.
Come the early hours of Monday morning we will finally see what Group D has to offer and what The Socceroos are up against. Who can honestly say they have any certainty how either of the two Group games will turn out ?
Judging by the results of pre-Cup friendlies is a dangerous thing. Holland made Ghana look toothless while Serbia were beaten by a classic Shane Smeltz goal that surely made every A-League fan smile.
The Socceroos were given what Grella described as "a small slap" by the USA, although it looked like a major assault from where I was sitting. Facing a confident, attacking team our defence suddenly looked a little tired. The sight of Craig Moore being repeatedly outrun was punctuated by plaintive chants of "Og Monster, where are you ?" from distressed fans around the country (or perhaps just my couch).
Chippers, who gave an outstanding performance against the USA, maintains The Socceroos are not "too old", but officially we're the second oldest team in South Africa. (Is it too late to recall Tommy and some jumper leads ?)
On the plus side, Arsene (in a shrewd bid to gain Schwarzer's approval) describes us as "tough cookies" while the Germans are suddenly paying their respects.
Ghana apparently don't know we exist and with a "home crowd" advantage their self-belief against Serbia will be sky high. I'm still backing Serbia to beat them, just so I can watch their crazy fans throw stuff onto the pitch and get the match ended early, as they did against The All Whites. Dontcha just love a bit of World Cup controversy ?
As for THE BIG ONE.....I feel too superstitious to predict the outcome, but I do know this is probably the toughest game The Socceroos have ever played. Hopefully, we can hold our heads up high when the fulltime whistle blows and say we gave it our best shot.
Much has been said about the loss of Ballack, but there is far too much quality in the German squad for this to have much effect. Despite Pim's rather alarming 4-4-2 experiment against the USA, he will undoubtedly go for the safest option in such a tough game so a 0-0 draw is what I'm secretly hoping for.
How many minutes will Harry get to work his World Cup magic, as we know he can? Even he probably couldn't say. The good news is that Emerton is back and we're all crossing everything for Timmy's precious neck. The neck that will move so gloriously to connect his head with that wayward Jabulani ball.
One thing that unfortunately separates us from the other countries in Group D is the continuing parochial attitude of the general Australian media. While every other country on earth celebrates this massive event, here at the "arse end of the world" apparently Jarryd Hayne's head butt is of greater significance.
It's beyond embarrassing. I have been astounded and dismayed this week to see the mediocre coverage given to The World Cup in Sydney newspapers and on commercial TV. Even with two days to go to the biggest event on the planet, The Sydney Morning Herald still has 6 pages of NRL and gives front page attention to its most insignificant stories.
On the ABC, journalists refer to "the soccer World Cup" (so ignorant it makes me cringe) while The Herald ignored The Matildas but published a totally inaccurate article about the supposed "problems" in Australian football (sorry, soccer).
Enough is enough. If we don't win the 2022 bid you know who to blame. The only way we'll ever get rid of these dinosaurs is for Frank Lowy to sell a few Westfields and buy a few newspapers.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, where there is ONLY ONE WORLD CUP, delirium is starting to set in. That brings the restlessness of anticipating games and the breathless excitement of watching live games with billions of other fans. Not to mention the delusions and hallucinations resulting from a potent mix of adrenaline, alcohol, caffeine and lack of sleep.
Ah ! Beauty : thy name is football !
Our beloved Queen has blessed us with a holiday so we'll all be at your shrine come Monday morning. You, me, Fozzie, all my relatives, Bubs, your favourite A-League player, Rale Rasic, that guy who makes great coffee, the local Under 10B's, old soccer & new football - totally united in our dedication and belief that The Socceroos will do us proud.
My heart is pounding already.
