Saturday night > 3 points

As I write this it is about 30 hours after IT happened and I have managed to shake off a semblance of the numbness I have been feeling in order to type out some thoughts in the aftermath of THAT game.

It took us a year and a half to qualify for the World Cup in which time we played 1260 minutes of, at times, very solid football.

It took us 62 minutes to have our World Cup dreams dashed, in which time we played 57 minutes, of what can only be described as, shambolic football.

In the qualifiers we conceded only four times, one of which was let through when fielding a third string side against China in a first round dead rubber.

In 62 minutes on Monday morning we conceded four times and were lucky not to concede more.

Prior to the World Cup we had played 30 internationals under Pim Verbeek since the start of 2008, 10 of which were friendlies, and not once looked like reverting away from Plan A for any more than a fleeting second.

At one point prior to our 31st and most important international under his tutelage Verbeek decided to throw away the play book.

The rest is just a blur.

I'm not even going to bother speaking ill of the performance.

I'm no expert, my opinion holds just as much weight as everybody else.

Reading the 442 forums in the aftermath of THAT game I found it hard not to agree with everything that was being said.

And there is no point going on a long rant after Kevin Airs summed up how we are all feeling perfectly.

Instead I wish to focus on the one positive to come out of the match, that being it was only game one of a three game round robin series.

We live to fight another day.

Somehow we must bounce back against Ghana, a side who themselves will be on a high after producing Africa's first victory of the World Cup against Serbia only hours before THAT game.

But it is possible.

The Socceroos need look no further than Ukraine for inspiration for the task that confronts them.

They were hammered 4-0 against a Spain outfit oozing with class in the first game of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

But it recovered, winning their remaining two group games against, albeit, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia before going on to defeat Switzerland on penalties in the Round of 16.

That the Ukraine succumbed to Italy 3-0 in the quarter finals, again highlighting the gulf in class between the boys from Kiev and football's superpowers, is a mute point - the Socceroos aren't going to be world champions either.

But that they turned it around after their first up disaster can only provide hope that we can do likewise.

Because we need to do likewise.

We all saw in 2006 how much a fillip Australia's four games in Germany was for the game in this country.

For two and a half weeks everybody was talking about the Socceroos and as a result the second season of the A-League benefited greatly in terms of crowds, while the benefit given to the game at grassroots level was immeasurable.

Lose to Ghana on Saturday night and the game takes a step backwards, in my opinion anyway.

Can you really see the mainstream media, and the general public at large, getting too excited about what will be a dead rubber against Serbia at 4.30 on a Thursday morning?

If not, where we had four games and two and a half weeks in the sun in Germany, becomes two games and six days in the sun that is covered by a large patch of fog.

We need to keep the dream alive, even if it is for only one game and five days longer, for every extra day of exposure in this country takes the game light years closer to becoming a major force in the code war.

It, too, takes the Socceroos closer to becoming an even greater force on the world stage as more and more kiddies will choose to kick around the round ball instead of its oval shaped rivals.
Saturday night is not just about the 11 Socceroos on the pitch, the 12 on the bench, the coach and his staff.

It's not just about the FFA and its subordinate bodies that govern the game in each of our states and territories.

Saturday night is about the sport as a whole.

It's about not slowing down what has been a golden period in the history of the sport in this country.

Please, boys, put everything that has happened behind you and give us a performance that the whole country - from Cairns to Perth, from Darwin to Hobart - can be proud of.

Because it's about more than than the 90 minutes in Rustenburg.