THE 2006 World Cup game against Japan was very possibly the best and worst thing that has ever happened to Australian football.
With six minutes left, we were 1-0 down and, A-League or not, I was ready to bring down the shutters on the resurgence of 'new footy' in Australia.
It looked all over and it was another embarrassing exit from the World Cup, 32 years after our first and last goalless, embarrassing exit.
The anticipation and excitement qualification created had become a distant memory as we appeared set for a dismal impotent defeat against our nearest rival, both geographically and in talent.
Then Guus struck. He threw everything into attack, Cahill scored, Cahill scored again and then Aloisi scored for good measure. It was a thrilling six minute rollercoaster ride and suddenly a legend was born.
And unfortunately for Pim Verbeek, consciously or not, THAT is now the yardstick the Australian public (and most of the media, it seems) want to measure the Socceroos by.
It had everything - victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, excitement, disbelief (almost everyone would have settled simply for a draw, never mind a win, but then a cheeky third??!) and perfectly illustrated the never-say-die Aussie spirit on the world stage.
It rightly inspired huge patriotic pride at our boys who had done the country so proud.
It was our greatest moment, and the feeling lasted so long, it completely overshadowed the loss to Brazil (where Guus ambitiously tried to recreate the Japan come from behind win but instead left us ridiculously vulnerable) and the draw with Croatia (where Guus erred so badly in petulantly picking Kalac to prove a point to Schwarzer).
The Italian game was possibly our most balanced performance of the tournament - holding the future world champions at bay until the last moment and falling only to a rash tackle, a dodgy decision and a penalty.
The one thing all the games had in common was excitement, much of it late in the match, and plenty of goals, some of them were even scored by us.
But break it down and the harsher facts are quite simple - one win, one draw, two losses, no clean sheets. And that was supposedly our finest hour, under our finest manager.
Of course, by very definition, the standard at the World Cup itself can't be equated to the standard we meet when qualifying for the competition.
But seven clean sheets, no losses, top of the table and qualifying for the World Cup with two games to spare? That's bloody impressive and anyone who can't see that is a naive, adrenalin-junkie fool, yearning for the excitement of that Japan game, over and over again.
Even Guus eventually realised he couldn't pull that one off again and played it straight against Italy, in a style that's very similar to the efficient and clinical way Pim has been playing this whole World Cup qualifying campaign.
I have not been Pim's greatest fan. I was scathing about him when he was appointed and said this was the best job for the man, not the best man for the job.
I had the pleasure of asking him the very first question from the Australian press on the day he started, and it was something rude to the effect of 'How does it feel to be second choice?' and he handled it graciously.
Since then I've been proved wrong. Pim's been the best man for the job. His record so far has been, almost literally, unbeatable.
Do I agree with everything he's done? Hell, no. Do I want to see him play with two upfront at home when we've already qualified? Damn right. Do I want to see us control matches more confidently? Shit yeah. And don't even start me on Holman...
But don't for one second think I want rid of Pim or a fundamental change in his approach. We are not Brazil. We are not Argentina. And more importantly, we are not playing in Oceania any more.
We are not going to win by 31 goals any more...but, equally, we are not going to play in front of a crowd of 1200 any more either.
We've only made the World Cup twice before...to get this far is an incredible achievement and it's time parts of the media and large sections of the fans started to appreciate this.
I come from a country that's one of the 'homes' of football. They've qualified once in the last 20 years and are unlikely to do so again this time. (They've also never made it out of the group stage in eight attempts. Australia did it on the second time of asking.)
Even England has often relied on goal difference to qualify...and they've won the World Cup (apparently - they don't like to talk about it much though.)
Australia needs to appreciate not only the scale of the achievement but also how far the sport in this country has come that 40,000 people turn out on a freezing night for a nothing game against a team that few could name even one of its players.
And this in a country where the sport is crowded out by three rival codes, and has less free TV airtime than swimming, tennis, golf, netball or even lawn bowls.
Instead, people focus on a half empty stadium and only winning 2-0. Take a look at yourselves.
We all might want the adrenalin rush and the surge of patriotism brave triumphs like the Japan game creates but what these people only remember is just the last six minutes of that game.
But true fans know most games are more like the first 84 minutes, a melange of frustration, disappointment, desperation and very often heartbreak.
The sport in this country could have been very different if we hadn't found the net in that game.
The A-League would undoubtedly have suffered as a result, but perhaps qualifying again for the World Cup this time round would have been more highly appreciated?
If you want goals galore, stick with Aussie Rules and enjoy your bonus points for missing. If you want to permanently qualify for a World Cup, then stick with rugby and cricket.
But for the rest of us, completing the challenge of seven consecutive clean sheets, an unbeaten run and qualifying for the World Cup with two games in hand is a huge success and deserves to be applauded, not derided.
We now have a year to gel together, develop working partnerships, find the extra depth we need and learn to properly assert ourselves and control matches the way we should.
Hopefully we find a way to get our First XI released from their clubs to use the Asian Cup qualifiers as proper World Cup warm-ups and not waste those games using the fringe Socceroos as we have up to now.
But in the meantime, Pim, let's live a little dangerously, sod the stats just for one night ...and take the damn game to Japan on Wednesday to create your OWN new yardstick to judge you by, eh??
With six minutes left, we were 1-0 down and, A-League or not, I was ready to bring down the shutters on the resurgence of 'new footy' in Australia.
It looked all over and it was another embarrassing exit from the World Cup, 32 years after our first and last goalless, embarrassing exit.
The anticipation and excitement qualification created had become a distant memory as we appeared set for a dismal impotent defeat against our nearest rival, both geographically and in talent.
Then Guus struck. He threw everything into attack, Cahill scored, Cahill scored again and then Aloisi scored for good measure. It was a thrilling six minute rollercoaster ride and suddenly a legend was born.
And unfortunately for Pim Verbeek, consciously or not, THAT is now the yardstick the Australian public (and most of the media, it seems) want to measure the Socceroos by.
It had everything - victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, excitement, disbelief (almost everyone would have settled simply for a draw, never mind a win, but then a cheeky third??!) and perfectly illustrated the never-say-die Aussie spirit on the world stage.
It rightly inspired huge patriotic pride at our boys who had done the country so proud.
It was our greatest moment, and the feeling lasted so long, it completely overshadowed the loss to Brazil (where Guus ambitiously tried to recreate the Japan come from behind win but instead left us ridiculously vulnerable) and the draw with Croatia (where Guus erred so badly in petulantly picking Kalac to prove a point to Schwarzer).
The Italian game was possibly our most balanced performance of the tournament - holding the future world champions at bay until the last moment and falling only to a rash tackle, a dodgy decision and a penalty.
The one thing all the games had in common was excitement, much of it late in the match, and plenty of goals, some of them were even scored by us.
But break it down and the harsher facts are quite simple - one win, one draw, two losses, no clean sheets. And that was supposedly our finest hour, under our finest manager.
Of course, by very definition, the standard at the World Cup itself can't be equated to the standard we meet when qualifying for the competition.
But seven clean sheets, no losses, top of the table and qualifying for the World Cup with two games to spare? That's bloody impressive and anyone who can't see that is a naive, adrenalin-junkie fool, yearning for the excitement of that Japan game, over and over again.
Even Guus eventually realised he couldn't pull that one off again and played it straight against Italy, in a style that's very similar to the efficient and clinical way Pim has been playing this whole World Cup qualifying campaign.
I have not been Pim's greatest fan. I was scathing about him when he was appointed and said this was the best job for the man, not the best man for the job.
I had the pleasure of asking him the very first question from the Australian press on the day he started, and it was something rude to the effect of 'How does it feel to be second choice?' and he handled it graciously.
Since then I've been proved wrong. Pim's been the best man for the job. His record so far has been, almost literally, unbeatable.
Do I agree with everything he's done? Hell, no. Do I want to see him play with two upfront at home when we've already qualified? Damn right. Do I want to see us control matches more confidently? Shit yeah. And don't even start me on Holman...
But don't for one second think I want rid of Pim or a fundamental change in his approach. We are not Brazil. We are not Argentina. And more importantly, we are not playing in Oceania any more.
We are not going to win by 31 goals any more...but, equally, we are not going to play in front of a crowd of 1200 any more either.
We've only made the World Cup twice before...to get this far is an incredible achievement and it's time parts of the media and large sections of the fans started to appreciate this.
I come from a country that's one of the 'homes' of football. They've qualified once in the last 20 years and are unlikely to do so again this time. (They've also never made it out of the group stage in eight attempts. Australia did it on the second time of asking.)
Even England has often relied on goal difference to qualify...and they've won the World Cup (apparently - they don't like to talk about it much though.)
Australia needs to appreciate not only the scale of the achievement but also how far the sport in this country has come that 40,000 people turn out on a freezing night for a nothing game against a team that few could name even one of its players.
And this in a country where the sport is crowded out by three rival codes, and has less free TV airtime than swimming, tennis, golf, netball or even lawn bowls.
Instead, people focus on a half empty stadium and only winning 2-0. Take a look at yourselves.
We all might want the adrenalin rush and the surge of patriotism brave triumphs like the Japan game creates but what these people only remember is just the last six minutes of that game.
But true fans know most games are more like the first 84 minutes, a melange of frustration, disappointment, desperation and very often heartbreak.
The sport in this country could have been very different if we hadn't found the net in that game.
The A-League would undoubtedly have suffered as a result, but perhaps qualifying again for the World Cup this time round would have been more highly appreciated?
If you want goals galore, stick with Aussie Rules and enjoy your bonus points for missing. If you want to permanently qualify for a World Cup, then stick with rugby and cricket.
But for the rest of us, completing the challenge of seven consecutive clean sheets, an unbeaten run and qualifying for the World Cup with two games in hand is a huge success and deserves to be applauded, not derided.
We now have a year to gel together, develop working partnerships, find the extra depth we need and learn to properly assert ourselves and control matches the way we should.
Hopefully we find a way to get our First XI released from their clubs to use the Asian Cup qualifiers as proper World Cup warm-ups and not waste those games using the fringe Socceroos as we have up to now.
But in the meantime, Pim, let's live a little dangerously, sod the stats just for one night ...and take the damn game to Japan on Wednesday to create your OWN new yardstick to judge you by, eh??
