The tournament finally came to Sydney and I was able to get a first hand picture of what looked decidedly promising on television. Australia needed a win or a draw to win the 4 nations tournament while a loss would leave Norway and South Korea to battle for the honours.
It had been a rainy and overcast morning and this probably not only stopped the crowd being well over 20000 but also made the very even playing surface somewhat slippery, the superb drainage ensured no more significant water damage occured.
I got to the stadium, along with a friend from University, in time for the opening match between South Korea and New Zealand. Despite the flow of the game in favour of South Korea it was New Zealand who opened the scoring through Vaughan Coveny in the 33rd minute. South Korea finally got their arse into gear, but not before a Mark Elrick drive hit the post, and scored 3 rapid goals towards the end of the game to ensure that the balance of things was maintained. (goals from Park Kun Ha 77, Go Jung Su 83 and Yoo Sang Chul 86). The best thing about New Zealand football is it's toughness. There is no real finesse to be witnessed and not a great deal of speed or inventiveness either. Just a lot of hard work and committment which has, on occasion, been sufficient to spoil Australia's ambitions.
For the start of the second match I relocated myself near Bay 23 and met Mick Kmet and Mark Bowman who were there, I looked for Greg Stock as well but obviously he wasn't keen on being found. Still two national anthems later I was faced with another episode in the history of Australian Football.
The main point of note in the opening 'lets-see-how-the-other-guys-play' period was a clanger by Kalac when he dropped a high ball into the box and was lucky it dropped behind the Norwegian No 4 Dan Eggen. As the Norwegian swivelled and tried to hook the ball into the open net Robbie Hookers face got in the way and an indirect free kick was given to Australia. A big Phew! there.
Then a long period of probing ensued from both sides. Australia managed to pass the ball upto and inside the midfield but found most of their paths forward blocked and then tried using high balls over the defence and that made things even worse. Norway on the other hand were fairly strightforward in thier approach but had a tendency to play long balls into the box, perhaps encouraged by Kalac's early fumble, but all the while Kalac just reached up and plucked the balls from the air without many problems. Occasionally he punched it away to break the monotony.
David Zdrilic was slightly less pathetic in this game running for the long balls and doing well in harassing the defence. Dan Eggen though was absolutely wall-like in his defence, of course his fellow defenders played a part in this too. Mark Babic did his part at the other end, stopping a run from Sigurd Rushfeldt, but again it was the old warhorses Tobin and Ivanovic were again the heart of the defence for Australia.
In attack it was hard to pick anyone particularly dangerous for either side. Even Golden Boy was hard pressed to look like continuing his scoring form. Of course Rushfeldt was keeping him pretty busy. It was the better part of 30 minutes before either goalkeeper was forced to make a serious save and it fell to Thomas Gill to do the honours as a loose ball was crossed in for Foster and Zdrilic leaned to one side and flung his right leg at the ball. It was heading for the towel Gill had hung into the net to dry his hands on every so often before his very dry hands deflected the ball for a corner. In the excitement Bergdolmo injured his ankle and had to be stretchered off. I have no idea what happened to cause the injury. He briefly re-appaeared and was replaced by Thomas Pereira who, unless I'm grossly mistaken, was in Australia with the Norwegian U20 team in 1993.
Late in the first half a Trimboli backheel allowed Trajanovski to take a first time shot which was held by Gill who fell to his left in order to do so. If one or two other Australians would take a first time shot we might have done better, Norway may sometimes let you get a sight on goal but not for very long. All those 2-3 touches to set yourself up are not on because by the 3rd touch you've got 3 defenders in the way
Also just before the half Dan Eggen earned himself a yellow card for a foul on Craig Foster. The resulting free kick was of course wasted by Australia this time Foster spraying it too high and too wide. On the stroke of halftime Norway came closest to a goal so far that match when a corner came in and the throng of people at the edge of the 6yard box prevented Kalac from coming out for the ball, so he stood on his line and could only watch as Harvard Flo headed against the post. There was a defender guarding that far post but had the header been on target I doubt he could have done much about it.
At half time I changed ends and sat behind the goal Australia were attacking for the second half. It was decidedly less well populated and quieter than the other end. However a group of what I assume must have been English tourists were chanting "You'll never beat England" at the Australian substitutes warming up just behind that goal. I'm sure it wasn't directed at the Norwegian goalkeeper since Norway have already beaten them.
The second half saw Norway dominate the field position and Tore Andre Flo made sure that Kalac was suitably concerened when he back headed an early corner from Skammelsrud just over the bar. This dominance was slowly eroded by Australia and a similar situation to the first half developed with neither side able to quite manage to crack the defence of the other. The rain came back, and so did Australia's now customary second half offside decisions against them.
Worse still Golden Boy was booked for a tackle on Solbakken...borne out of frustration rather than malice but an eminently bookable act nonetheless. Seconds later Paul Trimboli got a yellow card as well when the most fuckwitted offside decision was called against him and he kicked the ball away in disgust. Trimboli was clearly in his own half when the ball was played ahead of him and although he was very near the centre line it should certainly not have been called offside. That said I rather doubt, given Australia's performance thus far, that it would have resulted in a goal. Still it was a wrong decision, though it doesn't excuse Paul's kicking the ball away it certainly becomes understandable especially when he had been called on one or two other close offside calls earlier.
Trimmers almost made up for it when he headed a Bingley cross just wide of the upright. It appeared Gill had it covered anyway but from my vantage point it looked decidedly iffy that Gill would have saved the ball had it been half a metre more on target.
Terry Venables introduced Ernie Tapai around the 69th minute and immediately ran at defenders down the left flank. Some neat work by Foster and Zdrilic then released Ernie Tapai down that left side and he managed to get a cross past the marking defender which just skimmed over the head of Warren Spink, who had been on the pitch less than 30 seconds, which was just as well since he was sandwiched between two defenders. The lack of a touch no doubt surprised Robbie Hooker who was left unmarked in front of goal and the ball bounced just above his knee and took off for the top of the net, past a flapping Thomas Gill. Australia have conceded dumb goals like this, it's nice to score one for a change and it did come from a good cross so it wasn't a complete fluke.
Norway pressed a little harder after that goal but this meant that Australia got to see a few more chinks in the Norwegian armour and while the play did open up a little there wasn't a great deal of action on the pitch in the last few minutes. There was a nice wave going around the ground though.
3 out of 3 for Venables so far, can't complain about that...