The Spirit of the Socceroos
Posted by Australia - 04/08/2007
At the conclusion of each match at the HWC, the Street Socceroos have gathered players and entourage from both sides to join them in a circle of singing and dancing. To the tune of Waltzing Matilda, Coach Halkias tunelessly leads with “... as we sang and we played in the sprit of the Socceroos...” to the amusement of the assembled crowd.
It is precisely this spirit that has been so contagious this week in Copenhagen. Smiles, hugs, high fives abound and the Town Square is awash with team spirit, good will and fair play (most of the time). The Aussies epitomise all of these, as is evident by the enormous entourage the team has collected as the tournament brings to a close. Standing in the Australian 'box' would be a mixture of Zimbabweans, Greeks, Danes, and the stand will have English, Spanish and many more voices singing for the Aussies. Although jinxed by injury, the Aussies have been sustained by the skills of the two honorary Australians, Danes Henrik in goal and Lambert up front. The Socceroos failed to improve on their 2006 ranking of 43rd, but Halkias was upbeat. He refused to comment on the rumour that he was taking the team and their anthem to the Eurovision Song Contest.
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Sheedy, Pagan, Daniher, Arnold ...Halkias? Will Coach Halkias be listed in the above line up on return to Melbourne?, an astute observer speculated. Could it be that using national team as inspiration was the wrong move? When quizzed on the team’s performance, Coach Halkias refused to acknowledge that his job was on the line. “The difference between us, and the national team, is that we were not here for the football.” Though pundits at the Asian cup might say the same about the national team. Speaking of the future, Halkias gave a Sheedyesque spin to the state of affairs, “This is a long term program for the Street Socceroos. I have many young players coming through...and we do not want to peak too early. We have many challenges to face together. It’s all good.’
The other coaches agree and awarded George the fair play coaching award at the finals presentation this afternoon presented by HRH Crown Prince Frederik.
RESULTS Sunday - Scotland (13) v Australia (0), Monday - Finland (7) v Australia (3), Liberia (5) v (1) Australia, Tuesday - Mexico (9) v (2) Australia, Australia (2) v (6) Greece, Wednesday - Chile (5) v (7) Australia , Australia (6) v (1) Switzerland, India (2) v (7) Australia, Thursday - Sweden (10) v Australia (5), Australia (3) v Hong-Kong (3), Friday - Australia (5) v Chile (4), Kyrgyzstan (5) v (3) Australia, Saturday - Sweden (1) v (3) Australia,
Goal scorers - Joel 8, Josh 14, Aaron 2, Trung 1, Bushy 2, Sani 5, Sharon nearly 3,
