And that’s why we go to World Cups

Australia 2 Turkiye 0

The Australian invasion of Vancouver brought Granville Street to a standstill as thousands of football fans bedecked in green and gold showed the locals just what the FIFA World Cup is all about and why the host country’s people should be excited. The incredible hedonistic atmosphere on this glorious Saturday evening continued down to the stadium at BC Place, and by the time Nestory Irankunda had stunned the noisy Turkiye fans, the party was reaching new heights. Connor Metcalfe’s stunning strike with 15 minutes left was the icing on the cake, the players and fans uniting after the final whistle to celebrate a most professional performance and a result that changes everything. What a win, what a weekend, what next?

Months of preparation were put into practice as Australia’s fans descended on the West Coast of Canada, groups of gold shirts popping up days before the first game. Our own journey went via L.A. and Seattle, but fans were arriving even on the afternoon of the game and by all manner of route. The first four fixtures of the tournament, sandwiching a Supporteroos game against a local Turkish outfit, gave travelling fans opportunity to gel before the big day, the bars in the centre of town heaving with fans of all nationalities. A timely tour date by Aussie legends Cat Empire attracted many supporters on game day eve, but Saturday was the big one. Different tour groups congregated at venues near Granville Street before meeting up in front of the Dublin Calling pub for a smoke-filled sing-along scrum in front of disbelieving locals and tourists. The 2005 qualifier had been replayed on some screens, eliciting joyous delight alongside the action of Brazil v Morocco, its conclusion sending the pub into a frenzy. This was fantastic, exactly the atmosphere for the nay-sayers and the doom-mongers who had been so critical of this World Cup.

The march was policed, safe smokies were encouraged, and thousands of Australians made their way down the hill to Vancouver Stadium, where $25 beers and $12 Cokes would be completely out of sync with the pricing of the rest of the city. The drum was banging, a local bus driver caught in the unexpected wave of people tooted his horn to the beat, this truly was a marvellous happy occasion. Once inside the stadium precinct, the best place to be was in the stadium itself, and the strange sight of a full supporter bay an hour before kick off gave the lead-up to the opening whistle a carnival feel in what is a wonderful venue.

There was an air of familiarity with the pre-game routine, the stadium quite warm. The first drum activation didn’t work, and when the teams emerged for warm up, it was clear who the home team would be, the two sets of goalkeepers getting vastly different welcomes. Turkiye were straight into song, and when the rest of the players emerged, the noise levels were fantastic. It was great to see everything translated into French as per the Canadian rules. When Land Down Under was played, the whole stadium was into it, but it was the Turkiye fans who would win the battle of the decibels, coming in at 149dB compared to 101dB for the Aussies. No wonder, the majority of shirts were red, the yellow stood out, and there were pockets of gold all around the stadium as is always the case with World Cup fixtures.

The photographers were blessed with a raised platform for the entrance of the players, although there were less in number than the last Matildas game in Parramatta. Eminem’s beat welcomed the players to the field, the players went around the circular emblem in the centre, the ref cam allowed the toin coss to be shared by everyone, and the comedic match commissioner welcomed in the opening whistle like a member of ZZ Top. Game on!

There’s no point in going through the game details – you will have already watched it over and over again and the action would have been captured beautifully by far superior writers sitting at home watching on TV with the commentary. Well, okay, just a little bit…

The shock of the starting line-up setting in, Australia were on the front foot from the start. Nestory Irankunda decided not to shoot with his first sight of goal in the first minute and stuffed up his pass. Harry Souttar was involved in a clash and was egged on by his colleagues to get up, the Australian physio team not familiar with the dark arts and running onto the field only to be waved off by the Australian players. Jacob Italiano got into a great position on the right but crossed way too deep. Arda Guler was the artist in midfield for Turkiye, dictating the tempo and looking very comfortable in possession. Jordy Bos sprinted like a roadrunner to keep a ball in and was unlucky when it cannoned off him for a goalkick.

There was an odd bit of refereeing on the quarter-hour, the officials bringing play back for an offside when the advantage had already been played. Alessandro Circati was involved at both ends, spraying the ball to Mo Toure who won a corner; Circati won the header but it dropped wide and then he was in trouble with the referee for delaying a free kick. There was a moment after 19 minutes when the Socceroos maintained possession at the back to whistles from the Turkish fans, who then erupted into voice to will on their players. An early hydration break was called when Toure was brought down, and this time the drums were working correctly and we had some entertainment while the viewers at home enjoyed their adverts.

When play resumed, Baris Alper Yilmaz whipped in a cross-shot, but the Socceroos pounced, Nestory Irankunda setting off on a race to latch onto a long ball, getting a toe to the ball to take it past the last man, and just when it looked like he’d not have the legs to get there, he turned on the boosters and finished past the bemused goalkeeper for 1-0. He raced to the opposite corner from the main Aussie bays, but there were plenty of yellow shirts to celebrate with him, the whole bench sprinting to join the celebrations of an absolute cracker of a goal. He was at it again soon after, almost beating the keeper to the ball, but Turkiye went close soon after, Patrick Beach at full stretch to seemingly tip the ball onto the post in a thrilling moment. The battle was on, and it was all hands on deck, Irankunda taking great delight in hoofing the ball way upfield to ease the pressure.

Harry Souttar’s little drag back to bamboozle his man brought great cheers from the crowd, Jordy Bos raked in a shot that wasn’t over by much, and Turkiye had their chances, Guler showing great feet to fire wide. When Yilmaz won a contentious corner, we saw the special VAR rules in action and it was overturned. Irankunda then slipped as he danced around the last man almost on half time, and he embarked on another thrilling run, beating two but firing straight at the goalkeeper. Another huge cheer came when Turkiye got it all wrong and played the ball out for no reason, but they had a great chance soon after, Circati making a brave clearance as the Aussie Aussie chant filled the stadium.

Half time had Live is Life, that famous song that accompanied Maradona’s warm-up antics, the lights off and the mobile flashlights on, and it was a nice touch having a presenter in the stands with the fans to gauge the atmosphere. The queue for the bathrooms was insane – something that Aussies have come to learn about Canadian venues, bars and pubs included, is that the amount of space given to bathrooms here is incredibly small.

The second half onslaught was expected but never really materialised after the first attack, Beach making a good save. When Bos and Toure combined to win a corner in front of the huge bank of Australian fans, Toure geed up the crowd to a huge roar. Italiano sent a speculator into the stands, but it was all Turkiye. The next time the Socceroos made it upfield, there was plenty of action, Souttar making space for a header that Toure almost turned in, and Circati made a fool of himself, crumbling under a challenge looking for a penalty. Bos repeated Souttar’s sweet turn and left his player on his backside, Paul Okon-Engstler was lucky to escape a yellow for a robust challenge – the free kick was pushed away and there was an appeal for a penalty waved away.

The dark arts took a twist on 66 minutes, Toure pulling up lame, looking as if his World Cup was over – the referee took the opportunity to give us the second hydration break, allowing the physios on to treat the injured striker. Mr Brightside played and the crowd loved it, everyone joining in. Coach Tony Popovic had his players in a tight huddle, giving some animated instructions, the referee unable to break up the huddle to restart the game, and Popovic was quick to remind him that Toure could come on, as it was a drinks break, not a stoppage in play. Sly. Clever. Under-handed, call it what you may.

Turkiye had their tails up, Beach saving well at the near post and Guler striking over from distance. Australia made subs, and it paid dividends almost immediately as Metcalfe turned to find space in front of him. He shaped to shoot once, twice, and then unleashed, right into the bottom right hand corner of the goal for a sensational second goal. Again the whole squad joined the celebrations, it was incredible!

The Socceroos survived a handball shout that would have been nailed on the Champions League, Beach was right behind a glorious chance right in front, and the capacity 52,497 crowd was announced and completely believable. Tet Yengi was on now and was a handful, Jackson Irvine and Aziz Behich waited patiently to come on for two minutes before the ball finally went dead. Irvine’s first contribution was to bring down his player with a lunge, but Beach was equal to the shot.

The Socceroos had ten minutes to fill. They did it brilliantly, ekeing free kicks from their frustrated opponents, and when the chances did come in the penalty area, Souttar was immense, throwing himself at the ball to block the way. The final whistle sounded with Behich holding off his man, and the arms went up, an incredible result achieved and Men At Work again filled the stadium, the Australian fans and players scarcely believing what they had just achieved. The Turkiye players went straight down the tunnel in disgust. It looked at one point that the Socceroos would do the same, but they spun around and headed to the corner where the wall of Socceroos fans were going crazy. AC/DC belted out Thunderstruck over the PA, Irankunda was shoved in front of the pack of players to rev up the fans even more, and the interaction ended with a Central Coast Mariners team shot with the crowd, a real Aussie tradition.

There was time to get to the press conferences. The Turkiye conference was a three-way translation, their Italian coach translated into Turkish and then to English. What we could glean from the rough literal translations was that the height of the Aussie team was considered a factor, but the Turkish media’s questions were particularly acidic, real questions being asked of the decision making and starting line-ups. The Turkish contingent were very gracious in defeat, congratulating the Socceroos for their success, and they conceded that the spectacle had been a marvel, spoiled only by the result.

Tony Popovic was a proud man when he walked in a few minutes later. And he had every right to be. They were leaving on a chartered plane tonight, due to get back in the early hours to base in San Francisco. He didn’t believe that his selections were a shock, the team was selected to perform well, and the satisfaction was in the performance, the result was the bonus. The defence was singled out for praise, Patrick Beach too with his composed performance; this team is nowhere near its ceiling – the suggestion was that there is more to come. Clearly tired after a big day, he had the look of Fat Tony from The Simpsons in the harsh downlights, but the articulation of a master orator. Everyone was healthy, bumps and bruises but no concerns, and the focus was on recovery ahead of the USA fixture next week.

Popovic admitted that they would need to step up to get a result against the United States, but they had already taken a big step from the two pre-tournament friendlies against difficult opponents. It was all positive. It was refreshing and just made you want to do it all again, just like tonight, and be able to secure a West Coast round of 32 fixture and avoid the cross-country dash of the third-place play-off roulette.

The fans could still be heard singing outside. The vibe outside the stadium was still of celebration, the Turkey fans having accepted their fate and the Socceroos fans making their way back to the Granville Street hub to continue the party into the early hours. Football fans were replaced by regular Saturday night party-goers, pubs had non-World Cup events on, hopefully the World Cup is not just a blip in the Vancouver way of life and the next game attracts as much attention as this one. The locals know what it’s about now. The fans are here to party, and there’s nothing going to stop them!

Tonight was something special, the whole Vancouver experience was incredible, and as we prepare to head off to Seattle for game two, we’ll all look back fondly on our time in Canada. Game one, tick! Let’s go Socceroos! Stay tuned!