Socceroos’ 12-0 away day in Canberra

Lebanon 0 Australia 5 Tuesday night in Canberra, and a hastily arranged international fixture brought the Socceroos to GIO Stadium to play a second FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying game against Lebanon in a week. Swathes of empty seats at kick off belied the belief that this game was a sell-out, the now predictable transportContinue reading “Socceroos’ 12-0 away day in Canberra”

Something different at the Socceroos

Australia 2 Lebanon 0 A lovely thursday night in Parramatta, and the Socceroos continued the winning start to their World Cup 2026 campaign against Lebanon at a busy Commbank Stadium. A cross that went in from Keanu Bacchus (not Patrick Yazbek) early in the game set the stadium alight and despite dominating it remained 1-0Continue reading “Something different at the Socceroos”

Second class citizens but Ashes winners

Australia 2 New Zealand 0 The mighty Socceroos retained the Ashes at Brentford’s G-Tech Stadium on Tuesday evening, but it was off-the-field nonsense that had the Aussie active fans in uproar. With fans told not to stand or sing, then ushered in all different directions by the security officials, a simple situation could have turnedContinue reading “Second class citizens but Ashes winners”

Our knees have gone all trembly

England 1 Australia 0 A Friday the 13th horror show was never going to materialise at Wembley, and due to a little bit of luck the Socceroos made it to half time goalless and could even have been ahead when Ryan Strain’s low shot was deflected over the bar. This game had everything for theContinue reading “Our knees have gone all trembly”

The NSL is alive and thriving

As someone who first tasted NSL football at a boistrous North Sydney Oval on a Friday evening back in 1999 as Northern Spirit went down to a single goal defeat, my connection with the former national competition was brief. What I do remember though was the earthy atmosphere at those games and how low-key someContinue reading “The NSL is alive and thriving”

No mercy from Socceroos in Sydney

A low-key Friday night friendly match at Commbank Stadium against fellow World Cup participants Ecuador turned up a positive performance from Australia’s national team as they showed a clinical edge to win 3-1. This was not an emotional welcome home to rival that of Argentina the day before, nothing like it in fact, Sydney’s footballContinue reading “No mercy from Socceroos in Sydney”

2022 : A year in football pictures

The footballing year has come to an end, here’s a brief look back on the year in a few slideshows of photos from my phone. The number of these photos taken in wild weather is testament to the crazy conditions we’ve faced as supporters, players and referees this year. I’ve attended a 30-game season ofContinue reading “2022 : A year in football pictures”

Sat 03/12/2022 : Argentina given a fright by battling Aussies

There was no way that our first, and probably only, meal of the day was going to be labelled as a breakfast. No one was surfacing at any time that resembled breakfast time, and rightly so after another night that extended into the early hours. This was it, the final game of our World CupContinue reading “Sat 03/12/2022 : Argentina given a fright by battling Aussies”

Fri 02/12/2022 : Uruguay on their knees, angry Serbs undone by Swiss

We arrived at the final day of the group stage games with a lot on our minds. We had managed to get our flights changed (and free of charge!) so we could attend the Socceroos’ Round of 16 game against Argentina. We didn’t yet have match tickets though, but there had been an expression ofContinue reading “Fri 02/12/2022 : Uruguay on their knees, angry Serbs undone by Swiss”