Tales of an Amorphic Destiny

Australia vs Denmark

February 6th, 2007 at 12:43am James

Last November we went along to watch the friendly match between the Socceroos and fellow World Cup underdogs Ghana. That game ended in a 1-all draw and so we returned to Loftus Road hoping for a better result against our next opponent, Denmark. The news in the lead-up to the game didn’t bode well for our boys – with several key players out injured or with wives/girlfriends due to give birth, it was going to be an uphill struggle against the highly-rated Danes.

Before the game we met up with Robyn, Mark and Brad, whom Sarah knows from high school. We hadn’t seen these guys since before Christmas so it was great to catch up. We didn’t have long in the pub however – after a quick beer we grabbed a couple of roadies from Tesco and we were on our way to the stadium. The ground can be a nightmare to get in to when a big match is on but we were lucky and got to our seats just in time for the national anthem. Then it was kick off and game on.

The Aussie expats were out in force to cheer on the Socceroos but tragedy struck in the early minutes. A perfectly-placed Danish strike curled its way in to the top corner, scoring a goal that even the sadly absent Schwarzer would’ve had trouble saving. He would’ve at least dived for it though! All was not lost however and we continued to cheer our lads on, hoping for the equalizer.

We thought we had it not long after when the ball landed square in the back of the Danish net and the scoreboard lit up "GOAL!". Everyone went nuts down the Aussie end until the goal was taken off the board – the ref had disallowed it!!! There is no big screen at Loftus Road for replays but the goal had looked legitimate enough. Some manic text messaging to Brendan watching the game in Oz confirmed that the goal should’ve been ours! Robbed!

There were one or two close calls and Australia were looking good at a couple of points during the rest of the half but in the end we went into the break a goal down. Like everyone else it was time to rush to the bar to sneak in a quick beer before play resumed.

Unfortunately the second half never really happened for our boys and it wasn’t log before the Danes capitalised on some sloppy defence to put another easy one away. From 2-nil down it was always going to be hard to fight back and when the Scandinavians scored a third all hope seemed to be lost for the hoardes of Aussie supporters at the Loftus Road end of the stadium.

Fortunately there was some light at the end of the tunnel – with just minutes to go an outstangingly placed free-kick gave us a consolation goal. It wasn’t enough to put us back in the running but it gave us something to cheer about. Win, lose or draw it’s still always great to watch the Socceroos competing at the top level!

So began the crowded walk back to Shepherd’s Bush Green with the rest of the fans. Mark and Robyn decided to call it a night and so we bid them farewell.

The game had finished quite early though so we joined Brad in Belushi’s for a post-match beverage. Belushi’s is an Aussie pub off Shepherd’s Bush Green and funnily enough this was the place where I met my Sister Priscilla and her husband (then fiance) Glenn when I first arrived in London after 4 months in Europe! Ah the memories!

One drink turned into several and before you know it we were reminiscing about Oz and singing songs by such great Australian ambassadors as John Williamson, Slim Dusty and even Rolf Harris(!).

We finally left the pub in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, with just enough time to grab a dodgy kebab from the takeaway next door before the minicab ride home. Even though the Aussies didn’t get a win we all still had a great night!

Entry Filed under: Life in England