Green seats everywhere at kick-off, but that’s not unusual for the traditional late-coming Melbourne crowd.
We’ve seen this before, who remembers the opening game at AAMI Park in the Women’s World Cup?
However, it always seems to be full 10 or 15 minutes into the game. That one last drink at the pub, the forever under-estimated walk from the Richmond pre-game, the queue for the shiny new Socceroos merchandise, all part of the experience.
While the opening exchanges may have been played out in front of a slowly filling stadium, the pocket of Saudi Arabian fans in the South stand were raucous, their exotic chants filling the void with noise. A swift opening by the Aussies was countered immediately by a passage of calm, relaxed keep-ball by the Saudis and an early demonstration of their long-throw prowess.
The mood in Melbourne echoed the weather – unusually pleasant with the expectation to chill as the day went on.
With the Australian active fans congregating at the Corner bar in Richmond, coinciding with the star-studded 25th anniversary get-together of the 1999 Under-17 World Cup squad, on a lovely sunny spring day, this was the return to the good old days of Socceroos support.
There was hope and belief in the air. As the common expectation of a slender Socceroos victory gave way to beer-fuelled bravado and predictions of a three-goal thrashing, there was a pre-game positivity amongst fans that has not been seen since the pregame for the ill-fated Bahrain game on the Gold Coast in early September.
AAMI Park is an unusual-looking venue; trapped in a previous decade, it’s post-modern architecture still has that wow factor but the wow is potentially in a different vein these days. A good hour before kick-off, the stadium concourse was awash with Saudi Arabia fans, the DJ marquee having been taken over as a dancefloor for the visiting green and white army, Saudi flags being handed out and wide-eyed youngsters seeing a healthy ethnic crowd for the first time in their lifetime in Melbourne.
Only two days after local football fans were scratching their heads at the Women’s Asian Cup venue announcements, here they were, out in force for a late midweek qualifying game in a stuttering campaign. The sun was setting behind the stadium, the warm sunshine giving way to the predictable chill of a Victorian November evening. Picture perfect.
Nishan Velupillay controls the ball. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
The pack of 300 or so Saudi fans, all bedecked in their national colours were making themselves heard right from the start. They were loud, unified and in rhythm. The scene was not unlike Sanfrecce Hiroshima taking over Kogarah Oval seven days ago in the Asian Champions League 2 fixture, the animated fans constant in their chanting, and loud, very loud. A young lady in green and gold was even dancing along with the pack, such was the hypnotic beat.
The first half was goalless, but definitely had highlights. Jordy Bos showed his athleticism to keep a ball in on the touchline that no other player would have managed to do, Mitch Duke eked a foul from goalkeeper Ahmed Al-Kassar which led to a lengthy VAR check to determine that no, in fact, it wasn’t a penalty.
As the players waited to restart with a free kick, Jackson Irvine showed us his ankle-slapping dance moves, straight from a Bavarian beer hall. Harry Souttar’s effort from the free kick aftermath was woefully off target, and the Saudi goalkeeper became the pantomime villain for the rest of the game.
A special moment on 20 minutes was barely observed – recognition for Johnny Warren on the 20th anniversary of his passing. The idea was for a round of applause, but given the volume of the visiting fans, and the action on the field, there was no prolonged applause, no standing ovation.
It was exactly what our king of football would have wanted.
Joe Gauci dallied on the ball not once, but twice. Was it intentional? Only he will know.
Jason Geria ran into space in defence and lost the ball, the resulting chance thrashed into the side-netting as Australia escaped. A banner was unfurled for Aaron Camm, a staunch football fan from Perth who passed away last week, but the usual pettiness in the Australian active area raised its head again as ignorant casual fans tried to enlist the security guards to break up the embattled active support.
The last five minutes of the half saw some terrible defending from the Socceroos and a lengthy spell of possession from the Saudis; by that point a 0-0 scoreline at the break would have been welcome.
There was a glimmer of hope as Ajdin Hrustic was teed up by Duke, but his telegraphed finish was easily saved. There was still time for a one-on-one chance for the Saudis but Gauci pushed the ball away from the striker’s feet and then saved from point-blank range when the ball was gifted back to the visitors by some less than convincing defending.
We will forget how open the game was at that moment, and Irvine’s option to shoot instead of pass with the last attack of the half saw the ball just clear the bar to oohs from the crowd.
One thing we know about Tony Popovic is that he’s not scared to change things around. Hrustic had been caught in possession and had also been knocked around a little and was replaced by local hero Nishan Vellupillay. The Saudis had a deflected shot in the opening stages of the first half and their fans were at fever pitch. It took until just before the hour for the Australian fans to wake up and that coincided with a good period of attacking intent.
The A-Leagues’ 20th season is on now! Be part of the action in stadium or watch it live.
The game had 0-0 written all over it. Vellupillay broke free but fouled his man in the box. The chant of “same old Saudis, always cheating” was comical. Unfortunately, Vellupillay was crocked and had to be replaced, although the petty 4th official wouldn’t let Anthony Caceres or Brandon Borrello come on until he had checked and double-checked.
The 27,000+ crowd was announced, no way a sell-out, but helped by a massive turnout from the Saudis. The second half bubbled up and presented us some good chances; Borrello was through on goal and should have shot, instead passing to McGree who wasn’t really on. The finish was frantic.
Saudi Arabia passed up a great chance with two minutes of normal time remaining, the ball smashed low into the box and somehow cleared, before Geria lunged in to gift the visitors a free-kick in added time. The free kick popped out and the shot was deflected in, the Saudi bench piling on the field only for the assistant referee to curtail the celebrations with a flag. Another lengthy VAR check came up positive and the goal was disallowed, the officials having trouble corralling the Saudi bench back into the technical area.
Mitch Duke. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)
Unbelievably there was still time for a moment that could have gone down in history. As the clock was ticking past the end of the allotted additional time, a ball sat up in slow motion for McGree, his Ariath Piol moment, but his spectacular effort bounced wide of the post and with it went the chance of an unlikely three points. There was a peculiar atmosphere at full-time, Aidan O’Neill picking up the player of the match award despite McGree’s all-action performance, and the crowd seemed to disappear immediately, a handful of Saudi players throwing their shirts to their manic fans.
The chiselled Herve Renard was non-committal about the offside goal at the end. “I’ll have to see it again,” he said. There was definitely a twinkle in his eye when he mentioned the return fixture on the 10th June next year.
He thanked the support from their 3000 supporters, a good number of them students and spelled out the aim in plain words. “We intend to be in the draw for the World Cup.”
Tony Popovic said it how he saw it. “The first half we were poor with the ball but we controlled it much better in the second half.” Heavy and lethargic were two words used in describing the first 45 minutes, and the Aussie coach knew that they should have scored at least one of their chances.
A new era of the UEFA Champions League is here, only on Stan Sport.
Vellupillay hobbled out to the team bus on crutches. A few players stopped for a chat. Anthony Caceres was feeling good after his debut, Gauci said that there was much more belief now in the squad, and on a personal note, his chance in the team had come much quicker than he had anticipated.
As the buses were filled with players and equipment and the seagulls took over the pristine AAMI Park surface, the seats were again green. It was as though the game had never happened, and for a good percentage of the football-hating Melbourne public, a goalless draw suggested that it never had. The Socceroos march on. We’re still in this.