While a lot of people were upset to see a Socceroos game scheduled for between rounds one and two of the A-League, one group of supporters couldn’t have been happier.
While a lot of people were upset to see a Socceroos game scheduled for between rounds one and two of the A-League, one group of supporters couldn-t have been happier.
After a solid night sleep in Sydney, Tuesday proved to be a very busy day for the Fans in Vans team. At 10am, it was out to Macquarie University to watch Sydney FC train. Disappointingly, Brett Emerton was absent due to media commitments, but all the other big names were on show including Nicky Carle, Bruno Cazarine and the very impressive Karol Kisel. Zeljko ‘Spider- Kalac was lively while training the goalkeepers, while Steve Corica was very vocal as he looked after the forwards.
After taking a few photos, which included newcomer Phil Byrne in his Melbourne Victory jumper and Neil Sherwin in a ‘No Guts No Glory- Perth t-shirt, the group headed for the Four Four Two offices in North Sydney for a chat with magazine editor Trevor Treharne and publishing director Andy ‘Jacko- Jackson. The lads kindly donated some magazines for the next leg of the journey to Melbourne and allowed Jane to pose suggestively with a cardboard cut out of her favourite Socceroo Tim Cahill.
With a bit of free time in the afternoon there was an opportunity to grab a shower and chill out for a couple of hours before going to Cheers bar once again for a solid feed ahead of the Australia v Oman World Cup qualifier at ANZ Stadium. Seasoned Socceroos followers Dave and Phil knew the ropes, having been at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa amongst other overseas games, though it was the latter-s first fixture at that particular venue.
The game itself saw Australia dominate throughout and play some great football, although Oman never really put up much of a fight. Once the final whistle went, Lee, Jane and Matt headed home for an early night while Dave, Phil and Neil mixed with other Socceroos fans in the pub after for a while.
The group leaves Sydney today to drive to Melbourne, arriving sometime in the evening, before driving to Adelaide tomorrow for Friday night-s blockbuster between United and Melbourne Victory.
Lee had already been thinking about the next Footy Fans Down Under trip with Perth the destination in mind so keep an eye out for more on that in the coming weeks.