54 years ago today, a young Australian side beat Asia's best to lift our nation's first piece of silverware - the Quoc Khanh Cup, played out in Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War.
While most Socceroos fans could recall exactly how Australia lifted the 2015 Asian Cup on home soil, far less would be able to tell the remarkable story behind our nation’s first international trophy nearly half a century earlier.
In November 1967, an inexperienced squad found themselves preparing for battle in the midst of a devastating international conflict.
Not only did they emerge unscathed, but they were to finish the tour undefeated – trumping some of Asia’s top footballing nations to win ten out of ten games and take home what was then known as the ‘Friendly Nations Tournament’.
Incredibly, they did so after rubbing shoulders with soldiers at mealtime and training on the concrete roof of their hotel, while navigating minefields, riots and the persisting threat of Viet Cong insurgents.
The matches themselves took place in a stadium which had to be scanned for landmines ahead of kick-off. Players recall the ghastly experience of taking to the pitch upon a flare-lit backdrop of military helicopters and distant explosions.
In the lead up to the tournament, recently appointed coach ‘Uncle Joe’ Vlatsis attracted some criticism for his selection of a youthful squad that was captained by 24-year-old Johnny Warren.
Warren was one of only two survivors from the first ever Australian touring party, whose 1966 World Cup qualification hopes were ended two years earlier in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The Australian football legend would later go on to label two heavy defeats suffered to North Korea as the “Australian sporting Gallipoli.”
Change was considered a necessity ahead of the 1970 qualification campaign and the 1967 tour of Vietnam shaped as a perfect opportunity to grow the experience of Australia’s next generation of talented stars.
As a result, the squad who travelled to Vietnam boasted an average age of 23 and included just one player over the age of 26.
While many may have doubted it at the time, Vlatsis’ gutsy approach forged success both in the short and long term.
Eight players who travelled to Vietnam would go on to play key roles in the side who qualified for Australia’s first ever World Cup finals appearance in 1974.
Their maiden encounter on the road to success in 1967 took place on a heavy Cong Hoa Stadium surface in front of 20,000 cheering troops on the 5th November.
Just like in the 2015 Asian Cup, it was a strong South Korean side who awaited Australia in the decider.
Before that, they negotiated the group stages with a 5-3 defeat of New Zealand and 5-1 rout of Singapore, alongside a controversial 1-0 victory over the host nation South Vietnam.
The tournament was valued so highly that the Vietnamese Vice-President Nguyen Cao Ky entered his nation’s change room at half time to offer the players six months’ salary in exchange for victory.
But Australia prevailed 1-0 thanks to a 35th minute Warren goal that was greeted by an eerie silence.
This silence was soon succeeded by a hostile reception that nearly descended into a riot post-game.
“I can recall that when we beat Vietnam, the crowd got a bit hostile after the game, throwing rocks at our bus,” Attila Abonyi said.
“We did have to stay in the dressing room for a good half an hour after the game. It was quite a hair-raising situation.”
The inexperienced team edged their way past Malaysia 1-0 after extra time in the semi-final to secure a meeting with Asian heavyweights South Korea in the decider.
The match itself almost did not kick off after the team received word that a small contingent of Australian troops who had supported them throughout the entire competition were bizarrely refused entry to the stadium.
Australia were greeted by an almighty roar from the raucous home support – after their nation was eliminated, they had passionately switched their allegiance to the Green and Gold.
“It was unbelievable,” Gary Wilkins reflects.
“After we put (South Vietnam) them out, we were surprised to hear how they fell in love with the Aussies.”
“It was one of those moments that I knew I was going to remember for the rest of my life,” Warren wrote.
In a goal-packed match befitting of its chaotic backdrop, Australia found themselves trailing inside a minute.
Strikes from Billy Vojtek and captain Warren eventually turned the tides in favour of Vlasits’ men.
South Korea refused to lie down and pulled one back inside the final ten minutes, before a third Australian goal courtesy of competition top-scorer Abonyi all but sealed a 3-2 triumph.
“That was a fantastic result,” Wilkins says.
“It was a great atmosphere, a good tough game and the field was full of mud.
“After what we’d experienced, to win the final was just the icing on the cake.”
Baartz, who had recently returned home after a stint with Manchester United, recalls how the young squad approached the unknown head-on.
“We didn’t know what to expect to be honest with you,” said the Newcastle-born striker.
“The majority of us at that time never had any experience playing against Asian teams so we didn't know what we were coming up against.
“We just treated every game as it came, and the further we went being undefeated, the more determined we were to go all the way.
“You can only beat what’s in front of you and we would go on to beat the best teams in Asia at the time.”
The famous ‘Socceroos’ nickname would not arise until journalist Tony ‘Hotspur’ Horstead coined it a few years later.
However Johnny Warren explains in his famous memoir Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters that the 1967 tour was a key breeding ground of the Socceroos spirit.
“I think the hardship and tough conditions that we went through there established a team spirit that was a serious contributing factor to the birth of the Socceroos,” added Baartz.
Baartz’s strike partner Abonyi, who had migrated to Australia from Hungary a decade earlier, poignantly spoke for the squad in how they wish for the tour to be remembered.
“The camaraderie of that team is hard to describe - it was incredible and something I’ll never forget,” reflected Australia’s fifth-highest scorer of all time.
“The legacy of this tour should be that we carried the Australian spirit to a new frontier and played out of love for the game - not for money or recognition.
“It was all about representing our country and that’s how it should be remembered – that we did a bloody mighty true-blue job.”