Reliving 'that night' against Uruguay in 2005

John Greco 1509908463,1509908461

You only have to mention the word ‘Uruguay’ and Aussie football fans minds immediately flood back to that special night in Sydney in 2005.

The night when 83,000 green and gold cladded fans inside Stadium Australia watched the Caltex Socceroos finally qualify for FIFA the World Cup after 32 years.

It was beautiful. It was magic. It was history!

Now 12 years on – almost to the day – comes the chance to do it all again.

Australia will qualify for a fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup if they can beat Honduras over two legs.

Following Saturday’s away clash in San Pedro Sula, the sides head back to Sydney Olympic Park on Wednesday, November 15 for the winner-takes-all second leg.

With the stakes just as high this time around, it’s a good time to remember the night John Aloisi’s penalty took us to world football’s biggest stage.

And there are so many moments from that night I still remember so vividly.

There was certainly something in the atmosphere among the crowd I’d never experienced before.

Caltex Socceroos fans made for a special atmosphere inside Stadium Australia.

The jeers during the Uruguay national anthem indicated how much this meant, and they continued into the match whenever a player in a Blue shirt went down looking for a foul or trying to waste time.

When Harry Kewell came off the bench in the first half, you just knew he would do something special.

And so it proved just before the break, with his run and skewed shot falling perfectly into the path of Marco Bresciano, who’s swing at the ball with that beautiful left-foot ended up in the back of the net.

The sound when that goal was scored is something I will never forget.

After 120 minutes nerve-wracking and emotionally-charged minutes, it came down to penalties.

While Kewell, Lucan Neill and Tony Vidmar scored, Mark Viduka’s miss opened the door for Uruguay.

Step up Mark Schwarzer.

The feeling when Mark Schwarzer pulled off his second save of the shootout was like nothing else, bettered only a few seconds later when John Aloisi smashed home the final penalty.