And breathe. Phew. It's been an intense few days right up until 11pm yesterday (Toronto time) when Peru clinched World Cup spot number 32.
This is why knockout football is so exciting. Watching how the fear of losing is manifested in the team's tactics is as intriguing as the excitement of their attempts to win. The teams in the playoffs had worked so hard to get that far. No team would have said, "well that was good, we made the playoffs."
Take
New Zealand. They stroll through Oceania qualifying every 4 years just
to have an attempt at qualifying through the intercontinental playoff.
Or Switzerland. They were fantastic for the first 9 matches of qualifying, winning all of them. They lost number 10, the last one, to Portugal and they were in the playoffs. They had to win, for the sake of those nine wins.
Australia? They chose a number of years ago to join the Asian confederation to play more competitive football and not have to go through the intercontinental playoff. Then they mess up qualifying and find themselves having to beat Honduras to save face.
Peru? They were playing New Zealand. Who, in Peru or in the whole of South America, would expect them to lose?
Italy. Pressure? Oh, yes. Lots of it. Even if they had qualified there was talk of the coach being fired. They were that bad. But that was to be a discussion for after they had beaten Sweden, as expected. World Cup without Italy? No, they said. Not possible.
For Sweden it was their shot at making a World Cup after missing the last two. That they had to face Italy was a detail. No World Cup for 12 years was a bigger consideration.
And we could go on and on. The winners are ecstatic and relived, the losers disconsolate that they couldn't do more to prevent being beaten.
One of the unlikely heroes of the last few days was Australia's Mile Jedinak.It was not unexpected that he would be an important player for the Socceroos, but not to the extent that he would score a hat-trick, albeit an interesting one: a deflected goal (was it even his?) and two penalties. Aston Villa, his club team, are not too overjoyed by his personal success. Jedinak has not returned to England. Apparently, he is enjoying his new found fame in Australia: "The most popular man in Australia right now", according to a tweet from the official Socceroos account. There are rumours that he has been offered the post fo Mayor of Sydney. Ahem.....what a few goals can do to a man's ego. C'mon Mile, isn't a Saturday afternoon at Queen;s Park Rangers more exciting than playing the politician?
Or Switzerland. They were fantastic for the first 9 matches of qualifying, winning all of them. They lost number 10, the last one, to Portugal and they were in the playoffs. They had to win, for the sake of those nine wins.
Australia? They chose a number of years ago to join the Asian confederation to play more competitive football and not have to go through the intercontinental playoff. Then they mess up qualifying and find themselves having to beat Honduras to save face.
Peru? They were playing New Zealand. Who, in Peru or in the whole of South America, would expect them to lose?
Italy. Pressure? Oh, yes. Lots of it. Even if they had qualified there was talk of the coach being fired. They were that bad. But that was to be a discussion for after they had beaten Sweden, as expected. World Cup without Italy? No, they said. Not possible.
For Sweden it was their shot at making a World Cup after missing the last two. That they had to face Italy was a detail. No World Cup for 12 years was a bigger consideration.
And we could go on and on. The winners are ecstatic and relived, the losers disconsolate that they couldn't do more to prevent being beaten.
One of the unlikely heroes of the last few days was Australia's Mile Jedinak.It was not unexpected that he would be an important player for the Socceroos, but not to the extent that he would score a hat-trick, albeit an interesting one: a deflected goal (was it even his?) and two penalties. Aston Villa, his club team, are not too overjoyed by his personal success. Jedinak has not returned to England. Apparently, he is enjoying his new found fame in Australia: "The most popular man in Australia right now", according to a tweet from the official Socceroos account. There are rumours that he has been offered the post fo Mayor of Sydney. Ahem.....what a few goals can do to a man's ego. C'mon Mile, isn't a Saturday afternoon at Queen;s Park Rangers more exciting than playing the politician?
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