Australia left th World Cup after a penalty in the last seconds of the game with Italy… a penalty that wasn’t really a penalty, but nevertheless. Anyway, they left a good impression, not fooling football at all.

Their performances showed that Australia could hold their own against some of the world’s finest footballing sides and even do better against teams who had more recent FIFA World Cup experience under their belts, in the case of Croatia and Japan. Their Germany 2006 journey also inspired a new interest in football back home, with many fans watching the matches in the early hours of the morning.

“We came here as a lowly ranked team, lucky to make it in the eyes of the world, but the world has taken notice, big time, of what Australia has done,” said Football Federation of Australia chief executive John O’Neill.

Source: WCoffsite