Given that David Kuhn proposed to his wife Sandra amidst the euphoria that followed Australia’s qualification for the 2006 tournament, it is perhaps not too surprising the couple wanted to give their daughter an early taste of World Cup fever.
Fifteen months after her birth, toddler Emmy was dressed up in a tiny green and gold replica shirt and joined some 10,000 fans cheering on the Australian national team in their Group C opener against France. Their team went down 2-1 and the noise in the arena, but the mum seemed just fine at the Kazan Stadium.
Sandra told Reuters: “Emmy slept during half of it so that was good for me. I got to relax and watch the game. And then the second half she was just flirting with everyone around her, she was so good with all the noise and everything.”
Emmy’s parents are hoping they will have a similar experience in Australia’s last two group matches against Denmark and Peru before they make the 13,000 km trip back to their home in Sydney.
Australia looks to get into the knockout stages of the World Cup for only the second time in five attempts.
The second of those five appearances at the finals came 32 years after the first and was secured in 2006 with a win over Uruguay in a penalty shootout at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, a result which was to have lasting consequences for the Kuhns.
“When John Aloisi got his goal to make it to the World Cup, which I never thought would happen, yeah, I proposed to Sandra,” David Kuhns recalled.
