This report was written retrospectively, 13 years after the events at Upton Park, and is part of a Guardian Australia series celebrating classic sporting events with retro liveblogs. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Final thoughts
I don’t really know what else to say, to be honest! On a ground where one of the stands is sponsored by Doc Martens haven’t the Australians come and given poor ol’ England a kicking tonight.
Some of these players will feel sheepish when they rock up back at training alongside their club-mates they’ve just humiliated, but for now, it’ll be all champagne corks!
Thanks for your company, what an extraordinary match.
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Full-time: England 1-3 Australia
Well it’s a scoreline for the ages! Who would have ever predicted this!
The soccer-ing minnows from down under; ranked 50th in the world – a squad of players that hadn’t played an international together for over 15 months have gelled and and come together for one of Australia’s greatest results; let alone against their greatest sporting rivals.
Soccer Australia might be in disarray, the domestic league might be in terminal decline, and who knows what dark days are around the corner. But for tonight, and for tomorrow when almost 20 million Australians awake to this news; what rapture!
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90 min: Mills put himself about. He’s snapping and snarking, but it’s all a bit too late. To be fair to this England XI; they’ve pulled off a less-devastating 1-1 draw, compared to the other mob.
Here’s one last chance for Lazaridis, who stands over the free kick. Comfortably held by Robinson, and our Spanish referee has seen enough!
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89 min: And now for variation: “It’s just like the tennis”.
What a night to be alive as a Socceroos fan! You’d be stoked if you braved the cold and the fog of Upton Park to be there.
Poor old Sven. Such a proud, and successful man. You’d imagine he won’t ever face a more humiliating hounding in the tabloids than he faces for this.
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88 min: Incidentally, this is now the first time under the Eriksson reign that England have conceded three goals in a game; extraordinary!
The camera closes in on a dejected David Beckham with wife Posh sitting on his knee; as a delirious Australian traveling contingent fire up with a chant of: “It’s just like the cricket”.
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87 min: And if England fans thought this was already an ugly affair; they’ll love this – it’s another Australian substitution, and it’s Kevin “the most hated man in football” Muscat that comes on.
A bit harsh, on the former-Palace and Wolves enforcer, I’m sure he’ll mellow with age.
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85 min: Frank Farina is trying his best to look calm, but his heart must be racing. Is this really happening?!
Thousands of England fans head for the turnstiles already, as a chant of “bullshit, bullshit” rings around the ground.
Now it’s the Australian contingent in the crowd who find their voice: “we want four, we want four!” is the cry.
Ooh, I don’t want to be Sven-Göran next time he faces the notoriously savage UK press.
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Goal! England 1-3 Australia (Emerton)
84 min: Well, scrub my mouth out with soap – would you believe this; Australia have scored!
Very much against the run of play, it’s a delightful give-and-go between Emerton and Aloisi. And the man from Osasuna puts it on a plate for the winger from Feyenoord; and like that, it’s 3-1!
Robinson nutmegged, after Aloisi shows great strength to hold off King.
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82 min: Australia trying to slow the clock a bit; they might head to the bench. They’re not offering much up front; with Aloisi especially not having anywhere near the impact of the man he replaced; Kewell.
80 min: Great scrambling defence; this is getting very nervy at the back for the Australians, surely they can’t hang on!
Lovely work from Danny Murphy almost finds Rooney free in the box, but bodies lurch into shot from seemingly everywhere. Great tenacity!
79 min: A miscontrol from Viduka; he’s increasingly looking more isolated up front, as those in green and gold funnel further deeper.
Another rugged challenge from Lucal Neill, he goes straight through the back of Vassell. He’s not that kind of player though, the Blackburn Rovers defender, and handshakes are exchanged.
77 min: Another change for Australia, it’s Chipperfield to make way. On comes, Grella.
It’s tough being at the other end of the football world sometimes, still it’s good to get the FA Cup final on the telly. I can’t imagine ever finding the time to watch games from all the other leagues of Europe.
Besides, if a player’s really good enough, then they’ll end up playing in the Premier League. Like Danny Tiatto.
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74 min: Well the crowd’s coming alive, and some of the Australian players are starting to feel the heat of this increased second-half tempo. Moore stretches out the hammys, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some gamesmanship there. Wily character is Moore.
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71 min: Well, the cries of “Eng-a-land, Eng-a-land, Eng-a-land” are once more resounding around Upton Park.
I knew it was perhaps too good to be true. Here comes the inevitable comeback, the bitter tea-leaves of remorse, left to swill around the palate.
Incidentally it’s Popovic off with an injury; he’s replaced by Tony Vidmar. A really good footballing brain this lad – I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes into management.
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Goal! England 1-2 Australia (Jeffers)
69 min: Well, all the talk might be about this young wunderkind debutant, but it’s another debutant striker who’s stealing the limelight!
A great header from Jeffers, Schwarzer with no chance. A lovely cross from Jenas picks him out – a first goal in England colours; how many more of these will we see in years to come?!
Rooney 0; Jeffers 1. What a great battle that could be over the next decade.
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68 min: Vassell with it; another lively lad. Rooney tries one from about 30m. Confusing ambition with talent on that occasion. Some of his team-mates start to question if he couldn’t have found somebody better placed.
But here’s another attack – building down the right nicely with Jenas; and what have we got here..!
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66 min: Hargreaves again looking dangerous. He’s drawn a corner out of Moore, before finding King for a header on target!
Schwarzer deals comfortably, but great stuff from the Canado-Welsh-Englishman; he’s pulling the strings out there.
64 min: Lazaridis goes on another of those darting runs, but Mills is equal to the task.
It reminds of that scene in Fifteen Storeys High where the kid comes back from his dad’s committal hearing and just shouts out “unreliable witness” and starts celebrating. Great show that. Although here I’m thinking more about Neville’s first half performance. “Unreliable right back!”
Again England look to try and make things happen, but there’s a little bit of cohesion lacking. No surprises; half of these players have just introduced themselves to each other on the pitch.
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62 min: Great block from Moore, as Rooney looks to take on the Rangers defender.
Hargreaves drives it back into the melee, but it’s scrapped clear. Australia very much on the back foot at the moment, as Hargreaves again skips round his man and puts in a dangerous cross.
Are they starting to think about shutting up shop?
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59 min: Hmm. There’s been good intent from Rooney so far, but he fails to find his fellow Everton, well former-Everton, striker Francis Jeffers. Rooney needed to do better there; four goals in five games for his new club Arsenal – here’s a kid who could really do some damage.
Meanwhile, a break in play. As Gary Bloom puts it: “Just out of your picture, a rather foolish man has run onto the pitch; with absolutely no clothes on at all.” We have a streaker! Great stuff; I hope there’s always a place for this in the game.
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57 min: And, commentators curse – Hargreaves with a poor turnover. It’s always the way, isn’t it!
Emerton whips a dangerous cross, but Ledley King is there.
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55 min: It’s Kewell to make way. Perhaps worried about injury concerns, let’s see what Aloisi can do.
A lovely cross in from Owen Hargreaves, it evades everyone in the box, and some nervous moments for Australia before it’s hacked clear.
The talk is we’re looking at England’s ‘Generation Next’ in this second half, and for mine this guy’s probably the jewel in the crown.
Not only is he probably the best naturalised Canadian since Greg Rusedski, he’s also one to give some of these so-called ‘older heads’ a real run in that England midfield. He’s killing it at Bayern, and could be a 100+ capper.
If he stays fit, of course.
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52 min: Mills looks to throw himself about; he couldn’t do worse than Neville was in that first half.
Meanwhile, Australia look to a change of their own. John Aloisi it looks like? A pretty solid club career so far, but I don’t know that he’s ever really done anything too memorable in a Socceroos jersey.
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50 min: They’ve certainly looked more lively after the break, this ‘England B’ side. Rooney has a shot from about 30m out, but doesn’t trouble Schwarzer.
He’s confident, the lad. You can’t blame him for backing himself, I guess. Ahh, youth.
48 min: Lots of interest in this young kid, Rooney. I’ll be honest, a year back you’d never have heard of him. Still only a handful of appearance for his club, but hasn’t David Moyes done a good job nurturing this reportedly precocious talent.
For mine, I’m keen to get a good look at Jermaine Jenas. He’s just earned a big-money move to Newcastle but the first time I saw him in a Forest shirt I knew he was the real deal. I’ll take a wager with anyone who’s brave enough: who ends up with more caps – him or Rooney?
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46 min: First half-chance, a lovely cross from Rooney and he picks out Vassell at the far post. Just the wrong side from Schwarzer’s perspective, what a relief for the Boro keeper.
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Second-half: England 0-2 Australia
45 min: And we’re back. Let’s see what the kids can muster!
Incidentally one change for Australia, Bresciano on for Skoko, but reports from the tunnel suggest that was injury-enforced.
Danny Mills to take the armband. Calm heads to prevail then.
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Right, well the players are heading back onto the pitch. Well, at least some of them, that is.
Is this the first international friendly contested between three teams? I thought Eriksson might crack some heads at half-time, but the ENTIRE starting XI has been benched.
Meet your ‘new’ England team then, local fans:
Paul Robinson; Danny Mills (c), Wes Brown, Ledley King, Paul Konchesky; Darius Vassell, Owen Hargreaves, Danny Murphy, Jermaine Jenas; Francis Jeffers, Wayne Rooney.
Remarkable from Sven – is this misdirection? An attempt to steal the headlines? Either way, it’s hello to five more debutants.
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Still – let’s not get ahead of ourselves; there’s still a long way to go. If they do manage this, the Aussies, then the soundtrack probably has to be Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”. What a classic underdog tale.
To get you in the mood for the second half however I can’t shake this banger: it may have slipped from No1 in recent months but I assure you; you’ll thank me later.
It’s the pick of 2002 for mine; well, neck and neck with Shakira “Whenever, Wherever”.
I used to sell timeshare at a company in Richmond where every time it came to a signing on the dotted line, Shakira was your thinking music. No base wage, 100% commission – worked out as about $8/hr from memory; but I was young, and in love.
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Remarkable stuff, this. I don’t think this crowd saw this coming when they braved the fog and mist to come out tonight. I certainly didn’t see it coming – in fact I haven’t seen an upset like this since Celebrity Big Brother. How did Kyle Sandilands not win? Australia loves that guy.
Two-nil up, on English soil, against England’s finest. Australia have never beat the mother country in a football match; what’s next, an Australian darts world champion?
Frank Farina’s men must be in la-la land; but before anyone gets too excited, let’s not forget the ghosts of Melbourne 1997 against Iran; 2-0 is the hardest scoreline to defend, isn’t it?
To go back to what this result could mean back home. Australia’s last fixture – all the way back in July last year – was to lose the Oceania Cup final, to New Zealand.
Now they are not only mixing it with one of the world football’s pedigree teams, they’ve arguably played them off the park.
Soccer Australia must be stoked – what a fillip this could be for the game back home.
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Half-time: England 0-2 Australia
45 min: Deary me. The United boys combine – Scholes to Neville, who finds Beckham unmarked inside the box, but it cannons harmlessly off the English captain’s shins. He looks like he’s picked up a knock here. You’d hope so, the way things have been going lately.
He tries one last free-kick, but it doesn’t beat the first man.
The whistle blows, and the cat-calls cry out.
Poor old Upton Park! It got hit by a V1 rocket during World War II but I bet it’s never been more startled than this. And in it’s first ever hosting of international football!
Still, it’s a proud old ground. The Hammers have been here for almost a hundred years, and you’d imagine they’ll stay for another. The club find themselves in a spot of bother in the Premier League, but with a host of England internationals, and players like Di Canio, Repka and Kanoute, you’d imagine they’re far too good for the drop.
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43 min: And to add insult to injury, Owen has just spurned a gilt-edged opportunity; through on goal, he connects with nothing but air.
Beckham also finds the side-netting. I’m still trying to come to terms with this!
If you’ve got up early in the morning, bleary-eyed, in Australia to follow this, do not adjust your television sets!
Extraordinary stuff.
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Goal! England 0-2 Australia (Kewell)
42 min: Can you believe this! Australia’s green and golden boy, Harry Kewell, has just shrugged past his former teammate, Ferdinand – and cool-as-you-like rounded a helpless David James!
A brilliant surging run from the forward; he showed great body strength to best Ferdinand, and supreme calmness. And can you believe this: two-nil!
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41 min: Beattie with a snapshot off an Owen knockdown; wait - surely that should be the other way round? Harmlessly wide.
Meanwhile it’s a nice ball down the right to find Kewell from Neill. He brilliantly intercepted Frank Lampard’s run. What could come of this?
Ferdinand comes across, he should have this covered.
39 min: Owen is looking industrious, always alert, but it’s just not coming together for the Liverpool striker.
He’s been banging in so many goals at club level, and at international level, for so long now you just imagine it will continue that way for year’s to come. The match commentator offers that maybe the ‘wonder kid’ of English football, Wayne Rooney, could be set for a start?
Don’t know about that. I’m not about to say ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ – but surely at 17 years and 111 days the Everton striker is a bit fresh-faced for this level.
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37 min: Sol Campbell dallies on the ball, and is almost caught. The crowd let him know what they think. And now it’s James desperately coming to punch clear from Chipperfield’s cross; before Skoko lashes a follow-up effort over the crossbar. This is starting to look ugly for the hosts.
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34 min: Neville for one looks like he’s not having his best game. Maybe a new face in the engine room too? Dyer hasn’t impressed too much down the left, but he’s come up against a red-hot Harry Kewell.
Now it’s Australia stroking it around at the back; they’re in no hurry. Imagine if they can make it to the break one-nil up? Having not played together in 15 months surely that would be a major achievement in itself. It’s unlikely they’ll actually win it, but it would make for good half-time chatter at the urinals.
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32 min: It’s end-to-end at the moment; surely the most exciting patch of the match, as Owen goes up the other end, and shoots just wide of Schwarzer’s post!
What would you be thinking, if you were Eriksson? Surely there must be one or two changes in store to freshen up this team.
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31 min: If that looked painful, it’s even worse for England fans now; Emerton has combined brilliantly with Viduka, and a sumptuous flick from the big man finds Chipperfield! He’s through with a shot at James..
.. and it rolls wide! That really should have hit the net; imagine that – Australia with a second goal against such world-class opposition!
Kewell with an unmarked header from the resulting corner, and can you hear the boo-boys now!
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30 min: Cat-like reflexes from David James. And the noise level inside the stadium is at fever pitch.
Some, well, agricultural, challenges going in now; Okon clatters Owen, and then Lazaridis is booked for a late tackle on Beckham. Ouch.
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28 min: What’s going on! A lovely ball in from Chipperfield, Rio Ferdinand complete misjudges the flight, and it’s a delightful looping header from Viduka that James just manages to tip over the bar!
Sven-Göran can’t be enjoying this - to concede one goal to the Aussies is a misfortune; to conceed two..?
26 min: Scholes with a dip! Beautiful chest control and a dummy to beat Moore, but the shot is dragged wide. Relief on the sideline from the rookie coaching combination of Frank Farina and his assistant Graham Arnold.
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24 min: Well, interesting this, a poor ball from Cole, and suddenly there’s a few boos ringing round the ground. Why would a crowd turn on their own players? Especially with so much left to play.
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22 min: He looks ungainly, does Beattie, like a gazelle on ice skates, but those ankles look sturdy enough. If he stays fit he could be a real force in an England jersey. Meanwhile the ‘little and large’ combination between him and Owen seems to be blossoming nicely.
Emerton with a wild cross that only picks out Beckham; and suddenly it’s Owen one-v-one with Schwarzer. The striker shoots wide and the lumbering keeper happily watches it brush the side netting.
Incidentally, I don’t know that many Australian fans are entirely sold on the Middlesborough custodian. I mean, he does a job, but he certainly lacks the flair and brilliance of Mark Bosnich.
Sure, Bozza’s had his ups-and-downs lately, but I’m sure the ludicrous money he’s on at new club Chelsea won’t distract him. There are reports that he’s on £45,000-a -week!
What would you even spend that on? The money in football these days is just baffling.
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Goal - disallowed! England 0-1 Australia
20 min: Ohh, it’s a big scowl from Scholes, as his effort is chalked off by the linesman. Popovic had initially effected the block on Beattie, but the ball squirmed loose and was tucked home by the ginger prince!
No, says our Spanish friend. Offside; and the replays suggest he was correct.
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2o min: Nice work down the English left, and it’s a dangerous ball in for Beattie! The big Southampton striker gets there, but enough green and gold bodies throw themselves in the way.
Some frantic stuff from Popovic and co. I never really thought the Crystal Palace defender had much of a footballing brain on him, but he’s certainly shown some smarts there.
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18 min: Judging by the noise inside the stadium, suddenly it seems half of London are Australians! Imagine that! How do any of them even get visas, let along tickets for tonight?
The joy might be shortlived however as Beckham lines up another of those bending, dipping free kicks.
Match commentator Gary Bloom is certainly smacking his lips at a potential David v Goliath story here. It’s fun to entertain, but with seventy minutes to play, everybody just hold their horses, thanks.
Small clubs don’t win the league, and minnows don’t beat world-class stars.
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Ohh! There’s a cat among the pigeons! Surely no more than a moment’s fun for the visitors – let’s see how the poked bear responds!
Watching the replay, there was just acres of space back there for Popovic; Neville really did make a hash of things.
And speaking of space – a mate of mine who works in IT was telling me the other day that they’re launching some kind of ‘social network website’ later in the year. It’s like a website where you can hang out with your real life friends, but it’s all virtual? Not sure that I really see the point of that to be honest; but anyway, it’s going to be called ‘MySpace’.
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Goal! England 0-1 Australia (Popovic)
16 min: Nasty from Scholes on Skoko. You get the feeling some of the England players aren’t enjoying this small patch of resistance.
Still, it’s a relatively innocuous free-kick from wide right. It’s whipped to far post, and oh deary – oh my!
The big Palace defender in a mismatch with Neville, and it’s meat and drink as Popovic heads comfortably home!
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14 min: Viduka looks to get involved, he really is a cult hero at Leeds. They love him there, and you can’t imagine another set of fans taking big Dukes to their hearts like they have.
Meanwhile his partner in crime Kewell flashes another dangerous shot wide.
13 min: Uncharacteristically crude by Neill on Dyer. The referee doesn’t hesitate to award the free-kick.
Incidentally our man with the whistle is Manuel Enrique González. He’s no Pierluigi Collina, but he has won Spain’s best ref two years running.
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11 min: Half-chance for Campbell, who’s header is blocked by a throng of bodies. A lovely delivery from Beckham and the big centre half connects well. England starting to assert their authority.
But out of nothing, a lovely strike from Kewell! You’d imagine so much rests on him tonight. James does well to tip wide, and punches strongly from the resulting corner.
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10 min: Patient stuff from England, as the visitors appear happy to sit deep. Great atmosphere inside the ground – the brass band adding to the carnival feel, with the crowd in fine voice. Who’d blame them. They can’t beat us in cricket but you’d imagine they’re happy to pull some wings of flies here.
Just going back to the state of the game in Australia at the moment. For all the doom-mongers and naysayers, always trying to run Australian football down, the NSL is still going steady; it’s in to its 27th season and still going OK.
Sure Channel 7 may have just reneged on its 10-year contract, but there’s always good old SBS. I mean, you’d have to subtitle the presenter; where’d they pull him from, the Hungarian radio section?!
But when you’ve got TV broadcast deals worth $2.5m a year, that’s a lot of money coming into the sport. And new clubs like Northern Spirit and Parramatta Power have really been a breath of fresh air for the league.
I went to see them at North Sydney Oval the other night; for just $6 I got to watch former Socceroos like Craig Foster and Robbie Slater bossing the midfield together, and you could tell there was just a real good spirit around the club, you know? Like all the players just really all got along.
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8 min: A break in play after a clash of heads. Neville comes of worse against Chipperfield, the man famous for driving buses in Wollongong, now driving back and forth along the left touchline for Basel.
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6 min: Nice ball from Beckham to find Owen. Such a great understanding between these two, it’s a shame we’re unlikely to see them play at the same domestic club, such is the enmity between United and Liverpool.
Lazaridis scraps with Neville, and earns a free-kick, but Skoko’s floating effort drifts harmlessly wide. It doesn’t faze James, who’s looking to replace England’s version of the ‘divine ponytail’, David Seaman, between the posts.
Fat chance, the guy’s a legend and he’ll play until he’s 50.
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5 min: A shot of Terry Venables in the crowd, a man equally regarded for his stints with both England and Australia, but here’s here to watch over his flock of Leeds players.
We try not to talk about Australia v Iran, the infamous game in 1997 where Australia’s long wait to return to the World Cup was cruelly snatched away at the death in Melbourne. England may be feeling the wait since 1966, but Australia’s only even been there once, in 1974, and with the notoriously difficult passage through Oceania, you wonder if they’ll ever go again, even with this talented crop of players.
Their latest qualifying defeat was in Uruguay in 2001, and frankly, when you have to rely on a home and away trip to Uruguay to get to the World Cup? Well, don’t hold your breath.
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3 min: Okon tries to nip in in midfield. The captain and Leeds United player faces a real battle with Scholes et co.
Skoko brings down Owen, and Beckham winds up from distance. A buzz of expectation around the ground, but it’s a mildly disappointing free-kick. Certainly not one he’d trademark.
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2 min: England with some comfortable early possession, on this bitterly cold East London evening. They stroke it round, probing the wings. Big opportunity here for Beattie with Heskey and Alan Smith injured; he’s been in phenomenal form in the Premier League, and you imagine a good performance here and he could cement his place in this England team for years to come.
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Kick-off! England 0-0 Australia
1 min: And we’re underway! England from left to right in their red away strip. Strange that playing at home, but I’m sure it won’t be a bad omen. Australia in their trademark green and gold; albeit this one slightly more yellow then previous iterations.
Beckham whips in a trademark curling free-kick but it’s dealt with comfortably by Popovic in the Australian defence.
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It’s time for the anthems, and oh dear. Well, there goes the illusion of this being a friendly. There are some inflatable kangaroos already bouncing around the stadium, but would you believe also some booing during the Australian national anthem from the home crowd? Shocking business, that. A smile on the face of Mark Viduka and a wink to the camera. Let’s hope he’s still as confident in 90 minutes.
Let’s have a look at the teams then.
England: (4-4-2)
David James; Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole; David Beckham (c), Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes, Kieron Dyer; Michael Owen, James Beattie
Beattie comes in for the injured Emile Heskey, to make his debut. Lampard replaces Steven Gerrard, and Dyer with a real chance to press him claims in the troubled wide left position.
Australia: (4-4-2)
Mark Schwarzer; Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Stan Lazaridis; Brett Emerton, Paul Okon (c), Josip Skoko, Scott Chipperfield; Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka
It’s an all European-based squad for the visitors; the first time in fifteen months they’ve managed to run out their first choice XI, so plenty of UK-based players on show.
For our international viewers, it’s not been rosy scenes lately for governing body Soccer Australia. Some are calling for the entire organisation to be sacked due to serial mismanagement and cronyism.
The sports minister has even commissioned a new inquiry into the state of football in Australia; full no doubt of government wonks, led by some paper-pusher, I think Crawford’s his name. Enough with the witch hunts, the bureaucratic papers, and the endless reports – there’s nothing wrong with the NSL, can we just get on with the football please?
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The players are just making their way out to the pitch as we speak. David Beckham with his boyish long locks, I hope he keeps those, they’ve become iconic throughout the world of football.
There’s Brian Kidd, as Sven-Göran’s number two. He’s one of those unfêted coaches, who just quietly goes about their business, so it’s great to see him acknowledged with a call up to the national set up. Many of ‘Fergies fledglings’ that he had a role in bringing through are also in the international squad, so it’s nice to see him in the England tracksuit; even if he’s still and probably always will be synonymous with only one side, Manchester United.
Trevor Brooking is the special guest of honour tonight, don’t they love him around these parts. He’s introduced to the players, and shares a laugh with Stan Lazaridis, the former Hammers full-back.
Incidentally, we’re not on the new broadband network yet, so please bear with any dial-up related delays. I read a report the other day saying one in EIGHT people in the United States, over 25m, has this technology, in their own homes! What would Aldous Huxley make of all this..
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Preamble
Hello, and welcome to Upton Park – for this, the first ever senior international fixture between England and Australia on British soil.
Remarkable that these ancient rivals of cricket, rugby league and rugby union have never clashed over here; I imagine there will be bragging rights resting on this one then.
You can’t imagine England letting this one slip though, as eighth takes on 50th in the world. You’d have to go back to the previous millennium since a team outside the top 20 beat the Three Lions, and with this suave continental manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson at the helm, you frankly don’t see that changing tonight.
Still, his chargers have made hard work of recent Euro 2004 qualifiers; a late rally against Slovakia and then a shock draw with Macedonia sees them reeling in the group. You’d imagine Turkey are favourites with nine points under their belt already versus England’s four; so a lot of reasons for this squad of players to try and catch the manager’s eye.
Don’t expect too much chopping and changing from the gaffer therefore as he looks to cement his favoured XI.
From Australia’s perspective they haven’t played too many big internationals in recent time; just five since 2001, and all of those against Oceanian opposition. Still, they know what big pressure games are like – they just played New Zealand in the Oceania Cup final.
Admittedly, they lost that one, but it would have been valuable experience for Frank Farina’s men nevertheless.
Some decent names in this Australia squad though – certainly familiar to an English audience. Leeds striker Harry Kewell has been in lively form; so much so that there’s rumours circling he could be off to Milan or Barcelona at season’s end. They’ve still got a good squad though, so if they can hold that together the future still looks bright for the West Yorkshire outfit.
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