The chatter in a café in the Canberra suburb of Harrison suddenly fell silent as the Socceroos prepared for the penalty shootout against Egypt. For a few tense moments, every eye was fixed on the television.
Only moments earlier, my friends and I had been doing what football supporters do best, debating players, tactics and our favourite teams. One supported England, another Brazil, another Argentina. We followed different clubs and, outside the World Cup, different national teams.
But when the Socceroos played, none of that mattered.
We all wanted Australia to win.
That simple moment in a Canberra café captured something much bigger. It showed how quickly sport can bring people together and create a sense of belonging.
Throughout the World Cup, I found myself planning my days around Socceroos matches, like millions of other Australians. Across Canberra, cafés, homes, clubs and public spaces became gathering places. In Garema Place, supporters gathered around the big screen to watch the team they all called their own.
People who had never met before celebrated together. They shared nervous moments together. They shared disappointment together.
For a few weeks, Canberra looked like the city many of us know it to be every day: diverse, welcoming and connected.
That experience made me reflect on my own journey.
When I arrived in Australia in 1992, I was a migrant trying to understand a new country and build a future. I could not have imagined that decades later I would be sitting in a Canberra café with friends from different backgrounds, all passionately supporting the same Australian team.
That, to me, is what belonging feels like.
Over the years, through volunteering, community leadership and countless conversations with people from every walk of life, I have come to understand that belonging cannot be manufactured through speeches or government policies. It grows through everyday experiences, working together, celebrating together and sometimes even sharing disappointment together.
The Socceroos gave Australians one of those shared experiences.
The team itself reflects modern Australia. Its players have family histories stretching across the world, yet when they wear the green and gold, they represent all of us.
Nobody asks where a player's parents were born before celebrating a goal. Nobody questions whether they belong when they show commitment, courage and teamwork.
We simply see them as Australian.
Perhaps there is a lesson there for all of us.
Australia has never been one story. It has always been many stories woven together.
That is especially true of Canberra. Our city is home to people from every corner of Australia and the world. We are a city of public servants, students, families, volunteers, community leaders and newcomers building a life together.
Our differences are not what weaken us. The challenge is not diversity itself. The challenge is whether we create enough opportunities for people to meet, participate and build relationships.
Sport is one of those opportunities.
So are schools, neighbourhoods, workplaces and community organisations.
Social cohesion is built in ordinary moments: a conversation over coffee, a neighbour offering help, a volunteer giving their time, or thousands of people gathering to cheer for the same team.
When the Socceroos' World Cup campaign ended, millions of Australians shared the same disappointment. But that disappointment also revealed something positive.
We had celebrated together.
We had hoped together.
We had belonged together.
Long after the final whistle, that will be my lasting memory of this World Cup.
The Socceroos did not just show us what a football team can achieve.
They reminded us what a city, and a country, can become when people with different stories choose to stand together.
