Italy vs. Australia

It was a beautifully warm day in the centre of Berlin. I was surrounded by literally hundreds of thousands of fans. The game was going well, our voices, though strained were still loud and proud. There was plenty of Australian humour, lots of beer, faces of yellow and green and capes of the Australian flag. Everyone was having a good time until, well into overtime, a referee clearly experiencing sun stroke mistakenly awarded a goal to Italy.

It was a costly error that resulted in me witnessing more grown-up Australian men cry than I have ever seen at once. (There were two). It was a really, really sad moment that silenced the Aussies while the Italians went crazy. It was a really, really sad moment that silenced the Aussies until one of the guys who I saw cry wiped away his tears with the Aussie flag on his back, and yelled out, 'Let's go do what every good Aussie does, LET'S GET DRUNK!'
It would have been unAustralian to have not had a beer at this point in time (I have already explained to my American mates how calling an Aussie 'unAustralian' is the worst insult ever!). So I did my patriotic duty and had three quarters of a beer. It was gross and being the Cadbury (glass and a half) that I am, I got tipsy and then quickly sleepy. After a two hour nap and a little whine about the game I ate a green and yellow pizza (cheese and spinich) before heading to sleep and dreaming of better things...

Truth be told, I am not really a sports fan. Truth be told, I actually enjoyed this match.

Even though we didn't make it to the next round, I think the Socceroos did Australia proud!

k