Kickin' arse since 2006

It was a thing of beauty. So much so, that I could've cried... and in fact, in the first half, I almost did. But that was for an entirely different reason.

Australia beat Japan in the first match of Group F - 3 to 1. I've been asked a dozen or so times now what it was like to be an Australian in Japan during the event. Make no mistake - if, as some would say, the World Cup is modern-day warfare, and soccer matches resemble military campaigns, then following this analogy to its logical conclusion, I was a soldier behind enemy lines and my backup battalion was nowhere to be seen.

I went to a restaurant in the heart of the enemy territory, only to be surrounded by several dozen Japanese people chanting and screaming and jumping and hollering at the television screens for much of the game. I was with 4 other Australians, and bunch of Australia-friendly Japanese (who were still cheering on Japan, though).

I blame myself for the first goal that Japan scored. I do. Amongst the cheering and screaming from the Japanese around me, I had a half-hearted attempt at trying to cheer on the Australian team with our not altogether original chant of "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!", and I think I chanted out of key or something and so the cosmic forces conspired - yet again - to punish me for being tone deaf because it was exactly when I started to chant that Japan scored... so it's my fault. I do apologise.

And then it happened - our first goal... ever! And then a second, and a third. It's possible that the four of us in managed to better the sound generated by the several dozen Japanese when they got their first (and only) goal... I don't really know -the whole 10 minutes of pure elation made me numb.

As if that wasn't enough, I'm a glutton for punishment - I've been invited by the Brazilians in my dormitory to go and watch the Brazil v Australia match at a Brazilian bar...

----The traditional Aussie congratulatory gesture of rubbing----
----ones head against the other persons mid-section----