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going for gold >>>> Australian soccer fans cheer in front of a giant TV screen at the Brandenburg Gate as they watch the Socceroos beat Japan

World Cup Blog | Max Brockbank She'll Be Right, Mate! subscribe to TIME Printable Version email this story Max Brockbank: Read all his blog entries

Posted Monday, June 12, 2006: 15.52BST
Today is the new Australia Day, the day the Socceroos pulled a blinder in Kaiserslautern. After being down 1-0 to the Asian champions for most of the match, three goals in eight minutes gave the Australians their first ever World Cup win and the prospect of going through to the second round with a simple draw against Brazil.

The match can best be summed up in the unofficial national motto: "She'll be right, mate!" Australia — making their first appearance in the finals for 32 years — made the early running but fell behind after 26 minutes when Shunsuke Nakamura scored a controversial goal. His cross floated over Mark Schwarzer into an empty net although the keeper appeared to have been fouled.

As the minutes ticked away in the second half, Australian fans in the gold and green seemed increasingly crestfallen, especially as Japan piled on the pressure with several exciting breaks. Then, six minutes from time, Tim Cahill levelled the score and booted himself into history as the first Aussie to score a goal in the World Cup. Just five minutes later the second half substitute slotted in a second to snatch victory. The icing on the cake came when fellow sub John Aloisi — the penalty hero of last November's World Cup qualification — completed a remarkable comeback for the 'Roos with a third goal deep into added time.

The impact of the win will take a few hours to settle in back home, where the match was screened late into the cool autumn night. In an unaccustomed bout of self-doubt, before the side left for Europe, most commentators were talking of "two draws and a loss" being a more than satisfactory outcome. As a kid in the Sydney suburbs in the late 1960s — one of the Ten Pound Poms — I quickly learned that my native soccer wasn't really the big sport Down Under anyway: it loses out to Aussie Rules, rugby league and especially cricket. Perhaps now the ordinary Sydneysider and his counterparts in cities across Oz will take slightly more interest in the beautiful game.

There are always sides who suprise in the World Cup; now Australians are wondering just how surprising they can be. Bring on Brazil!

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