Long road to Cup qualifying
IT will have been the longest path any nation has ever taken to a World Cup.
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has implored his road warriors not to let 29 months of toil go to waste as they prepare to meet World Cup destiny at ANZ Stadium tonight.
And star striker Tim Cahill has the simplest message of all, urging his teammates to seize the moment before them.
“It’s there if we really want to take it,” Cahill said.
“This is going to be massive for our country.”
Postecoglou has declared his squad fit and available for the second leg of its intercontinental playoff against Honduras, which includes Cahill and key winger Robbie Kruse.
After 32 years of heartbreak preceding Germany 2006, Australia has now made three consecutive World Cups.
Success tonight will make that four in a row after what will have been an arduous 22game campaign that started with a 2-1 win in Bishkek against Kyrgyzstan in June 2015 — 884 days ago.
“It’s very important because you want to be in the biggest tournament in the world,” Postecoglou said.
“It’s a reward for all the hard work they’ve been through. This has been the longest World Cup campaign taken on by any nation both in the amount of games and kilometres travelled.”