Mussels and Chocolate ‘Roos
Another wonderful night in one of the world’s greatest cities. I took my flatmates out (well, directed them towards. I most definitely didn’t pay for their meals!) to the Belgian Bier Cafe for half-price mussel night. This was my fourth time on such a night, my third successful, and the deliciousness had not dissapated one bit! 1 kilo of gourmet mussels for roughly $12 ain’t bad, and with a huge assortment of Belgian beers, is there anywhere else one would rather be on a Wednesday night? I have my favorite raspberry beer-yeah, maybe a women’s drink, but man is it good.
The mates loved it, with Heat eating roughly one and a half kilos due to Jenya filling up quickly. We had to break it to Heat that we weren’t all that in to going out for karaoke, that was a terrible sight. He looked at us incredulously, and pouted for a few hours.
Jenya was craving chocolate, so we went for a stroll in the Rocks to see if we could get her a cocoa fix. We bumped into a random Belgian chocolate cafe, and it was fantastic seeing the sheer joy it brought to Jenya. She let out a little scream and jumped a bit, running towards the door.
Ah, how good was that dessert!? I had vanilla ice cream with freshly melted Belgian chocolate and whip cream, and Jenya ordered an ice cream sampler along with a chocolate cake. (She doesn’t mess around!) Such a good find, that place was!
We polished off our chocolate and headed towards the train station. It was around 8:00 so we thought we might have a chance to catch the second half of the Japan vs. Australia soccer match. It was a match to decide the best in Asia, and as Heat is Japanese and I am now a fervent Socceroos fan, we knew it would be a great game to watch together.
We peered into a pub and to our joy saw the match on the tele. Heat and I looked at each other, then excitedly asked Jenya and Vasya if they were up to watch the game in the pub. Vasya is a huge fan of soccer so it wasn’t a difficult sell.
Ordering a coke and a beer, we sat ourselves in front of the big screen and lost ourselves in the action. Japan broke the game open with a goal in the first half, shattering the streak of no-goals-allowed that had lasted the entire World Cup Qualifying run, seven games in total.
Australia was once again lackluster in the first half, but I remarked to Heat that the Socceroos were usually quite strong after the break. Two goals by Timmy Cahill sealed the victory for the Socceroos, giving them the Asian crown.
What another amazing and rich cultural experience. Moaning with the other Aussies and watching the Japanese fans, along with Heat, explode during the first goal, then hollering and pumping my fist with the same crowd for Australia’s goals-it was as if I was no longer an outsider. Ah, what an incredible night. Thanks Oz!
–ζ——δ——ζ–
I tried for literally over an hour to get this video to work…and I couldn’t get it pasted onto the blog. It’s a really good vid of the game, a recap, and can be found HERE.
Tim Cahill scores second-half double to lift Socceroos past Japan in Melbourne
By Sam Lienert
June 17, 2009
Socceroos star Tim Cahill relived his 2006 World Cup heroics with two second half goals against Japan to ensure Australia ended their qualifying campaign for South Africa 2010 in triumph.An Australian team missing numerous first-choice players won 2-1 at the, meaning they went unbeaten through the eight games of their final phase of qualifying and stayed ahead of Japan at the top of their group to earn Asian bragging rights.
Cahill, who scored the first two goals in Australia’s World Cup history to spark a famous 3-1 comeback victory over Japan in Germany in 2006, was again the shining light for the Socceroos against the Blue Samurai.
Coach Pim Verbeek lauded his players and Cahill in particular, who scored a brilliant header in the 59th minute to erase a 1-0 halftime deficit, then scored the winner in the 76th.
“Timmy is a great player, If you see the work he is doing for the team, defensively, always supporting the strikers, so dangerous in the penalty box,” Verbeek said.
“The first goal was fantastic, what a great goal that was.
“It’s fantastic for the team to have a player like that.”
While both sides were already guaranteed World Cup qualification, Cahill’s second half heroics gave an MCG crowd of 69,238 plenty to cheer about.
Verbeek said the team had also sent a “statement to the rest of Asia and probably the rest of the world” by topping their qualification group by five points.
There had been precious few moments for the green and gold army to cheer before the break, with Japan’s Tulio Tanaka scoring in the 40th minute.
It broke a seven-game streak of clean sheets for Socceroos’ goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who had spent his previous 670 minutes in goal without conceding.
But the rare blot on their defensive copybook stirred the Socceroos into life after the break and they attacked constantly in the opening stages of the second half, leading to Cahill’s breakthrough.
“I’m very proud of the players,” Verbeek said.
“At the end of a very long and tough season they still had the power and the courage to fight back from 1-0 down in the first half.
“Great goals of course from Timmy. I think the players did very well until the last second.”
Cahill leapt above two Japanese defenders at the left side of the box to connect with a long-range Vince Grella free kick for the first goal.
It seemed to inspire him to press even harder, getting onto the end of several promising attacking moves in the following minutes.
The winner came when a Nicky Carle corner kick from the right side floated over a pack of players in the box and Cahill, lurking at the back, got enough of his right leg to the ball to send it home.
It was his 16th goal in 33 internationals and he was later given a huge ovation as he walked to the bench in the 86th minute, having once again lifted Australia to a comeback victory over Japan.
From http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25652756-23215,00.html
justalittlepiece said,
June 18, 2009 at 3:39 am
That sounds so wonderful….
justalittlepiece.wordpress.com