Australia vs Italy - World Diving Championship

Arriving into Kaiserslauten as early as we dared (it was declared we would spend the absolute minimum time there, as it is a hole), we somehow stumbled upon what looked like an unbelievable parking spot. It was roughly a 5 minute walk from the centre of town, had plenty of available space and seemed totally free. But maybe, just maybe, an Aussie we saw there had ripped down some signs and possibly removed the boom gate. He assured us it would all be ok and that was all the convincing we needed, for you see he possessed a van-sized kangaroo mural (on his campervan of course).

Bresci stands over a free kick

Once again the streets were literally littered with thousands of maggot football supporters. Some of the Aussie supporters appeared as if they were the remnants of our earlier game in the same lovely city. The quest for ticket scalpers soon began (for Snags and I), and it wasn't long before the ridiculous amount of 400 euros was being bandied around as if it were actually a realistic price. I wandered into an internet cafe, but left my instructions with the other lads to take any tickets up to a value of 150 euros. Not surprisingly, when I caught up with them later I discovered I was the proud owner of a 175 euro ticket. Admittedly it was a Category 1 ticket, but still killing me.

Bullshit penalty

We took the long, slow, annoying walk up to the stadium - cursing Kaiserslauten as we went - until finally taking our seats. Now, when purchasing them the assumption was made that L9 would sit next to L10. HOWEVER, it seemed there was in fact a large set of stairs in the way that may hinder us. I didn't have to wait long for a solution - a family of Australians sat directly behind me, but the dad's ticket was also for the other side of the stairs. I kindly offered my ticket to him and we made the swap.

The game was well balanced to begin with. We seemed to be controlling possession well but lacked creativity in attack with the absence of Kewell (injured). Italy didn't look anything special, but were always threatening in attack due to height/pace/talent. Half time 0-0. Not long into the second half they copped a red card, but we didn't seem to notice because at no time did we push our advantage! Seemed to me that our plan was to try to beat them in a penalty shootout, or possibly try something in extra time. Of course we never got the chance, because 15 seconds from full time Fabio Grosso produced a magnificent dive and to the surprise of the entire crowd he received a penalty for his efforts. I didn't have the best angle, but I could still feel a rage building inside me based on Italian track history and shitty referees we'd had.* Needless to say Totti slotted the penalty home and that was the end of us - robbed again.

Italian flag-waving

More than marginally disappointed, we retreated almost immediately to the van to analyse our shattered dreams. Following a sweeping unanimous decision, we blew that taco stand and headed straight for Wiesbaden to lick our wounds and dodge annoying Italian fans.

* I have since seen a replay, and from the two angles I've seen it certainly seems he kicks the ball around a sliding Neill and then just falls straight into him with no intention of anything else.

Kick-off

Me and Snags at half time, still nil all

Not exactly united front?

Picture tells a thousand words

Pregame crowd getting fired up

The dream is over

Yes, I really was there!