When someone talks about maxims related to association football, two stick out:
"The ball is round, and anything can happen."
And
"Football is a cruel game."
For Bahrain, who saw their World Cup dreams end in all but shreds and tatters at the hands of one Marco Bresciano on a cool Wednesday night in Manama, the truth of those maxims hit harder that his miracle shot in the top left corner.
At the same time, it was a goal that seemed impossible. An opportunity one thought could never happen. It seemed that the Socceroos, the noble men of manager Pim Verbeek, were destined to share a point with their tenacious hosts.
And then the heavens parted. Out of nowhere, Bresciano fired on a volley reminiscent of an acrobatic, photogenic strike inside the box two years ago in Sydney during their 2007 Asian Cup qualifying run.
Breciano's goal, after a performance that would have seen the Bahrainis, managed by Milan Macala, take the three instead of the green and gold visitors, brings to mind an effort that saw the most unlikeliest of finishes.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Steven Bradbury brought home Australia's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medal more than six years ago in short track at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics. He was destined to finish in fifth place in the final of the 1,000 meters.
And as if fate had wished for it, all the competitors ahead of him tumbled out of the way. Bradbury, then a humble firefighter from Queensland, skated to the finish and entered the pantheon of national sporting heroes in a country whose reputation is defined in large part by its athletes.
Fast forward to 2008. The captain of Bahrain, Mohammed Hussain, misjudged a routine header from Socceroos keeper Mark Schwarzer's goal kick. The red sea of midfielders and defenders parted, and the ball went into the feet of Bresciano, who made no mistake in slotting it home.
Just like Bradbury made no mistake in staying on his skates and finishing the race without being tangled in the mess his opponents left behind.
A few months will pass before Australia's next qualifying match against a Japanese side whose manager, Takeshi Okada, is keen to "shut them up." And so the message will be clear: Bradbury-esque goals will need to be harder to come by.
As the days pass before what will be a classic clash in February between two of the best in the region, Verbeek must make it clear to his players to win by great execution, great skill, great defending, and textbook tackling to go with clinical finishing.
Bahrain did all of that on Thursday, except finish. It will be the Socceroos' responsibility as a team to play like the Socceroos' side the world has come to now know. And it will not be that of a team that scores Bradbury-esque goals in the matches that matter.
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