by Adam Peacock
One day, there’ll be 10 seconds mixed with unbearable nerves and total euphoria like the five seconds either side of Mile Jedinak’s penalty against the Netherlands. And trust me, you want to live those 10 seconds.
One day, Australia might win the World Cup. Many of us won’t be around to see it. But goodness, imagine?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing words about a foreign land in a surreal environment such as a football World Cup required a bit of help along the way, which I’ve been fortunate to receive plenty of.
Firstly, to those who made the stories from a Socceroos’ perspective – namely Mat Ryan, Matthew Spiranovic and Matt McKay – who were good enough to give their time and perspective. Ange Postecoglou, who’s always been good to deal with and brings plenty of sense with him, and also Dave Mason from the FFA for helping out too, and not being a traditional roadblock media guy that is a pain in the backside to deal with.
To the guys from Fox Sports who were travelling companions – Rich Bayliss, Tim Moran, Murray Shaw, Andy Harper, Tony Escott, Todd Proctor, Daniel Garb, Chris Ford. Sim! And Mariana Machado, our guide who was the conduit between the locals and a dopey Australian whose grasp of Portuguese didn’t stretch much beyond ‘obrigado’. Obrigado, Mariana, especially for helping at the police station when trying to track down a phone left in a cab.
To the people I stumbled across in Brazil who opened doors and the mind to various stories. George Vidor, Kayke, Guillem Balague, Dave Davutovic, South American football expert Juan Arango, the Argentinian backpackers, Fluminense FC (and Andy Harper for opening the doors there), Michael the German and his van of flags, Waz from the Fanatics for the help in Brazil and Fernando Lambert for helping with translations back in Australia. Thanks to Marion Walshe from the Australian Embassy in Brazil for putting me in contact with George, and indeed looking after a lot of the Australia media. A great help in providing clarity to all that had concerns.
And the beach vendor with the unique voice selling drinks on Ipanema. If you ever get there, you’ll know who it is.
Special mention to Conor Hartnett along with king Carlao for opening up the world of the favelas (and Murray Shaw for lining up the story we did for Fox on a truly jaw-dropping experience). Their hospitality, their human spirit and what they are doing for the kids will never be forgotten.
Thanks to Rod Morrison and the team at Xoum Publishing for making this possible, turning it from a simple Word document into something to be proud of, and Matt and Jess Shirvington for the idea of ringing Rod in the first place. Thanks to Kevin Airs from FourFourTwo magazine for kindly providing some of the photos, taken with a far sharper lens and eye than me or my iPhone.
And of course, wife Rach and kids, Noah, Tahmea and Amahlia, for letting their husband/dad go away for five weeks to watch some football. Not that the kids had a say in it, but it will pay off. One day, their dad will take them to visit one of the greatest places on earth. Promise.
Adam Peacock was born and raised on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and first kicked a ball when he was four. Although he loved it, and most sports, he worked out quick-smart that talking about sport would be a much better career choice than trying to play it. After eight years at Channel 7, he moved to Fox Sports in 2006, where he’s now host of its Football coverage, while also covering tennis grand slams and Olympic Games. He still plays park football. Still, not very well.
First published by Xoum in 2014
Xoum Publishing
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ISBN 978-1-921134-46-3 (digital)
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Text and all internal photographs (except where otherwise indicated) copyright © Adam Peacock 2014
Cover and internal design and typesetting copyright © Xoum Publishing 2014
Cataloguing-in-publication data is available from the National Library of Australia
Word count 37,000