# Socceroos Legend Mark Schwarzer on World Cup 2026, Egypt & the Italy Heartbreak That Still Stings

An episode of [Straight Talk with Mark Bouris](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1572546872), 2 Jul 2026, 55 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/1c4759f0-81fc-4f35-85d1-b305004fc1e8/e9f8d7df-f037-4d9e-8ea8-b47b005d3acf/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=573776d2-4dbd-4f2f-a825-b305004fc1ef

Mark Schwarzer is one of the greatest goalkeepers Australia has ever produced — 109 caps, a Premier League career spanning two decades, and a front-row seat to some of football's most defining moments. Recorded during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, we break down Australia's chances against Egypt, what it actually feels like to face a penalty shootout, and why he believes the current Socceroos squad might be the most exciting group of Australian footballers ever assembled. We speak about: • How Australia should set up tactically against Mo Salah and Egypt • Why Kylian Mbappé appears to have more time on the ball than anyone else • The psychology of penalty shootouts from a goalkeeper's perspective • The infamous 2006 World Cup loss to Italy and Fabian Grosso's theatrical dive • Growing up in Grose Wold and his path from Marconi FC to European football • Football as the one sport that unites multicultural Australia • The John Travolta story from the Uruguay qualifier dressing room See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Marsh Wartzon.
[0:01] Speaker 2: Here you go, mate, I'm very well, thank you.
[0:04] Speaker 1: Where are you now?
[0:05] Speaker 2: Where it is? Miami?
[0:06] Speaker 1: Is the situation? Wow?
[0:08] Speaker 2: Right now? Just for the World Cup, I'm based here
[0:10] Speaker 2: for about five weeks for the total duration of the
[0:13] Speaker 2: World Cup. I'm doing some work for company called Host
[0:17] Speaker 2: Broadcasting Services, basically providing co commentary for anyone around the
[0:22] Speaker 2: world that wants to listen to the games that are
[0:25] Speaker 2: all being played out of Miami and they don't have
[0:27] Speaker 2: their own commentary. They want to listen to it in English.
[0:28] Speaker 2: So if you're watching on SBS, you'll hear my commentary
[0:31] Speaker 2: from the games out of Miami. Mate.
[0:33] Speaker 1: Let's get straight into it, because I really because obviously
[0:35] Speaker 1: is coming up Egypt. What are we going to do
[0:38] Speaker 1: to win against Egypt? Or what are we going to
[0:40] Speaker 1: do to beat these guys?
[0:42] Speaker 2: I mean more. I mean I'm not gonna say more
[0:44] Speaker 2: of the same. I think more of the same of
[0:45] Speaker 2: what we did against Tokia. I thought the way in
[0:48] Speaker 2: which we set up defensively, very very solid, very difficult
[0:51] Speaker 2: to break down, very well organized, worked incredibly hard. Just
[0:54] Speaker 2: all the things that we do as a national team
[0:57] Speaker 2: all the time. The soccer are renowned for it work hard,
[1:00] Speaker 2: difficult to break down. And then what we've got now
[1:04] Speaker 2: is we've got we've got a bit of extra flair
[1:05] Speaker 2: and a bit of certainly a lot more pace than
[1:08] Speaker 2: probably what we've had ever before with are in Kunda,
[1:11] Speaker 2: with Moture in particular, Jordy Boss on the we'll slaying
[1:14] Speaker 2: on the right side now but often down the left.
[1:17] Speaker 2: So we've got an abundance of incredible pace and we're
[1:22] Speaker 2: exciting to watch when we go forward. We just need
[1:24] Speaker 2: to give ourselves a little bit more freedom to do that,
[1:28] Speaker 2: but certainly pick our time by that time and do
[1:31] Speaker 2: it within a controlled manner. And I think look, Egypt
[1:35] Speaker 2: a very tough opponent. They've got obviously some phenomenal players
[1:37] Speaker 2: and certainly the man of Mosella, who's one of the
[1:41] Speaker 2: grays footballs to play and certainly in the in the
[1:43] Speaker 2: Premier League, and he's obviously an absolute legend for for
[1:47] Speaker 2: Egypt and there's a lot of pressure on him to deliver.
[1:50] Speaker 2: So we're going to be up against it. But as
[1:52] Speaker 2: always often in these games, we're underdogs, but we we
[1:56] Speaker 2: often we often shine in those sort of scenarios.
[1:58] Speaker 1: Where does defense sit in there? From a coach's point
[2:00] Speaker 1: of you, how important is it?
[2:01] Speaker 2: Well, first and foremost, I mean, that's the foundation of
[2:04] Speaker 2: any success generally speaking, you've had a really good defense,
[2:07] Speaker 2: keeping clean sheet, as you'll possibly hear quite a lot
[2:10] Speaker 2: in terms of goalkeepers defensively not conceding a goal. If
[2:14] Speaker 2: you set yourself a really good foundation, you've obviously got
[2:17] Speaker 2: every opportunity and every possibility of winning the game, and
[2:22] Speaker 2: you're obviously not going to lose the game if you
[2:23] Speaker 2: don't concede. So I think that's the fundamental basis of
[2:27] Speaker 2: football as having a very very strong defense, and I
[2:30] Speaker 2: think it's really really important. And even if you're a
[2:32] Speaker 2: team that likes to be more on the front foot
[2:34] Speaker 2: and likes to attack more and you have more possession,
[2:36] Speaker 2: if you're the bigger nations, and we've seen I suppose
[2:38] Speaker 2: in this World Cup we've seen a little bit of contrasting.
[2:41] Speaker 2: I like what I suppose we do see every time.
[2:43] Speaker 2: So you've got the big headers, we've got the you know,
[2:46] Speaker 2: the great the goliaths of world football. And then when
[2:55] Speaker 2: you're coming up against these sort of opponents, it's only
[2:58] Speaker 2: natural that the lesser teams, certainly man for man, will
[3:01] Speaker 2: look to be a more defensive orientate, trying to contain,
[3:03] Speaker 2: trying to smother, and then wait for opportunities to hit
[3:06] Speaker 2: teams on the counter. So you've got to have a
[3:09] Speaker 2: very good, solid foundation in defense, but you've also got
[3:11] Speaker 2: to have that ability to actually hurt teams and attack teams,
[3:14] Speaker 2: and we as a soccer is we certainly have that.
[3:16] Speaker 2: And then it's obviously putting it all together. Then it's
[3:19] Speaker 2: in those defining moments, those moments where that make a matter,
[3:23] Speaker 2: that make a difference in split second decisions. That's key,
[3:27] Speaker 2: and that's what sort of like defines what a great
[3:29] Speaker 2: player is. A player that has all that ability, but
[3:32] Speaker 2: under the pressure and at the right moment, is able
[3:35] Speaker 2: to actually execute and make that small difference. And that's
[3:39] Speaker 2: where I'm kind of really excited about this squad of
[3:42] Speaker 2: players that we've got. We've got some really good young
[3:44] Speaker 2: players coming through that have that ability to actually define games,
[3:48] Speaker 2: to win games in a with a split second decision,
[3:52] Speaker 2: with a bit of individual brilliance.
[3:54] Speaker 1: It's interesting because this particular team has some young guys
[3:58] Speaker 1: who've got amazing flair and talent, probably lacking in a
[4:02] Speaker 1: bit of an experience at this level I'm talking about,
[4:06] Speaker 1: but at the same time, can win you a game
[4:09] Speaker 1: when you need to win it. But they've got to
[4:10] Speaker 1: have As you said, you've got to underpin it with defense.
[4:12] Speaker 1: You can't let the other side have their way. Is
[4:14] Speaker 1: Egypt the sort of side we have to play heavily
[4:18] Speaker 1: in terms of defense, given some of their match winners.
[4:21] Speaker 2: I don't necessarily believe that. I mean Egypt, they're a
[4:24] Speaker 2: side that like to have possession. They're not necessarily a
[4:27] Speaker 2: team if you take the example their last game against
[4:30] Speaker 2: Iran and the group stage, I mean, for vast parts
[4:32] Speaker 2: of that game, they were under pressure. They were defending
[4:37] Speaker 2: quite deep, they were having a lot a lot of
[4:40] Speaker 2: moments in the game where they actually had to defend
[4:42] Speaker 2: very very well to stay in the game. And a
[4:44] Speaker 2: lot of that's to do with a variety of things.
[4:46] Speaker 2: First and foremost the pressure, and I think that's key
[4:50] Speaker 2: in a World Cup qualifying or a World Cup group game,
[4:52] Speaker 2: final group game, knowing that a draw will be enough
[4:54] Speaker 2: for you to qualify for the final stages. It's often
[4:57] Speaker 2: a really difficult scenario to go in because the longer
[5:01] Speaker 2: the game goes on, it's still nil nil or a draw.
[5:04] Speaker 2: The more you look at preservation as opposed to maybe
[5:06] Speaker 2: being on a bit more on the front foot and
[5:07] Speaker 2: being a little bit more adventurous because there's so much
[5:09] Speaker 2: to lose. And I think with Egypt now they're in
[5:11] Speaker 2: the knockout stages, their favorites, they've got players like Mosella, Omama,
[5:17] Speaker 2: mush tresure Gay, They've got some really really well known players,
[5:21] Speaker 2: top top class players, and there's an enormous amount of
[5:24] Speaker 2: expectation coming up against little Australia when it comes to
[5:28] Speaker 2: football world, and we often get underestimated. I'm not necessarily
[5:33] Speaker 2: saying that Egypt are going to underestimate this, but the
[5:36] Speaker 2: pressure is I believe more firmly in egypt side because
[5:40] Speaker 2: of the likes of someone like Mosella, and so it's
[5:45] Speaker 2: really difficult for players to deal with that pressure at times,
[5:47] Speaker 2: and I think we saw that in that final group
[5:48] Speaker 2: game for Egypt, that pressure was almost suffocating for them.
[5:52] Speaker 2: So I hope that that kind of scenario continues it.
[5:56] Speaker 2: I believe it will certainly in some stages in the
[5:58] Speaker 2: game where where they will fill the pressure. And I
[6:03] Speaker 2: feel that the guys having that inexperience that we have,
[6:07] Speaker 2: but we have a mixtures with some really experienced players
[6:10] Speaker 2: in Jackson, Irvine, Harry Sutter, the likes of Connor Metcalf
[6:15] Speaker 2: forgot players in there at his Baytch for example, that
[6:18] Speaker 2: have got an enormous amount of experience within the national
[6:20] Speaker 2: team setup. So that with the blend of the youth
[6:23] Speaker 2: and kind of the unknown, and also the kind of
[6:27] Speaker 2: almost not understanding well understand their magnitude of it, but
[6:32] Speaker 2: not never necessarily being in that position ever before, so
[6:34] Speaker 2: being a little bit naive with it. So therefore under
[6:37] Speaker 2: those pressurized situation often they can kind of get throught
[6:42] Speaker 2: quite well because they they're not fully understanding of aware
[6:46] Speaker 2: of what where they are, what they've done, and what
[6:48] Speaker 2: it was like to be in that situation before, so
[6:51] Speaker 2: they can go with a little bit more freedom, I
[6:53] Speaker 2: believe often when you're an experienced player. So I feel
[6:57] Speaker 2: that we've got a good blend of that at the moment.
[6:59] Speaker 1: So you've been watching all the games, obviously, who are
[7:02] Speaker 1: the big big name teams now that are probably you know,
[7:06] Speaker 1: at the top of the list in terms of you
[7:07] Speaker 1: know the odds, I mean obviously France, etc. Et cetera.
[7:11] Speaker 1: But who's out there.
[7:12] Speaker 2: I mean, as you just mentioned France for me, is
[7:15] Speaker 2: I actually think from what I've seen so far in
[7:17] Speaker 2: their performance as France and obviously the runner thirty two
[7:20] Speaker 2: game against Sweden, I actually at the moment put them
[7:23] Speaker 2: on top. I put them out there above everyone else.
[7:26] Speaker 2: Their performances so far I think has superseded everyone else's
[7:29] Speaker 2: performances and consistently. I think they've got one of the
[7:33] Speaker 2: best players in the world, of course in Killinghambe. But
[7:37] Speaker 2: they've also got a player that I believe is one
[7:39] Speaker 2: of the best, if not going to be certainly regarded
[7:41] Speaker 2: as one of the best, in Michael Alise. I think
[7:44] Speaker 2: he's a phenomenal player. And then obviously got Usman dem
[7:47] Speaker 2: Belli and Due who's not even playing regularly comes off
[7:51] Speaker 2: the bench. They've got an abundance of incredibly talented players.
[7:56] Speaker 2: And not only have they got an abundance of incredibly
[7:59] Speaker 2: talented players, they're actually performing really well as a collective.
[8:03] Speaker 2: And that was my concern about France. When you saw
[8:05] Speaker 2: France at the Euros two years ago. I didn't think
[8:08] Speaker 2: they were a very good team. I didn't think they
[8:10] Speaker 2: utilized the talents the ability of players that they had
[8:12] Speaker 2: in their side, and they were very predictable. And actually
[8:15] Speaker 2: they tried to almost ground games out and this World
[8:19] Speaker 2: Cup they they have really well organized team. They have
[8:24] Speaker 2: players that are all working incredibly hard. I think killing
[8:26] Speaker 2: and Bappe is a different player today. He's someone that
[8:29] Speaker 2: actually has taken on board the criticism and he's received
[8:31] Speaker 2: in the past about his lack of sort of involvement
[8:37] Speaker 2: off the ball, and I think you can improve that. Yeah,
[8:39] Speaker 2: and also went out of possession. What does kill Hiboupe
[8:43] Speaker 2: bring to France out of possession? I think he's actually
[8:45] Speaker 2: improved that dramatically. I think he helped defensively, and he
[8:49] Speaker 2: also makes himself more available and then the right moments
[8:53] Speaker 2: in the right places, so not necessarily always looking for
[8:55] Speaker 2: the same ball will also come back and help out.
[8:58] Speaker 2: So I think that's really key. And then next, of
[9:01] Speaker 2: course there's the next group of Nations and Spain, Brazil, England, Argentina.
[9:08] Speaker 2: I mean, Messi obviously has been incredible. I think he's
[9:10] Speaker 2: been very fortunate not to have been sent off. He
[9:12] Speaker 2: should have been sent off in that first game. I
[9:14] Speaker 2: think that's well documented. Everybody, I think is pretty much
[9:19] Speaker 2: in agreeence with that one.
[9:21] Speaker 1: So because it's Messi, maybe yeah, well that.
[9:24] Speaker 2: Shouldn't be the case, and I don't think, Look, that
[9:26] Speaker 2: just shouldn't be the case. And obviously that was one
[9:28] Speaker 2: that was missed for one reason or another. But I mean,
[9:32] Speaker 2: he's a phenomenal player and he's been unbelievable this World Cup.
[9:35] Speaker 2: I also think you look at the likes of Portugal
[9:39] Speaker 2: and Belgium. We saw Belgium, as this podcast has been recorded,
[9:42] Speaker 2: is just qualified for the round of sixteen and dramatically
[9:45] Speaker 2: come from two goals down the beat Senegal. They've got
[9:49] Speaker 2: phenomenal talent within their squads, as does Portugal, but he
[9:52] Speaker 2: yet to maximize and utilize it and to reap the
[9:56] Speaker 2: rewards from it, and haven't had the success that I
[9:59] Speaker 2: believe they should have. So there's certainly teams that you
[10:02] Speaker 2: kind of no estimate. I just don't know whether they're
[10:05] Speaker 2: going to be able to deliver what we expect from them.
[10:09] Speaker 2: They just don't seem to have the same kind of
[10:12] Speaker 2: not necessarily work ethic but I think patterns of play
[10:18] Speaker 2: collectiveness seems to be not quite there, and that's where
[10:22] Speaker 2: I find we're not They're not getting the maximount of
[10:24] Speaker 2: their talented players as yet, but that may come. There's
[10:27] Speaker 2: still quite a few games to go.
[10:29] Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you two questions. There isn't going
[10:31] Speaker 1: to ask you because I'm so excited to talk to you.
[10:32] Speaker 1: I need to get I want to know what your
[10:34] Speaker 1: views on this are. So I need to get the
[10:35] Speaker 1: two questions out now. The first thing is as a goalkeeper,
[10:43] Speaker 1: when you're confronted with players like and Bute late from France,
[10:47] Speaker 1: you know, is as an attacking player? Is it when
[10:51] Speaker 1: I'm watching it? Is it compared to the way you're
[10:54] Speaker 1: watching when you're in the goal, in the goal and
[10:56] Speaker 1: in the mouth of the goal looking for watching him.
[10:58] Speaker 1: Does it seem to you as it seems to me
[11:01] Speaker 1: that players like that have a little bit more time
[11:03] Speaker 1: than everybody else. I don't know what it is. I
[11:05] Speaker 1: don't know whether it's because people are hanging off them
[11:07] Speaker 1: waiting for him to see what they're going to do,
[11:09] Speaker 1: whether they somehow create this extra bit of time he
[11:12] Speaker 1: seems to be. He just seem to have time. That's
[11:15] Speaker 1: the first question. I just want to have your opinions
[11:17] Speaker 1: on your views on that, because I mean, I get
[11:19] Speaker 1: confused by it. And the second thing is do you
[11:22] Speaker 1: think Australia should come back towards Egypt and be very tough,
[11:24] Speaker 1: and they be very ausy, be very physical. Two questions,
[11:28] Speaker 1: one about time and one about physicality.
[11:32] Speaker 2: Well, when you mentioned there killingham Bade, look, I think
[11:35] Speaker 2: there's a combination of everything you mentioned. So he has
[11:38] Speaker 2: a little bit extra time in the ball sometimes, and
[11:41] Speaker 2: that's because there is a fear factor, an element of
[11:45] Speaker 2: defensive orientated. The first thought for a lot of players
[11:48] Speaker 2: is can I can I make? Can I stay with him?
[11:51] Speaker 2: If he runs at me and picks up pace, Am
[11:56] Speaker 2: I able to turn and go with him? The likelihood
[11:59] Speaker 2: is probably no, So what they do is they drop off,
[12:01] Speaker 2: they start to turn, and they start to try and
[12:04] Speaker 2: be ready to run with him at that pace. The
[12:06] Speaker 2: problem is with someone like Killiam Babbey, and the best
[12:08] Speaker 2: player that from my tim when I was playing that
[12:10] Speaker 2: I can relate him to is to eryon Ree obviously
[12:13] Speaker 2: French as well, similar kind of builds, similar side of
[12:17] Speaker 2: style of football, and it's just they're big, that they're athletic,
[12:22] Speaker 2: they're incredibly quick, their ball skills are phenomenal. So they've
[12:28] Speaker 2: got such an array of skill and talent on the
[12:30] Speaker 2: ball that their ball control is so tight, so good,
[12:34] Speaker 2: and so quick, and they utilize it so there's not
[12:36] Speaker 2: many players that are really really quick that can also
[12:40] Speaker 2: run with the ball as quick as they probably can
[12:42] Speaker 2: run without the ball, and Kivin Babby is probably close
[12:46] Speaker 2: to it. I mean, I'm not sure. I'm sure he
[12:47] Speaker 2: probably does run quicker without the ball, but it wouldn't
[12:50] Speaker 2: be much in it, I don't think, because he's so
[12:52] Speaker 2: so quick with the ball and players without the ball,
[12:54] Speaker 2: as you can imagine, right, you're a defender, you've got
[12:56] Speaker 2: no ball, You're trying to prevent someone being past you
[12:59] Speaker 2: with the ball, and more often than not, they still
[13:00] Speaker 2: can't keep up with him because he's that quick and
[13:02] Speaker 2: he's that good on the ball. So there's an element
[13:05] Speaker 2: of he creates his own space because of his trickery,
[13:07] Speaker 2: because of his skills and his pace, But there's also
[13:09] Speaker 2: an element of sometimes people drop off a little bit
[13:11] Speaker 2: because they know they need to give him a bit
[13:13] Speaker 2: of space for them to be able to have any
[13:15] Speaker 2: chance to stay with him for a certain distance on
[13:18] Speaker 2: the pitch. When you talk about the physicality of the game,
[13:23] Speaker 2: I still feel that the physicality of the game is
[13:26] Speaker 2: a really important element to it, and I think Australia
[13:30] Speaker 2: have always we've always had that and some would say
[13:33] Speaker 2: in the past maybe we've relied on that more than
[13:35] Speaker 2: we've relied on our technical ability. And I think over
[13:39] Speaker 2: time we've developed technically quite substantially, but we've maintained an
[13:44] Speaker 2: element of that physicality because that's what we are, that's
[13:46] Speaker 2: what we kind of the mentality of Australian plays is
[13:48] Speaker 2: to play hard, play to win, play fair as much
[13:51] Speaker 2: as you can, and in that process, obviously you're going
[13:54] Speaker 2: to be very very competitive and also never never shy
[13:59] Speaker 2: away from a comfrontation nor an individual battle. And I
[14:02] Speaker 2: think that's part and past of the football. I mean,
[14:04] Speaker 2: I know the purist will say, no, no, you know,
[14:06] Speaker 2: you're stopping and starting a game. I don't think we're
[14:08] Speaker 2: that bad anymore. I don't think we're like that anymore.
[14:10] Speaker 2: I think we're a team that has a really good
[14:11] Speaker 2: combination of the physical presence but also a skill level
[14:15] Speaker 2: and we're developing that and evolving all the time. And
[14:18] Speaker 2: I think we can see that very much now with
[14:20] Speaker 2: our current soccer US. You know, we have as always
[14:23] Speaker 2: we're a very multicultural society. We've got players from all
[14:26] Speaker 2: different parts of the world that now bring different attributes
[14:29] Speaker 2: to the national team than we've previously had, and I'm
[14:32] Speaker 2: really excited about seeing the soccer side in its current form.
[14:35] Speaker 2: And I love I love the way we're playing at times.
[14:38] Speaker 2: I love these individual, flairy plays that we have. In
[14:40] Speaker 2: terms of Aaron Conda, the and under you know, the
[14:44] Speaker 2: unpredictability that he has, the skill levels, the pace material
[14:49] Speaker 2: is another one up front. Jordi Boss is another player
[14:53] Speaker 2: that's got phenomenal pace. I think at the moment he's
[14:55] Speaker 2: either the fastest or the second fastest at this World Cup,
[14:58] Speaker 2: which is which is crazy. We're talking about kill Baby.
[15:01] Speaker 2: Jordy Boss is right up there with either the fastest
[15:03] Speaker 2: or the second fastest in the tournament, or certainly in
[15:05] Speaker 2: the top top five players in the tournament. So we've
[15:08] Speaker 2: got real, real pace that we need to utilize and
[15:11] Speaker 2: that for me makes it really exciting. And then add
[15:13] Speaker 2: to the physical element to it, I think you've got
[15:15] Speaker 2: a great combination.
[15:16] Speaker 1: Do you think that is one of the big attractions
[15:18] Speaker 1: for watching the game on television today for us or
[15:22] Speaker 1: whatever our devices, is that we're looking for characters. Do
[15:24] Speaker 1: you think we're looking for characters?
[15:26] Speaker 2: I think so. I think we're in a world where
[15:28] Speaker 2: there's a lot of control there's there's a lot of
[15:31] Speaker 2: repetitive answers when it comes to interviews, when it comes
[15:34] Speaker 2: to and repetitive kind of performances.
[15:37] Speaker 1: And like predictive, predictive, Yeah, predictable.
[15:40] Speaker 2: I mean there's an element of one could argue that
[15:43] Speaker 2: there is a coaching out of individuality. It's more about
[15:46] Speaker 2: systems and patterns of play, and the individuality is kind
[15:51] Speaker 2: of being coached out of players and certainly prevented from
[15:53] Speaker 2: from growth in some parts of the world, not in
[15:56] Speaker 2: not in South America, of course, because you still see
[15:58] Speaker 2: they still produce players all the time. I think, I
[16:02] Speaker 2: think people love something that's a little bit different sometimes,
[16:05] Speaker 2: you know, people love something that's a little bit more
[16:07] Speaker 2: rogue and a little bit on the mischievous side of
[16:10] Speaker 2: the things, you know, and then others are just like
[16:13] Speaker 2: if you look at people hurry. Kane's a great example,
[16:16] Speaker 2: right in terms of and this is not a negative,
[16:21] Speaker 2: but in terms of like his behavior, he's he's persona
[16:26] Speaker 2: on a football pitch. It's vanilla. So as opposed to
[16:31] Speaker 2: you know, Ronaldo likes to you know, if he gets fout,
[16:36] Speaker 2: he gets up and complains and puts his arms up
[16:38] Speaker 2: in the air and you know, he's manicured and and
[16:41] Speaker 2: and it looks perfect and sculptured, sculptured exactly. So people
[16:46] Speaker 2: have just different preferences and likings and you know, let's
[16:49] Speaker 2: not even get then something get started on the old
[16:51] Speaker 2: Messi Ronaldo debate, because the supporters of both of them,
[16:56] Speaker 2: like the proper diehard supporters that I mean, they're incredibly
[16:59] Speaker 2: protective of of you know, for each of their camps,
[17:03] Speaker 2: and it's like a team within teams, and it's fascinating
[17:06] Speaker 2: to see. But that's that's what makes it great. Individuals,
[17:10] Speaker 2: you know, like individuals are important. We need that, we
[17:13] Speaker 2: need that to continue. And Maradona was obviously an individual,
[17:18] Speaker 2: and he was an individual of brilliance that obviously dabbed
[17:23] Speaker 2: into the wrong side of things at times as well.
[17:27] Speaker 2: But I think that's also what made him so exciting
[17:29] Speaker 2: for people, and how he was out of bounce back
[17:31] Speaker 2: from things.
[17:32] Speaker 1: I'm not a definitely not a football statistician, but it
[17:35] Speaker 1: just seems to me in this world couple so far
[17:38] Speaker 1: so in terms of so far that there seems to
[17:41] Speaker 1: be a lot of penalty shootouts. What does Mark Schwartzer
[17:44] Speaker 1: feel during that period and when you're watching it now,
[17:46] Speaker 1: do you still get the same butterflies or whatever it
[17:49] Speaker 1: was you were getting back in the days where you
[17:50] Speaker 1: had to defend against the shootout.
[17:53] Speaker 2: I think I'm more nervous now than I ever was
[17:54] Speaker 2: as a player. I was never nervous within that moment.
[17:59] Speaker 2: You might have been nervous slightly before it, but in
[18:01] Speaker 2: the moment, no, I wasn't nervous because you're so fixated
[18:04] Speaker 2: and focused on the job at hand. For me, I
[18:07] Speaker 2: always felt that. And when it comes to penalty shootouts,
[18:10] Speaker 2: the biggest pressure is on the kicker. They're expected to score.
[18:15] Speaker 2: There are eleven meters from the line, they're expected to score.
[18:18] Speaker 2: They should score.
[18:19] Speaker 1: Is that right? So it's more in that, It's more
[18:21] Speaker 1: the pressures on the kick because there's an expectation they
[18:23] Speaker 1: should get it.
[18:24] Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I definitely believe that's the case. What it is, though,
[18:30] Speaker 2: is it's your job as a goalkeeper to try and
[18:32] Speaker 2: try and you know, defy those odds and to make
[18:37] Speaker 2: a difference, to make one save, make two saves, whatever
[18:41] Speaker 2: it is that you can do to help your team
[18:43] Speaker 2: win it. You know, as a goalkeeper, you can't win
[18:45] Speaker 2: an individually. Again, you only win it as a team
[18:48] Speaker 2: because it doesn't matter if if I'm the goalkeeper, I say,
[18:52] Speaker 2: you know, if I say four penalties, but we miss
[18:56] Speaker 2: four and they score their fifth, they win one nial,
[18:58] Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. So you need your team mate.
[19:01] Speaker 2: Everyone needs to play that part, you know, every every
[19:04] Speaker 2: everyone who takes those those penalties, and and the kicker
[19:08] Speaker 2: is definitely the one that's under the most pressure. The
[19:11] Speaker 2: thing for a goalkeepers can you shine under that extreme pressure?
[19:15] Speaker 2: Can you then deliver? Can you make a difference? Can
[19:17] Speaker 2: you make a defining moment in that in that penalty shoot.
[19:19] Speaker 1: Up when you're watching them run towards the ball before
[19:23] Speaker 1: they strike it, are you trying to Obviously you're trying
[19:25] Speaker 1: to work it which direction they're going to go. But
[19:27] Speaker 1: do you have you studied players prior to them taking
[19:32] Speaker 1: this kick, so you know that this particular kicker is
[19:36] Speaker 1: going to kick to the right always, or dummies to
[19:38] Speaker 1: the right, or steps to the right and kicks to
[19:40] Speaker 1: the left. I mean, do you know this stuff is
[19:41] Speaker 1: able to check this stuff out?
[19:44] Speaker 2: That only came into effect later in my career. So
[19:47] Speaker 2: the information, all the technology, all the the the video
[19:52] Speaker 2: footage of players, the database only started to evolve probably
[19:56] Speaker 2: in the last five years of my career, so I
[19:59] Speaker 2: kind of got right at the BA end of it.
[20:00] Speaker 2: So during that World Up qualifier against Uruguay, I had
[20:03] Speaker 2: no information about their kickers at all. I had no
[20:06] Speaker 2: idea where they were going, what they were doing. I
[20:07] Speaker 2: hadn't seen any of their previous penalties nothing. So I
[20:12] Speaker 2: always throughout my career I always talk to the approach
[20:15] Speaker 2: that I tried not to go early. I tried to
[20:17] Speaker 2: stay on with fit as long as possible. And as
[20:20] Speaker 2: we're seeing at this World Cup once again, there are
[20:21] Speaker 2: a number of players who like to take a bit
[20:24] Speaker 2: of a studded run up, and the reason is they
[20:26] Speaker 2: want to try and manipulate the situation. They want to
[20:29] Speaker 2: try and force the goalkeeper to make the first move
[20:32] Speaker 2: and make a movement to a direction and then then
[20:35] Speaker 2: make it a little bit easier for the taker to
[20:37] Speaker 2: take make their decision. But what we're seeing are also
[20:40] Speaker 2: in this World Cup already, is that goalkeepers stay on
[20:42] Speaker 2: their line and don't go early are the ones that
[20:45] Speaker 2: generally are making those big saves. And that's because the
[20:48] Speaker 2: minute the player is that that final split seconds of
[20:52] Speaker 2: the kick they have to make the kick when they're
[20:55] Speaker 2: making that run up to the ball, and if the
[20:57] Speaker 2: goalkeeper hasn't move and given them an inkling of which
[20:59] Speaker 2: way they're going to know, they're going to have to
[21:00] Speaker 2: make a decision which way they got because as they're
[21:02] Speaker 2: running up, I don't believe a lot of them who
[21:04] Speaker 2: are doing that kind of technique know really where they're
[21:06] Speaker 2: going to go. So they are then waiting for the
[21:10] Speaker 2: goal We make a move and then they're picking a
[21:12] Speaker 2: spot and they'll split second. And that's where you can
[21:15] Speaker 2: flip the advantage slightly, possibly because the longer they delay
[21:21] Speaker 2: the more the less likely they're going to get as
[21:23] Speaker 2: clean a strike on the ball, less likely they're going
[21:26] Speaker 2: to be able to put it further in the corner
[21:28] Speaker 2: than they would normally. So staying on your fit as
[21:32] Speaker 2: long as you possibly can, delaying it and delaying it
[21:34] Speaker 2: and delaying the movement as long as possible can work
[21:38] Speaker 2: in your favor as a goalkeeper.
[21:40] Speaker 1: Are you staying there with your arms sort of like
[21:42] Speaker 1: a like a big like a like an albatross, sort
[21:45] Speaker 1: of like sort of trying to balk them a little
[21:47] Speaker 1: bit with their legs sort of a little bit put
[21:49] Speaker 1: what you're standing there, But are you sort of trying
[21:50] Speaker 1: to bork them a little bit.
[21:52] Speaker 2: So it just varies. Sometimes I would do that. Other times,
[21:55] Speaker 2: you know, you just hold your arms out big to
[21:57] Speaker 2: make yourself look big and make yourself look more imposing.
[22:00] Speaker 2: Other times I would just be trying to be in
[22:02] Speaker 2: the zone as much as I possibly could, because it
[22:04] Speaker 2: was all about, you know, being in the right sort
[22:08] Speaker 2: of position, not jumping, not moving, And there's a there's
[22:11] Speaker 2: a natural tendency to move, so as someone's running up
[22:14] Speaker 2: to strike a ball, there is a there's almost like
[22:16] Speaker 2: a reflex motion to move, like to try and and
[22:21] Speaker 2: then sometimes what happens is you're watching someone line up
[22:24] Speaker 2: a ball, put the ball down, walk back the way
[22:27] Speaker 2: they look the way they moved. Sometimes this is an
[22:29] Speaker 2: overwhelming feeling pops in your head and it's like do
[22:34] Speaker 2: I go with that feeling or do I stick with
[22:36] Speaker 2: my routine. And sometimes that's like you're in a real
[22:39] Speaker 2: dilemma and you're gonna have to make that decision really
[22:41] Speaker 2: really quickly. So you are I try and just be
[22:46] Speaker 2: really focused and try and just stand there and wait
[22:50] Speaker 2: for them to play out, you know, to make the
[22:52] Speaker 2: route to the to the ball and then and try
[22:54] Speaker 2: and and try and react to the shot.
[22:56] Speaker 1: You exhausted after a game at that level, when you're
[22:59] Speaker 1: I mean like literally mentally exhausted from especially if there's
[23:03] Speaker 1: a shootout where you know there's a lot of pressure
[23:05] Speaker 1: on you, Like, do you feel like just want to
[23:07] Speaker 1: go home and go sleep for about your hotel?
[23:10] Speaker 2: You feel exhausted, You feel mentally exhausted, not so much physically,
[23:13] Speaker 2: but you certainly feel mentally exhausted. But you can't sleep.
[23:16] Speaker 2: So you're just so wired and so awake. That's really
[23:19] Speaker 2: difficult to fall asleep. So when I remember when I
[23:22] Speaker 2: was playing, like sometimes I wouldn't got a bedun til
[23:24] Speaker 2: four five in the morning, wow, because I was so
[23:27] Speaker 2: wired and just couldn't sleep. And over time you have
[23:31] Speaker 2: kids and all other elements come into it, and you
[23:33] Speaker 2: sort of change the way you are a little bit,
[23:36] Speaker 2: and you need your sleep, so you kind of well
[23:37] Speaker 2: as an athlete, you need you to sleep all the time.
[23:41] Speaker 2: So yeah, it's difficult often after a game to fall
[23:44] Speaker 2: asleep too soon, even though you are exhausted.
[23:47] Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned the word fairness, and I'm sorry I
[23:49] Speaker 1: have to go back to two thousand and six mate now,
[23:53] Speaker 1: And by the way, talk about a good team, you know,
[23:55] Speaker 1: like Harry kill Yourself, Tim Kale and numerous others. I
[24:00] Speaker 1: was in Berlin. I was there when the Italian player
[24:05] Speaker 1: whose name escapes me, you'll probably remember his name, I
[24:08] Speaker 1: took befall. It was like the theater of all time,
[24:11] Speaker 1: like it was nothing zero. Of course, they got a
[24:14] Speaker 1: penalty and you had to defend it and didn't work
[24:18] Speaker 1: out that well for us. What about the theater of
[24:22] Speaker 1: By the way, it seems to be a lot less
[24:24] Speaker 1: today than it was back in just twenty years ago.
[24:27] Speaker 1: By the way, it's probably still in your crawl, sticks
[24:29] Speaker 1: in your crawl. What about that moment.
[24:31] Speaker 2: I think the game has evolved tremendously, you know, var
[24:35] Speaker 2: has played a massive part to it. I think we
[24:37] Speaker 2: see it this World Cup, and I think what's really
[24:39] Speaker 2: positive for me is the referee very rarely buying into
[24:44] Speaker 2: those attempts to convince the referee that it's a foul
[24:50] Speaker 2: going down way too easily, with.
[24:51] Speaker 1: Very minimum milking it milking it.
[24:53] Speaker 2: So the referees today this World Cup, across the board,
[24:56] Speaker 2: I think of refereed that element of the game. Except well, yeah,
[25:01] Speaker 2: of course, there's always going to be moments where you
[25:02] Speaker 2: kind of go. Well, like you know, we talked about
[25:04] Speaker 2: the Messi incident, is they've missed that. There's been one
[25:07] Speaker 2: or two other ones. Absolutely, and that's going to happen
[25:09] Speaker 2: when you got so many teams, so many games, things
[25:11] Speaker 2: like that are going to happen every now and then
[25:14] Speaker 2: hopefully just happens very very rarely. So I think the
[25:16] Speaker 2: game has evolved tremendously. I mean that game, you know,
[25:20] Speaker 2: it was in The interesting thing about it, we played
[25:22] Speaker 2: there in the first game in the group stage, so
[25:23] Speaker 2: we were in kaisers Lowt and we played against Japan,
[25:25] Speaker 2: which we beat, and then the round of sixteen game
[25:27] Speaker 2: against Italy was back in Kaiserslulton club that I used
[25:31] Speaker 2: to I played for for eighteen months when I was
[25:33] Speaker 2: in Germany, so it was very familiar to me. And
[25:35] Speaker 2: obviously I was left out of the final group game
[25:37] Speaker 2: and then came back in against Italy. And we're talking
[25:40] Speaker 2: about not the Italy you have today that haven't you know,
[25:43] Speaker 2: they haven't qualified for three consecutive World Cups. We're talking
[25:45] Speaker 2: about in Italy at that time, one of the greats
[25:48] Speaker 2: of world football, you know, one of the big hitters,
[25:50] Speaker 2: like massive hitters up there with your likes of you know,
[25:53] Speaker 2: your Germany and Brazil, Argentina and all those sort of countries. Okay,
[25:57] Speaker 2: maybe Brazil slightly higher. Five World Cups and so on
[25:59] Speaker 2: back not far, you know. And I think for us
[26:05] Speaker 2: and the squad of players that we had, and you know,
[26:07] Speaker 2: the amazing talent that we had outside that was the
[26:11] Speaker 2: I think, not I wouldn't say it's the first generation
[26:14] Speaker 2: of players that we had with that level of talent,
[26:15] Speaker 2: because the generations before there were some phenomenal players that
[26:19] Speaker 2: played for the national team and unfortunately we didn't qualify
[26:21] Speaker 2: for the Walk Cup. Obviously, in the more recent time
[26:23] Speaker 2: from seventy four through to two thousand and six, that
[26:26] Speaker 2: area in between, we had some amazing talented players that
[26:29] Speaker 2: unfortunately we just for one reason or another couldn't qualify.
[26:32] Speaker 2: So that group in two thousand and six were the
[26:34] Speaker 2: ones that kind of broke through and people regard as
[26:38] Speaker 2: right up there with one of the best, you know,
[26:40] Speaker 2: group of players to play for the national team. And
[26:42] Speaker 2: I think it all coincides with the fact that eight
[26:45] Speaker 2: of that squad were playing week in week out in
[26:48] Speaker 2: the Premier League, two were playing in Syria r while
[26:52] Speaker 2: Johnny Alwisi was playing in La Liga. We had a
[26:55] Speaker 2: couple of playing in the Dutch First Division, you know,
[26:57] Speaker 2: so we had a whole array of players playing. It's
[27:00] Speaker 2: such a higher high level and competitive level, and I
[27:03] Speaker 2: think that's what made that squad also even kind of
[27:06] Speaker 2: standard even more. And look, you go into that game
[27:11] Speaker 2: with the hope and the belief that you can win
[27:13] Speaker 2: because we believe in our group. We believe as a
[27:16] Speaker 2: group of players. But there was also an element of okay,
[27:19] Speaker 2: once a game with the underdogs, we can go into
[27:22] Speaker 2: this game with a little bit more freedom and feel
[27:25] Speaker 2: that you know, Italy have all the pressure, all the
[27:27] Speaker 2: expectation they should be knocking Australia aside. And obviously, you know,
[27:32] Speaker 2: there's regret in terms of I feel that we didn't
[27:36] Speaker 2: utilize our advantage, of course, being one man advantage. Italy
[27:40] Speaker 2: were very very good defensively have always or traditionally always
[27:44] Speaker 2: been very solid and very difficult to break down. They
[27:47] Speaker 2: were defensively very very very good, and we didn't offer enough.
[27:52] Speaker 2: We didn't hurt them enough, we didn't create enough chances
[27:55] Speaker 2: in that lat of stages of that game. And obviously,
[27:57] Speaker 2: as the game winds on, you is an element of
[28:00] Speaker 2: maybe feeling like, okay, this is going to go to
[28:03] Speaker 2: extra time, so you kind of everyone's sort of jostling,
[28:06] Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, there's a long ball
[28:08] Speaker 2: up and you know, Fabian Grosso comes into the box
[28:11] Speaker 2: and spectacularly falls over and the referee awards a penalty.
[28:16] Speaker 2: And I mean at the time, look at the time,
[28:19] Speaker 2: I wasn't sure I felt that. Yeah, look, possibly I
[28:23] Speaker 2: can kind of understand what. I can understand why the
[28:24] Speaker 2: referee's given it. Of course watched it over the many
[28:27] Speaker 2: many years. The more it goes on, the more I go, yeah,
[28:29] Speaker 2: we were very unlucky there in an instant. And I
[28:32] Speaker 2: still look back at that as a time where you
[28:36] Speaker 2: kind of go, wow, what a missed opportunity that was
[28:40] Speaker 2: to be one of the greats of world football. And
[28:44] Speaker 2: then you kind of look at what they did afterwards,
[28:46] Speaker 2: and not to say they would have gone on won
[28:47] Speaker 2: the World Cup, but they had the Ukraine in the
[28:49] Speaker 2: next round, and to feel that they won three nilo
[28:52] Speaker 2: and one convincingly, and you kind of thought, well, actually,
[28:54] Speaker 2: you know what, we had a good chance against the
[28:56] Speaker 2: Ukraine as well, so who knows where we could have
[28:58] Speaker 2: ended up, But you know it wasn't to be, unfortunately,
[29:01] Speaker 2: and you know, you can you can only you can
[29:05] Speaker 2: only reminiscen and and kind of look back with a
[29:07] Speaker 2: little bit of a little bit of sadness in that
[29:10] Speaker 2: we didn't take it a little bit further.
[29:12] Speaker 1: Would that be one of our best performances though, because
[29:14] Speaker 1: I think that was around the sixteen is Oracle it was.
[29:17] Speaker 2: Around the sixteen Look, it's I think it's almost impossible
[29:21] Speaker 2: to compare. It's like it's like trying to compare you know, Palais, Maradonna, Messi, Ronaldo.
[29:27] Speaker 2: You know, they're all different generations, different eras, and I
[29:30] Speaker 2: think the game's continuously evolved, so it's really difficult to
[29:35] Speaker 2: compare what I will say individually. And I said this
[29:38] Speaker 2: back in twenty twenty two at the catar Walk Cup,
[29:42] Speaker 2: and I've said this numerous times since then as well
[29:44] Speaker 2: as I believe that the team that went to Qatar
[29:47] Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, player for player was probably one
[29:50] Speaker 2: of our weakest sides, but as a group were probably
[29:54] Speaker 2: our best team. And the reason I say that is
[29:56] Speaker 2: because if they were individually the weakest as a team,
[30:00] Speaker 2: to put that together as a team makes them, for me,
[30:02] Speaker 2: the best one of the best teams were ver Central
[30:04] Speaker 2: a World Cup if not the best team, because what
[30:07] Speaker 2: they did was certainly I thought personally punched massively above
[30:12] Speaker 2: their weight, superseded the expectations and took the game to
[30:16] Speaker 2: Argentina and were literally, you know, a kick away, a
[30:19] Speaker 2: save away from pushing Argentina to extra time, and of
[30:23] Speaker 2: course Argentina went on to win the World Cup. So
[30:26] Speaker 2: twice we got through the knockout stages. Twice we've lost
[30:28] Speaker 2: against the team that then goes on and wins, wins
[30:30] Speaker 2: the World Cup. And look, this group, it's a difficult
[30:35] Speaker 2: one because they've made it out of the knockouts. They've
[30:37] Speaker 2: made it into the knockout stages, which in theory is
[30:39] Speaker 2: exactly the same as what we did in Qatar. But
[30:41] Speaker 2: it's one round earlier kind of thing, you know. So
[30:44] Speaker 2: they around the thirty two now, so to get around
[30:45] Speaker 2: sixteen is another round. But look, to get into the
[30:47] Speaker 2: knockout stages again once again is a fantastic accomplishment to
[30:52] Speaker 2: be in the group that were in this time round Usay, Paraguay, Takia.
[30:56] Speaker 2: Massive underdogs we were, and to get out of it,
[31:00] Speaker 2: I think was what I was expecting. What I hoped
[31:03] Speaker 2: could happen, and I thought it would happen. But that's
[31:07] Speaker 2: but you've got to go and do it, and you've
[31:09] Speaker 2: got to give them enormous amount of credit for accomplishing that.
[31:12] Speaker 1: Do get Do we get any more confidence when we
[31:16] Speaker 1: know how well we went against Paraguay, when we see
[31:18] Speaker 1: Paraguay knockoff, you know, the big dogs. Do we get
[31:22] Speaker 1: more confidence? Should we get more confidence that out of that?
[31:24] Speaker 1: Or is it a matter of like who's on the
[31:26] Speaker 1: field at the time and the conditions blah blah blah,
[31:28] Speaker 1: who the opposition is. Should we just dismiss that sort
[31:31] Speaker 1: of stuff and just say no, forget about that. The
[31:33] Speaker 1: next game is anything that's important to us.
[31:36] Speaker 2: There's a bit of both, right, So I think there
[31:38] Speaker 2: is a lot of confidence. I think there's a lot
[31:40] Speaker 2: of confidence in the way in which we took the
[31:41] Speaker 2: game to Paraguay dominated for vast majorities of that game.
[31:45] Speaker 2: But I think you've got to put in perspective what
[31:47] Speaker 2: was that game? What was at stake in that game?
[31:49] Speaker 2: We both needed to draw to progress. Of course, we
[31:53] Speaker 2: wanted to win and push even further and make sure
[31:56] Speaker 2: you don't con see late and Paraguay obviously were at
[31:59] Speaker 2: times thinking, right, if we score on on occasion they
[32:02] Speaker 2: ventured into our half and put us on a bit
[32:04] Speaker 2: of pressure, then they're obviously get a finished second and
[32:07] Speaker 2: progressed as well. So I think in the context, it
[32:09] Speaker 2: was the way in which we controlled last parts of
[32:12] Speaker 2: that game that I think was very confident building. And
[32:17] Speaker 2: I think the other element is Paraguay goes on and
[32:21] Speaker 2: beats Germany in the round of thirty two, which is
[32:24] Speaker 2: then a different stage. Altogether. Paraguay were massive underdogs. They
[32:29] Speaker 2: were very very fortunate with another decision, but overall, probably
[32:34] Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say they earned it. They
[32:35] Speaker 2: earned that that right. They beat a very underwhelming and
[32:40] Speaker 2: very poor, poor Germany performance. But you've got to give
[32:43] Speaker 2: Paraguay credit for what they did and they and they
[32:45] Speaker 2: deserve to be in the round of sixteen. So yes,
[32:49] Speaker 2: there's confidence, but it's now about what we do in
[32:52] Speaker 2: this next game against Egypt. You know, everything's about the
[32:56] Speaker 2: full focus is about this game. It's a very different opponent,
[32:59] Speaker 2: and it's about getting through to the round of sixteen.
[33:01] Speaker 1: And then amid something that maybe you could let us
[33:03] Speaker 1: into the dressing room here for a moment and just
[33:06] Speaker 1: explain the difference between at this level winning and losing
[33:12] Speaker 1: because none of us ever get to go into the
[33:14] Speaker 1: dressing sheds, but I have been in the dressing shed
[33:16] Speaker 1: to things like State of Origin and in Roguya League,
[33:19] Speaker 1: and I just know there's just such a massive difference
[33:22] Speaker 1: between winning and losing. You can't even there's not a
[33:25] Speaker 1: contrast or a comparison. It's just what's it like when
[33:28] Speaker 1: you lose, well, for example, after you loss against Italy
[33:31] Speaker 1: for example, perhaps I mean or any example.
[33:34] Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's massive disappointment and you've got to put
[33:37] Speaker 2: in perspective. I think there's nothing that compares in Australian
[33:41] Speaker 2: sport to it. Ok, maybe that's a bit slight. I mean,
[33:45] Speaker 2: maybe it's a little bit wrong to say that, but
[33:47] Speaker 2: certainly it has to do with national teams. I think
[33:50] Speaker 2: it's World Cups every four years. We're not talking about
[33:53] Speaker 2: something that happens annually. We're talking something that's every four
[33:55] Speaker 2: years and the process it takes. And I suppose yeah,
[33:59] Speaker 2: within Australian sports, there is no other sport that has
[34:02] Speaker 2: the same kind of certainly certainly single sports. So like
[34:05] Speaker 2: a team sport, there are obviously Olympians and so forth,
[34:09] Speaker 2: and no way in any shape matter ofform do I
[34:12] Speaker 2: want to discredit that element of going to Olympics and
[34:15] Speaker 2: the work that goes into that. But in football, there
[34:17] Speaker 2: is a the process of qualifications. Over a two year period,
[34:21] Speaker 2: you're playing ten fifteen games of qualification, You're you know,
[34:26] Speaker 2: you're flying all over the Asia, Middle East, on top
[34:32] Speaker 2: of playing your your professional well playing for your clubs
[34:36] Speaker 2: more often not if it's not if it's not in
[34:38] Speaker 2: Australia or being Europe or you know, we've got players
[34:40] Speaker 2: all over the world these days, so there's an enormous
[34:43] Speaker 2: amount of travel. There's an enorm enormous amount of physical
[34:45] Speaker 2: element of sacrifice to that. But it's one that I
[34:49] Speaker 2: didn't even see as a sacrifice at the time, but
[34:51] Speaker 2: you kind of add that to the mix. You know,
[34:52] Speaker 2: it's it's not a sacrifice to play for your country,
[34:55] Speaker 2: but it is hard work, right, It's really really hard work.
[34:57] Speaker 2: And that's that's part of it. And and I think
[35:01] Speaker 2: the element of qualifying for a World Cup, then going
[35:05] Speaker 2: there and then maybe underperforming like in South Africa twenty ten,
[35:09] Speaker 2: we were on our knees after losing to Germany four
[35:13] Speaker 2: now and it wasn't because we lost the Germany as
[35:15] Speaker 2: the manner in which we lost and conceding four goals
[35:18] Speaker 2: in those days, goal difference made a massive difference as well,
[35:21] Speaker 2: So we were in our uphill battle out for our
[35:24] Speaker 2: first game because gold difference was always going to play
[35:25] Speaker 2: a massive part in it, and we had to basically
[35:28] Speaker 2: to have it to sort of eliminate the goal difference.
[35:31] Speaker 2: We had to win our next two games, and unfortunately
[35:33] Speaker 2: we only managed a draw against Ghana, even though we
[35:36] Speaker 2: had a massive chance to win the game at the
[35:37] Speaker 2: end and we missed it. And then we beat we
[35:39] Speaker 2: beat Serbia. So the disappointment of not fulfilling our capabilities,
[35:46] Speaker 2: not living up to expectation, knowing that we had so
[35:49] Speaker 2: much more to give and we should have done so
[35:51] Speaker 2: much better than what we did. The disappointment of finishing
[35:53] Speaker 2: on four points like we did four years earlier, but
[35:56] Speaker 2: this time missed out because of inferior goal difference, but
[35:58] Speaker 2: four years early we qualified to them knock out stage
[36:00] Speaker 2: is because of a better goal difference, And they're the
[36:03] Speaker 2: fine margins and they're the disappointment. And then and then
[36:07] Speaker 2: add into the mix, that's a four year process. So
[36:10] Speaker 2: it's a four year process for qualifications, the work that
[36:14] Speaker 2: goes into it, the dedication, the pressureized situations, what it
[36:19] Speaker 2: means to qualify for a World Cup, and then the
[36:22] Speaker 2: preparation that goes into going to a World Cup, the
[36:25] Speaker 2: time of which you spend away from your family through
[36:27] Speaker 2: all that period of time, the sacrifices they make for
[36:30] Speaker 2: you to be there, your wife, looking after your children.
[36:34] Speaker 2: Without that, that just wouldn't have been possible. So all
[36:36] Speaker 2: of those things in the mix. Everybody's vested. Everyone's had
[36:41] Speaker 2: a part to play, and that your whole family, everyone,
[36:44] Speaker 2: the staff, they get involved with the national team. Everybody
[36:46] Speaker 2: has a massive part, and ultimately sometimes it cost people
[36:48] Speaker 2: their jobs as well. So there is such an emotional
[36:52] Speaker 2: attachment to it, and that's the hard thing. At a
[36:55] Speaker 2: World Cup, it's probably the hardest thing to that and
[36:58] Speaker 2: maybe you know a big Cup final to lose, but
[37:01] Speaker 2: the hardest things are certainly at a World Cup. Losing
[37:04] Speaker 2: a World Cup, losing games at a World Cup, or
[37:05] Speaker 2: being knocked out of the World Cup is supersedes everything.
[37:08] Speaker 2: So it's an enormous amount of disappointment and regret and
[37:13] Speaker 2: soul searching, and you're exhausted, You're mentally exhausted. You're physically exhausted,
[37:19] Speaker 2: and you literally have about three weeks to recharge your
[37:22] Speaker 2: batteries because your season starting again after that.
[37:25] Speaker 1: Do they feel that extra pressure do you think compared
[37:27] Speaker 1: to say, when you played, because more people have access
[37:29] Speaker 1: to the game now.
[37:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, more people have access to the game. And there's
[37:32] Speaker 2: also a direct connection between anybody in the planet to
[37:36] Speaker 2: those players in those rooms, in their rooms in their
[37:38] Speaker 2: hotels because of social media. So players can choose to
[37:42] Speaker 2: stay offered or not. And then there's the ones that
[37:44] Speaker 2: will stay off it. But there's also then someone else
[37:48] Speaker 2: will mention something, and then family will mention something, because
[37:51] Speaker 2: like I said before, everyone's vested in it. And then
[37:54] Speaker 2: you know, during these tournaments, everybody has an opinion, as
[37:58] Speaker 2: in all sport, and then there's critique. There's there's obviously
[38:04] Speaker 2: a enormous amount of support and and and when things
[38:07] Speaker 2: go well, there's there's adulation. But then when things don't
[38:11] Speaker 2: go we like against the US, and particularly in the
[38:12] Speaker 2: first forty five minutes, there's critique. And that is a
[38:15] Speaker 2: roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster, because people take it
[38:19] Speaker 2: personally as well, and I've been in that scenario as well.
[38:22] Speaker 2: You read things you see things, someone says something, your
[38:24] Speaker 2: family member, you speak to someone, they go, oh, by
[38:26] Speaker 2: the way, so and so I've said this, and you're like, well,
[38:29] Speaker 2: and you kind of have to kind of try. You
[38:31] Speaker 2: have to try and detach. So I think for the
[38:33] Speaker 2: players even more so today, they have to try and
[38:35] Speaker 2: detach from it. But I think they're fully aware of
[38:38] Speaker 2: how big it is, how much support there is, and
[38:42] Speaker 2: what's going to happen after this World Cup I believe
[38:44] Speaker 2: is that we're gonna get hopefully, I believe, I very
[38:48] Speaker 2: feel very strongly about we're going to have a number
[38:50] Speaker 2: of players that will make big moves in the bigger clubs.
[38:53] Speaker 2: Players profiles will go through the roof, and there'll be
[38:56] Speaker 2: more and more soccer US players becoming household names in Australia.
[38:59] Speaker 2: And that's what I hope will happen, because that's what
[39:02] Speaker 2: we need to happen, because before this World Cup there's
[39:04] Speaker 2: very very few of the soccer Us that people actually
[39:06] Speaker 2: knew in Australia. The football community knows them, knows everything
[39:09] Speaker 2: about them. But the greater public, the greater the rest
[39:13] Speaker 2: of the Australian than the national team supporters who are
[39:16] Speaker 2: a little bit maybe on the arter and maybe only
[39:18] Speaker 2: come around in various moments and big occasions. They're starting
[39:21] Speaker 2: to know who these people are and I hope that
[39:25] Speaker 2: these guys go on to bigger and better things and
[39:28] Speaker 2: continue to be incredible role models for football in Australia.
[39:33] Speaker 2: Very rarely do we have any negative headlines about players behaviors.
[39:38] Speaker 2: There are the incredible role models. The pressure in which
[39:41] Speaker 2: these guys are under leaving home for such a very
[39:43] Speaker 2: young age, so many of them, most of us would
[39:47] Speaker 2: have loved to have played in Australia. Our whole career
[39:49] Speaker 2: is if we had a league that was considered one
[39:51] Speaker 2: of the best leagues in the world, but we don't, unfortunately,
[39:54] Speaker 2: so more often not we have to go elsewhere, and
[39:58] Speaker 2: certainly in my day it was even more more the case.
[40:01] Speaker 2: So that being away flying the flag every single day
[40:05] Speaker 2: for Australia is incredible and I think the guys don't
[40:11] Speaker 2: get enough credit in football in general in Australia, particularly
[40:15] Speaker 2: what what global ambassadors they are for Australia and for
[40:19] Speaker 2: football in Australia.
[40:20] Speaker 1: I was having a cup of coffee before I came
[40:22] Speaker 1: in here and the guys that I'm coming in to
[40:24] Speaker 1: do a podcast. They said, you know who's on today?
[40:26] Speaker 1: And I mentioned your name and two of the guys
[40:28] Speaker 1: there who are from Chile but live in Australia Australians
[40:33] Speaker 1: but born in Chile. Remember some of the clubs you
[40:36] Speaker 1: played for? It who's in Australia that is particularly I
[40:40] Speaker 1: think Marconi was mentioned. What are some of the fond
[40:44] Speaker 1: memories that Mark Schwartz has about playing for clubs here
[40:48] Speaker 1: in Australia. Maybe just gives a bit of background to
[40:51] Speaker 1: your background, you know where we're living.
[40:53] Speaker 2: Look, I have only fond memories of playing football in Australia.
[40:57] Speaker 2: I mean growing up in you know, the foot of
[40:59] Speaker 2: the Blue Mountains in a place called well North Richmond originally,
[41:02] Speaker 2: and then we moved to on five acres in Grosswold
[41:06] Speaker 2: sort of the foot of the Blue Mountains. Actually, I
[41:08] Speaker 2: lived in idyllic scenario on five acres. Our plot was
[41:12] Speaker 2: actually the smallest of all the plots around the area
[41:15] Speaker 2: because all the rest are like where I grew up
[41:17] Speaker 2: as gross Wallen and some really big horse stud farms
[41:20] Speaker 2: out there actually, and a lot of massive, big properties.
[41:25] Speaker 2: So I'm right at the junction where the yarraw Monday
[41:28] Speaker 2: and the Nepean River join to form the Hawkesbury So
[41:32] Speaker 2: when my dad, my dad was a bricklayer, we moved
[41:34] Speaker 2: on this property and we moved in the caravan and
[41:36] Speaker 2: lived there for three years in a caravan. My dad
[41:38] Speaker 2: and I would help him as much as I could
[41:40] Speaker 2: at my young age, build our house on the property
[41:43] Speaker 2: and we had tank water in a very. At the beginning,
[41:46] Speaker 2: we had no water other than what was in the caravan.
[41:48] Speaker 2: So we would go down to the river and bathe
[41:50] Speaker 2: and doell our things down at the river. And so
[41:53] Speaker 2: I had amazing memories. WHE had horses, I had ponies,
[41:56] Speaker 2: used to ride them there, swim with them in the river.
[41:57] Speaker 2: It was phenomenal. Played for Corlo Soccer from the age
[42:01] Speaker 2: of seven years old through to about twelve thirteen years old.
[42:06] Speaker 2: My dad was a coach at times. That was the
[42:07] Speaker 2: first time he put me in goal because he believed
[42:10] Speaker 2: that I kept tripping over my own two feet to
[42:12] Speaker 2: then playing rips for Nepeane Association for a year, then
[42:16] Speaker 2: went to Blacktown Association for three years and from that
[42:19] Speaker 2: point onwards, had a very very short brief stind at
[42:23] Speaker 2: Blacktown City and then went to ended up played a
[42:27] Speaker 2: couple of games for Mali to Eagles, believe it or not,
[42:29] Speaker 2: and then ended up signing for Marconi. And I was
[42:32] Speaker 2: at Marconi Football Club soccer club from the age of
[42:36] Speaker 2: fifteen all the way through to the age of twenty one,
[42:38] Speaker 2: and I had phenomenal times. I mean, I played in
[42:40] Speaker 2: the first team in the old NFL at the age
[42:43] Speaker 2: of nineteen and in my first full season we went
[42:48] Speaker 2: on to win the national title. It was yeah, it
[42:51] Speaker 2: was incredible. They were probably the most enjoyable and fun
[42:54] Speaker 2: moments I had in my whole football career because we
[42:57] Speaker 2: were semi professional, we were young, we were trained like
[43:00] Speaker 2: full time. The club had us on like scholarships, and
[43:05] Speaker 2: we we were doing well in football. We're having a
[43:08] Speaker 2: great time enjoying life. And it was like before we
[43:12] Speaker 2: actually made that next step to go overseas, and yeah,
[43:17] Speaker 2: it was it was amazing. So then moving making that
[43:19] Speaker 2: adventure then from from Marconi over to Germany was my
[43:22] Speaker 2: first move. So I spent two and a half years
[43:25] Speaker 2: in Germany, one year in Dresden, which was five years
[43:27] Speaker 2: after unification between East and West of Germany. So I
[43:31] Speaker 2: was like, if you know your history World War two,
[43:33] Speaker 2: Dresden eighty percent of Dresden was destroyed, so I was
[43:36] Speaker 2: there five years after unification, and so a lot of
[43:39] Speaker 2: the buildings were still rubble. There was a lot of
[43:41] Speaker 2: building being done and I was playing for this this
[43:43] Speaker 2: this football club in the top division in Germany and
[43:45] Speaker 2: the East part of Germany. I might add, Dresden is
[43:48] Speaker 2: a beautiful city and if you've never been, you should
[43:51] Speaker 2: definitely go and have a look at it because it's
[43:52] Speaker 2: amazing place. And then going to kiss Loten and being
[43:55] Speaker 2: kase Loten and in the West part of Germany for
[43:56] Speaker 2: eighteen months before I made my my move cross to England,
[44:01] Speaker 2: and England was where I really kind of like got
[44:03] Speaker 2: given my first opportunity to play week in, week out,
[44:06] Speaker 2: and from there it kind of just worked. Everything about
[44:09] Speaker 2: being in England suited me, and my career in football
[44:14] Speaker 2: just went from strength to strength to the minute I
[44:16] Speaker 2: landed in England.
[44:19] Speaker 1: Were you born in Germany you were born here?
[44:21] Speaker 2: I was born in Australia. My parents are Germaneans. Yeah,
[44:23] Speaker 2: so I was born my parents immigrated like in sixty seven.
[44:26] Speaker 2: I was born in seventy two. My sister was born
[44:28] Speaker 2: in sixty nine, so we both and my brother was
[44:30] Speaker 2: born the ten years afterwards. We're all born in Australia
[44:32] Speaker 2: to German parents.
[44:34] Speaker 1: And I'm the son of an immigrant as well. So
[44:36] Speaker 1: do you ever think yourself, You know, there's actually pretty
[44:39] Speaker 1: good stories about people like You're a good example right
[44:42] Speaker 1: here in front of me, how you have integrated you
[44:46] Speaker 1: love Australia. Do you ever think about that? The way
[44:49] Speaker 1: Australia rolls as a multicultural society.
[44:52] Speaker 2: Well, it pains me to see what's going on at
[44:54] Speaker 2: the moment. It pains me to see the negativity towards multiculturalism,
[44:57] Speaker 2: towards immigration. It pains me. It actually saddens me massively
[45:04] Speaker 2: because yes, there is an issue generally globally with people's
[45:08] Speaker 2: behaviors and different types of beliefs. Certainly there is work
[45:16] Speaker 2: to be done, there's no doubt about it. But what
[45:19] Speaker 2: makes for me, what makes Australia so special, is the multiculturalism,
[45:22] Speaker 2: the mixture of the various. I mean, I'm of German heritage.
[45:26] Speaker 2: My wife is half Filipino, half Spanish, she's Australian. My
[45:29] Speaker 2: kids are Australian. They are half German, a quarter Filipino,
[45:34] Speaker 2: quarter Spanish. So I mean, I just don't understand the
[45:39] Speaker 2: whole debate. I think what makes Australia so beautiful and
[45:43] Speaker 2: so amazing not only the landscape, not only that, but
[45:47] Speaker 2: the people and the people are made up of all
[45:49] Speaker 2: different multicultural backgrounds. So again you look at the soccers
[45:55] Speaker 2: in particular, it is the only team uh and football
[46:01] Speaker 2: in general. So the Matilda's the soccer, US women's sport,
[46:04] Speaker 2: women's football and men's football in Australia is the one
[46:08] Speaker 2: sport that unites every kind of background in Australia. Every multicultural,
[46:12] Speaker 2: every every ethnicity in the country are united behind football.
[46:17] Speaker 2: Have a love football ball that reunites. As you look
[46:20] Speaker 2: at our national team right now, we are a team
[46:23] Speaker 2: full of different multiculturals, different backgrounds, they're different ethnicities, but
[46:29] Speaker 2: they're all Australian and they all love playing for Australia
[46:31] Speaker 2: and they're all desperate to play for Australia and they're
[46:33] Speaker 2: all very grateful for what Australia gives to them.
[46:36] Speaker 1: And it's funny about that mark is I think the
[46:38] Speaker 1: majority of the nation who's following the football soccer, we
[46:44] Speaker 1: feel the same way, doesn't matter where we come from.
[46:47] Speaker 1: We all want Australia to win and they're our team.
[46:50] Speaker 1: That's our team, and we wouldn't. I'd say we wouldn't
[46:53] Speaker 1: change one player for another player, whether for any reason,
[46:57] Speaker 1: particularly ethnicity or there your city, and we are all
[47:01] Speaker 1: rooting for Australia a big time. My production team had
[47:05] Speaker 1: been so excited about producing this particular episode. There the
[47:09] Speaker 1: hitting new questions left right and center. So I'm only
[47:11] Speaker 1: going to hitch up with one more question, But can
[47:13] Speaker 1: you just tell me about the John Travolder story.
[47:17] Speaker 2: It's kind of it so surreal, isn't it, Like even
[47:19] Speaker 2: when you look back at the pictures now and the
[47:21] Speaker 2: video now, the footage now, and you just kind of go,
[47:23] Speaker 2: really did that just happen? Like even at that time,
[47:26] Speaker 2: you know, like we're playing we're playing one of the
[47:28] Speaker 2: biggest We're playing the biggest game in our history at
[47:31] Speaker 2: that particular moment, because since then we've had subsequent games
[47:34] Speaker 2: of equally importance, but at that moment, that was our
[47:37] Speaker 2: biggest game. To beat Uruguay, to qualify for our World
[47:41] Speaker 2: Cup for first time in thirty two years, to break
[47:43] Speaker 2: the hoodoo, to break the duck, to get Australian football
[47:48] Speaker 2: back on the map, give it the boost that needed
[47:50] Speaker 2: the injection and needed giving the supporters, what they deserved
[47:54] Speaker 2: as players and sacrificed and everything else you do and
[47:57] Speaker 2: your dreams to play for in a World Cup in
[48:00] Speaker 2: your country. I didn't want to go. I didn't want
[48:02] Speaker 2: to continue to support Germany in a World Cup. I
[48:04] Speaker 2: wanted to support Australia because as you know, when Australia
[48:07] Speaker 2: wouldn't qualify, then know my next team is Germany. So
[48:09] Speaker 2: I wanted to support Australia, not not anyone else. So
[48:12] Speaker 2: to be part of that was very, very special. So
[48:14] Speaker 2: then when you get to that moment and you're you're
[48:17] Speaker 2: at You're at the stadium, and there's all the stuff
[48:20] Speaker 2: that happened in Uruguay beforehand, where we fly in the
[48:23] Speaker 2: day before, which was great. We go to the stadium
[48:25] Speaker 2: and they play the national anthem they started halfway through
[48:28] Speaker 2: and then they stop it. And they played a game
[48:30] Speaker 2: from the beginning and they stop it halfway through, and
[48:32] Speaker 2: it was just like, you know, that's not a mistake.
[48:35] Speaker 2: You know that's done on purpose. So it's just the
[48:38] Speaker 2: tactics that they do. And that game in Sydney was
[48:41] Speaker 2: the first time ever, ever, that I've ever seen an
[48:44] Speaker 2: Australian audience boo and whistle, the national anthem and an
[48:47] Speaker 2: opposing team, and I would normally be outraged by it,
[48:53] Speaker 2: but I tell you how they deserved every bit of
[48:54] Speaker 2: that because of what they did four years earlier and
[48:57] Speaker 2: then what they did that leading up to that game.
[48:59] Speaker 2: So so then on top of it, you know, you've
[49:02] Speaker 2: we've got obviously a wonderful sponsor in Corners, who've been
[49:05] Speaker 2: sponsoring the soccer is for such a long perom, the
[49:07] Speaker 2: national teams for such a long period of time. They're
[49:10] Speaker 2: seventy fifth anniversary and then they bring out John Travolda
[49:12] Speaker 2: and Kelly Preston and you're kind of going, you're running
[49:15] Speaker 2: out to warm up and you see John travold and
[49:17] Speaker 2: Kelly Preston walking across the kind of like around the pit,
[49:19] Speaker 2: and you're just going, am I seeing things here like
[49:22] Speaker 2: this is just like surreal? To then him coming in
[49:25] Speaker 2: the change room and just yeah, and then joining in
[49:28] Speaker 2: and singing and dancing, and yeah, it was. It was.
[49:32] Speaker 2: It was crazy. And I still when I see footage
[49:34] Speaker 2: of that now, I just go, that's just mad. That
[49:36] Speaker 2: is just absolutely crazy.
[49:38] Speaker 1: Well, it made your Mark Schwartz. He was probably just
[49:41] Speaker 1: equally impressed to being here.
[49:43] Speaker 2: No, clue whatsoever who any of us were. But the
[49:46] Speaker 2: great thing is he came to South Africa in twenty
[49:48] Speaker 2: ten and he came to visitors in the hotel and
[49:51] Speaker 2: he was like, look, you're you're my next team after
[49:53] Speaker 2: the US. You're my next team, you know. So it
[49:55] Speaker 2: was it was nice. It was very nice of him.
[49:57] Speaker 1: I just a quick comment, is he fishing? You were
[50:00] Speaker 1: talking very earlier on the piece about the noise that
[50:05] Speaker 1: goes on in the stadium, and particularly if you're the
[50:09] Speaker 1: goalie and you're trying to yell something out to somebody.
[50:12] Speaker 1: And I remember when I was in Paris stat the
[50:16] Speaker 1: party when I watched Brazil play France when France won
[50:19] Speaker 1: the Worl Cup, and I don't remember which year it was,
[50:21] Speaker 1: but it was in the early ninety eight. Yes, the
[50:26] Speaker 1: French crowd was mostly French people there, but every time
[50:30] Speaker 1: Brazil got the ball and got close to the French goal,
[50:33] Speaker 1: they started whistling this really high pitch whistle. And to
[50:37] Speaker 1: this very day, I never knew why they were doing it,
[50:39] Speaker 1: and I wonder now with one of the reasons, like
[50:42] Speaker 1: you're saying, they were doing it was to put the
[50:44] Speaker 1: goalie off and the and the defense off by actually drowning,
[50:47] Speaker 1: drowning the joint with the noise, and of course, as
[50:50] Speaker 1: you know, France won it with that a bit because
[50:53] Speaker 1: the noise. The noise was deafening for me in the stadium,
[50:56] Speaker 1: I thought, wow, that's just crazy. But everybody started this
[50:58] Speaker 1: high pitch whistle where how they worked it out, but
[51:00] Speaker 1: they just did.
[51:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, every place does a different thing, like you know,
[51:04] Speaker 2: when we're in when we're in Uruguay, Like I don't
[51:07] Speaker 2: think you've been to a World Cup qualifier until you've
[51:09] Speaker 2: been to South America. I tell you now, I've had
[51:11] Speaker 2: two experiences of it. I've been well three experiences, twice
[51:13] Speaker 2: to Uruguay and once in Argentina in nineteen ninety three.
[51:17] Speaker 2: And that is a different world altogether. The noise that
[51:20] Speaker 2: they they're able to generate whenever you got the ball,
[51:24] Speaker 2: the booze, the whistling is on another level altogether. And
[51:28] Speaker 2: it's just like I've never experienced anything like it, and
[51:30] Speaker 2: it's deafening and you cannot hear each other. So it
[51:33] Speaker 2: definitely helps it definitely kind of like and all the
[51:35] Speaker 2: you know, a lot of the South American players, whenever
[51:37] Speaker 2: they play World Cup quality, they're kind of They're very
[51:39] Speaker 2: used to that kind of environment, that hostility and that
[51:42] Speaker 2: kind of desperate need to qualify at all costs, and
[51:46] Speaker 2: we see it, you know, we see it all the time.
[51:48] Speaker 2: So so yeah, it definitely is to try and put
[51:51] Speaker 2: off the opposition teams that might not necessarily be used
[51:53] Speaker 2: to it. Brazil would definitely be used to that kind
[51:55] Speaker 2: of noise. But I think on that occasion Brazil will
[51:57] Speaker 2: certainly shell shocked after being three nil down against France
[52:00] Speaker 2: at that World Cup because I think Brazil were pretty
[52:02] Speaker 2: heavy favorites to win that one, but France obviously had
[52:04] Speaker 2: a top class team as well, and they deserve to
[52:06] Speaker 2: win on that occasion. So it can be it can
[52:09] Speaker 2: be really really deafiniting and really really off putting or
[52:15] Speaker 2: certainly catches you off guard, or it can if you
[52:18] Speaker 2: haven't experience it ever before.
[52:20] Speaker 1: Is there one milestone? They're probably not, but can you
[52:23] Speaker 1: think of a milestone that you're prepared to share with
[52:25] Speaker 1: us in your career that you're most proud of. It
[52:31] Speaker 1: doesn't have to be saving a goal or even scoring
[52:33] Speaker 1: a goal in your junior days, but is there a
[52:38] Speaker 1: milestone that you're most proud of in your career. There
[52:41] Speaker 1: are things in life that just keep delivering. The more
[52:44] Speaker 1: time goes on, the more you appreciate them. Seventy five
[52:48] Speaker 1: years of pen files range, once tasted, never forgotten, Let's
[52:52] Speaker 1: keep going.
[52:55] Speaker 2: It's funny because it's not it's not football related, of course,
[53:00] Speaker 2: you know. Look, there's there's that elemental, right, I mean,
[53:03] Speaker 2: we get caught up with sport. We get caught up
[53:07] Speaker 2: with what it means to play for your country, represent
[53:11] Speaker 2: your country and and all that which is incredible and
[53:13] Speaker 2: it's amazing. It's it's indescribable to really, it's so difficult
[53:17] Speaker 2: to describe what it means to play for your country,
[53:19] Speaker 2: to stand in front of tens of thousands, in front
[53:23] Speaker 2: of millions of people, and seeing the national anthem and
[53:26] Speaker 2: where where the you know, the badge and all that
[53:31] Speaker 2: accomplishments are phenomenal. And I obviously have a lot of
[53:34] Speaker 2: fond memories of playing football and representing Australia, and I
[53:37] Speaker 2: still love watching everything Australian. I love watching our national
[53:41] Speaker 2: teams compete. I'm a fan of all sports. But the
[53:44] Speaker 2: one thing I suppose I feel the proudest about is
[53:47] Speaker 2: my family and my wife and my children and I'm
[53:51] Speaker 2: still married. I'm still very happily married. I've I mean,
[53:55] Speaker 2: in today's world, there's a lot of people that are
[53:56] Speaker 2: the somewhat of record, absolutely, you know, And I've been
[54:01] Speaker 2: married for twenty eight years and I'm still happily married,
[54:05] Speaker 2: and I'm still you know, my wife's still a love
[54:08] Speaker 2: of my life. She's my best friend. My kids are amazing,
[54:12] Speaker 2: So that's probably the proudest thing I'm proud of that
[54:15] Speaker 2: of my family and being able to still you know,
[54:19] Speaker 2: we all know when you're married for a long period
[54:21] Speaker 2: of time, it's not easy. It's not There will gonna
[54:23] Speaker 2: be moments of difficulties, but it's what you do and
[54:25] Speaker 2: how you get through it, and how you stick together
[54:27] Speaker 2: and how you make things work and how you adapt,
[54:29] Speaker 2: and you evolve as you get older. Everyone evolves. I evolved.
[54:33] Speaker 2: I was no longer a professional footballer, and then all
[54:35] Speaker 2: of a sudden, you have these ideas of selfishness, because
[54:38] Speaker 2: that's what you need to be to be at an
[54:40] Speaker 2: elite level. You have to have selfishness. And then my
[54:43] Speaker 2: wife is always the one that drags me back into
[54:45] Speaker 2: line again and makes me see reality more often than not.
[54:49] Speaker 2: And you know, she's been. She's been phenomenal for me
[54:53] Speaker 2: personally as for a human development element, and that's something that,
[54:57] Speaker 2: like I said, I feel prouds about that limit being
[55:00] Speaker 2: with my family and my kids, my wife and still
[55:04] Speaker 2: being very much a family today.
[55:05] Speaker 1: Wow. That's amazing, especially to hear someone of your real
[55:08] Speaker 1: as a sportsman saying that. Well, Mark, I mean selfishly,
[55:12] Speaker 1: this has been an amazing interview and opportunity for me.
[55:14] Speaker 1: I really appreciate it, mate, and go to soccer use
[55:17] Speaker 1: Thank you.

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