Simon Hill

uh before the opening game so it was nice to shut a few mouths uh it would be even nicer to shut the loudest of mouths in the united states um in terms of all time you know i'm probably biased because i was there and i call the game but the match against japan i think with it being

You know, the Socceroos first World Cup in 32 years.

But for most people, their first World Cup finals with Australia in it in living memory, that to me is still probably top of the tree.

But, you know, this is a very close second.

And, you know, who knows how far Australia are going to go at this tournament.

You know, if they go all the way maybe to the quarterfinals or the semifinals, obviously that's a big if.

But if they were to do that, then, you know, this will take on a completely different hue, I think.

Well, I don't know whether my views change because obviously I've watched a lot of Australia over recent years and particularly under Tony Popovich.

So, you know, the way that they played was probably no great surprise.

And I think it's probably a very sensible way of playing because, you know, we've got to be brutally honest.

We haven't got the best players in the world in the squad at the moment.

Man for man, Turkey were probably better overall.

They've got players like Ardo Gulo, who plays for Real Madrid, arguably one of the biggest world clubs in football.

They've got players like Kenan Yildiz, who plays for Juventus in Serie A. He's just won the Serie A Young Player of the Year award.

So they have fantastic individuals, match-winning individuals.

We have one or two as well, but they're at a slightly lower level in terms of their club level at the moment.

So it was understandable that he was going to play in a very structured way and get a lot of men behind the ball.

We knew we weren't going to have a lot of possession, but there was always that hope that with the likes of Mohamed Toure and Nestor Irencunda, and of course, as it turns out, Conor Metcalf as well, that we had players that could go and nick a goal for us.

And the game plan really worked an absolute treat.

And I've got to say one more thing before you ask the next question.