Lane Cove West 0, Lane Cove 3.

15 June 2006, Blackman Oval

From the World Cup Final in Olympic Stadium, Berlin on Sunday to Over 35s Division 3 Reserves at Blackman on Saturday is a long way – and not just in distance. No headbuts today; no fireworks; no Placido Domingo at half-time; no renditions of “Que sera, sera” (the inspired choice for a song just before extra time started in Berlin).

And the weather was different, too. The last time Germany saw rain was the evening of the England & Ecuador game in Stuttgart: a beautiful hot day turned to a drizzling evening, neatly reflecting England’s role in the tournament – a dampener.

But the two occasions had in common what really matters: football. True it may be that the skills today did not match those last Sunday (which we may, perhaps, attribute only partly to today’s very muddy conditions). But both had 25 or so men pursuing the beautiful game, and enjoying the highlight of their week.

Today’s enjoyment almost didn’t happen. The mud and pools on the pitch made the conditions dubious, but Ivan’s call, as ref, was that it was playable. Belatedly we changed and cranked into gear as the rain eased and the drying wind swept across the steppes of Blackman.

The early exchanges were eve,n but Lane Cove always looked more dangerous on the break, and they went ahead after about 15 minutes. A shot stuck in the mud long enough to deceive Tony, but not long enough to stop its progress completely, and it treacled inside the far post: 0-1.

The second goal was not much later but much classier. It started with a clever turn on the right touchline, and the ball was pushed to Joey on the far left. He weaved his way towards the goal-line, stepping through the mud, and past several defenders, before pulling the ball back and across for an easy tap-in: 0-2.

But it was by no means all one-way. Though we had no clear-cut chances, we held our own till half-time, and approached the second half with confidence.

Which was almost dented early on, by another incident that brings back memories of Germany: minute 94 of Australia v Italy this time. Tim in the Lucas Neill role, and a Lane Cove striker as Grosso. A forward marauding into the area, and making contact with a prostrate defender. But the key question both times was: was he tripped, or did he choose to trip? Today Ivan (& Scott as linesman) seemed to have no more doubt than the officials in Kaiserslautern, and penalty it was. Not quite so clear in the mud today was where the penalty spot was, though Ivan was correct to notice that it was probably equidistant from the posts, not off to one side, as the ball was initially placed. Maybe it was this delay that was fatal. Or maybe it was the penalty-taker wondering whether to chip, a la Zidane, or blast like all the Italians. In the end he did neither, but tried a direct route across the mud. Tony sat gratefully on the ball, and 0-2 it remained.

So began the events that led to Tony being elected man of the match. For the next little while it was all Lane Cove and only several great stops from Tony, using various bodily parts, kept the score down.

But, alas, one more goal was to go in before the game turned around. First Tony beat the ball away to our right. It was lobbed back, and Steve, this time, headed it out from under the bar. But back it came a third time, and eventually through the mud to the other side and another tap-in. Like Gallipoli: sustained defence in the mud, finally failing heroically. 0-3, with a long time to go.

At this point we could have collapsed in a muddy heap. But no: we found our rhythm and most of the rest of the game was us attacking.

Alex [Lane Cove’s Scottish one, not Japan’s Brazilian one] wrestled me to the ground to stop me getting a loose ball that had eluded him: yellow card.

Mark S & Bob (2^nd & 3^rd in the MOTM voting) combined well up the left, often prompted by John, and several crosses and good moves almost came to something. Bob had a good header just over the bar, and he and I can see clearly the goal of the game, if not the week, as play unfolded shortly after. Mark S crosses the ball to me, and it reaches me just as Bob bursts through a gap. I’m going to touch it into the gap. He’s going to be on-side, but half a second later 2 yards clear, and beating the keeper with a curving shot (just like that one of Del Piero’s at the end of the Germany game). I know that this is going to happen, and Bob knows; and I know that he knows. The hardest bits are all done: the understanding that comes from 20 years of playing together; being in the right positions; the cross coming over just right. All of this being so, it’s tragic that the tiniest omission brings it all undone: I fail to touch the ball on (or touch it at all), and the dream goal remains just that – a dream.

And 0-3 remains the score as the game ends.

Thanks to Ivan for reffing today and to Nigel & Scott for being linesmen for us; and to Howard and Ernie for the 3pm game.

What else do we learn from the World Cup? Should we perhaps get some more shirts? I may have been the only person at England’s Ecuador game who spotted that, despite the extreme heat, Rooney chose to wear a long-sleeved shirt in the first half; but at half-time, he changed to short-sleeves, whilst Beckham switched in the opposite direction. I can’t help wondering if the half-time team-talk went:

Sven: it’s 0-0 and we’re struggling again. What do we need to change?

Rooney: well I’m hot. I’m thinking of changing to the short sleeves.

Beckham: funny you should say that. I’m feeling a bit shivery (and a bit spewey as well). Should I put on the long sleeves do you think?

… with the rest of half-time entirely taken up with the whole squad debating the merits of these two positions and rifling through the stripy zipped bags the find the right shirts.

MARK BRYANT