Socceroos thrilled by raucous reception

The Socceroos received a raucous welcome home today from around 6,000 Sydney football fans, at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, the final public appearance before Wednesday nights Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain.

The Socceroos received a raucous welcome home today from around 6,000 Sydney football fans, at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, the final public appearance before Wednesday nights Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain.

It was a see of green and gold, as the thousands of football fans saw their heroes for the first time since their amazing run at the World Cup finals in Germany. World Cup stars John Aloisi, Marco Bresciano and Tim Cahill praised the fans both in Sydney and Brisbane for the fantastic support they have given the team.

“This is the first time I have been back home since the World Cup and it-s good to see the amount of people that supported us,” said Aloisi. “Soccer has really kicked off back here and everyone is excited to see us again and they can join in the celebrations.

“I hope its lasting and I hope we can get even more supporters and the team can be even better next time around. It-s going to be difficult, we-ve Asian Cup coming up, which is going to be massive in Asia and let-s hope it-s massive here. Then we have World Cup qualifications and let-s hope its lasting and the people keep on supporting us and we keep on doing well.”

Cahill, Mark Schwarzer and Lucas Neill were all asked to say a few words to the fans, with the biggest cheer on stage reserved for newly appointed captain Lucas Neill.

Aloisi highlighted later when asked that Sydney loves you (the Socceroos), ‘They don-t love me they love Lucas Neill-, he quipped.

Bresciano wasn-t at all surprised by the large turnout of supporters to Tumbalong Park.

“It is a long time since the World Cup, but we keep seeing the support,” said Bresciano. “Saturday night in Brisbane as well, coming out here today and we can still see we have got the support and hopefully that continues.”

“I-m not surprised, but if this had happened several years ago, yes. The publicity we got at the World Cup and since then and it-s great for us to come back and really seeing that people are really supporting us and following the sport.

For Cahill, the experience was further proof that the sport is continuing to make strides, having witnessed the emotions of fans for a second time since the World Cup.

“I came back with Lucas straight after the World Cup and to still have this momentum flowing and people being really interested is really special. They deserve to see us and we deserve to see them, so there is a great mutual respect among us.

“You can see how many kids out there that aspire to be footballers like us, so it was an absolute pleasure to be here.”