Pressure all on Brazil, says Aussie World Cup hero Aloisi
Five-times World Cup champions Brazil have all the pressure on them ahead of their World Cup finals’ match with Australia in Germany next month, according to qualification hero John Aloisi.
Alaves striker Aloisi, who scored the penalty against Uruguay here last November that booked Australia’s passage to the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years, is keenly looking forward to Australia’s tilt with the mighty Brazilians.
Brazilian striker Ronaldo, three times world player of the year, put Australian noses out of joint last month when he told a magazine he knew none of the Socceroos except “the one from Osasuna”.
That was Aloisi’s former Spanish club before he moved to Alaves this year.
“I would love to beat Brazil and show Ronaldo we haven’t just got one player in Australia,” Aloisi told reporters here Friday.
“They (Brazil) are probably the best team in the world.
“But they’ve got everything to lose and we have nothing to lose.
“They’ve got all the pressure.”
Australia will take on Brazil in its second Group F match in Munich on June 18 after opening its World Cup campaign against Japan in Kaiserslautern on June 12.
Aloisi Friday returned to the very spot at Sydney’s Olympic stadium where he converted the penalty last November 16 and lifted his nation into the World Cup for the first time since its only other appearance in 1974.
The spot, preserved and encased in glass, is to be auctioned to raise funds for the Johnny Warren Football Foundation, formed for the respected former Australian captain who died of cancer in 2004 aged 61.
“I knew exactly what was hanging on it (that kick),” Aloisi recalled.
“I put my hand up for it. I felt I was lucky to be the one to take the winning penalty.
“I told myself, ‘You’re going to take Australia to the World Cup’, that’s how confident I was,” said Aloisi.
“I had no problems taking it at all.”
Source:Soccer Worldcup
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