Amazing. I'm just over the moon. I can't tell you how excited I am. And, I mean,
they just gave it all and they got a good result, and that's it. That's all about it. We have fans
from all over the world. I'm from Iran. There are some social issues in Iran, political issues
that have prevented lots of people from really coming here and being united. But as a whole,
it was a great game. I have been screaming the whole game and I'm so excited. I can't tell you.
Going behind the scenes of the biggest prize in
football. This is World Football in Qatar on the BBC World Service.
History for Iran just four days after being thrashed 6-2. They deservedly beat Wales 2-0
in a game they dominated to record their first ever World Cup win against a European team and
put themselves within a great chance of reaching the knockout stage for the first time. Hello, I’m
Mani Djazmi. Welcome to our latest episode. It's three wins for Asian teams this week, but none for
the hosts. Just five days after Qatar opened the tournament, they're out after losing meekly 3-1
to Senegal. Here's well, football Sam Sheringham. Yes, Mani. It's been a desperately disappointing
World Cup for the host nation, Qatar. And sitting with me outside the Al Thumama Stadium is the
editor of Qatar Football Live, Ahmed Hashim and Ahmed, how would you sum up today's performance
in the context of a match that Qatar had to win? Disappointing in every sense. We came into this
game with some hopes, at least because we knew that this team could deliver. And what
we saw in the first game was definitely not the level that they are accustomed to,
that we're accustomed to watching. And we did see an improved performance from the team today,
but sadly it wasn't enough. We tried our best and I think Senegal were just too good for us. And
I would even say that there were some mistakes that cost us very dearly. And although we scored
our first ever goal in the FIFA World Cup history, we go home disappointed and it
looks like we are out of the tournament as well. So that is a very, very sad result to accept.
This is a team that's been honed and fine-tuned for this tournament, kept in training camp behind
closed doors, really, really kind of gearing up for this huge event. Has that backfired
perhaps? Has that put too much pressure on them? They looked incredibly nervous in both games.
Well, that is an argument that you could make, and many fans may think so. And I've seen fans
make that case before the tournament as well, that this could backfire. So today they would feel that
they were vindicated. But it's not just that. I think so many of these players lack competitive
experience at this level. They haven't played a tournament like this on a competitive basis.
They may have played against teams in the Copa America, in the Gold Cup, but that doesn't compare
to playing here in the World Cup at this level. So this could be a learning experience for the
players and maybe if they could qualify and I think they will qualify for the next World Cup
because they do have a lot of potential. And Asia will have eight spots at the next World Cup. So
going into the next World Cup, the team will be on a much better level, I think, and I hope that they
will perform better than they did in this edition. Hopes were relatively high, weren't they? I mean,
this is a team that won the Asian Cup in Japan, 3-1 in the finals only three years ago. It will be
looked on as a desperate disappointment. Won’t it? Definitely. Definitely. After all that the team
has achieved, especially at the Asian Cup, I could say that it was a case of the team
peaking too early. If we saw the kind of performances we saw in the UAE in 2019,
if you saw that in this tournament, I think we could have surprised the world. But sadly, that
isn't the case. And after the Asian Cup triumph, the team, to be honest, it hasn't changed much and
the coach did not really have many options beyond the squad that he already had in the UAE, except
for maybe three or four additions to the starting line-up There was really not much option. There
was no squad depth. And the next generation coming through was simply not at the same level. So it's
tough to blame the coach, but it's also a very disappointing occasion for us considering we’re
Asian champions and are only the second team to go out of the tournament as hosts in the group stage.
I want to talk about the fans because there was an incredible noise in the
stadium when Qatar did score and got the hopes up, put it back to 2-1 only to concede again,
sadly. There's been a lot of talk about the Ultras that the fans behind the goal,
who can create an atmosphere. They're all wearing Qatar shirts, but they are - this is a phenomenon
of Asian football because they don't come from Qatar. Just explain to us what their role is.
In certain parts of the Middle East. Not everywhere. In parts of the Middle East we
have a group of fans. Or we could just say they're a band or a fan club or a fan group. That is the
translation of the words used in Arabic. And they help or contribute to creating the atmosphere.
They lead the chants. They make the music, and the rest of the crowd picks up and follows. So this
is generally the case in the league matches not just in Qatar, but also in some other
parts of the Middle East. And today we've seen a sizeable group of fans brought in for this reason.
And they get paid to do so? I think so. I'm not really sure,
but I think so because it looked like they were not residents of Qatar. So they did create
some noise, but they were, I think, drowned out by the Senegalese fans who were very
loud for the entire duration of the game. We can still hear them now, Ahmed. Yeah. And
there were also some empty seats, which, again, you know, in the host nation of the World Cup,
you don't necessarily expect. Is that just a sign that football is still growing here as a sport?
Yeah, you could say that there's a long way to go. We are not even a hundred years old in
terms of the national team. We are just around 50 years old. We have a long way to go. But the
amount of progress that we have made in that half century is quite immense. And occasions like this,
these are opportunities for us to inspire, to get inspired and to lead the way for the next
generations. Hopefully we have boys and girls in Qatar watching this and seeing what this country
can offer them and then hoping and dreaming to be footballers for the country and then to
create history the way the team did today, even though the result was disappointing. They scored
a goal for our country, the World Cup, which was the first ever goal that the nation has scored
at a FIFA World Cup. So there is hope. We could always hope for better things in the future too.
So the hosts are sliding away but this lot doing anything but this is the sound of Tunisian fans
they play in the first game on Saturday against Australia and Tunisians are amongst the largest
expat communities in Doha to be represented by a World Cup team. It's more than 30,000 strong and
many moved to Qatar in 2011 after the Arab Spring. After the Revolution many people they left
Tunisia. They came here. This is what the country is, a very, very, very welcoming
country, beautiful country. And we are good here. So for that, we are happy for Qatar.
And Qatar is the best place. This is our second country already. We
like Qatar. It's a perfect country. You can live here. We love football. We love our country. You
know, we are not a rich country. We are a small country. But we want to all the world to know us.
[INAUDIBLE] I think that I speak as a finishing citizen, I think that I find what I'm looking
for in Doha, I find my work, I find my culture, I find a good place for my family, I think.
I have lived here for two years now and I'm waiting for this around like one year now. And
I'm happy. And I'm happy very, very, very happy. Tunisians came from all over the world. Okay?
We were like 14,000 there in the stadium and maybe more,
maybe more in the next match. I hope.
You guys live here or have you come from far away? We live in Australia, we live here. But there are
a lot of supporters who come from around the world and from Tunisia,
from everywhere. We love our country, we like to support our team. So it's like that?
The Australia match is now so important, isn't it? It's so important. But we believe in our team
so it will be 2-0. So yes, of course I agree it will be 2-0 and we will even beat France.
Australia. And then the French we will win. So that’s settled then. Hardly worth playing
those matches really. Those were the Tunisian fans. As for Australia, they were outclassed 4-1
by France in their first game and could go out if they lose and France beat Denmark. In 2010,
Australia lost 4-0 to Germany in their opening match but rallied to draw with Ghana and beat
Serbia and only missed out on the last 16 on goal difference. Mark Schwarzer was the
team's goalkeeper and he says that this team will have to do what his team did, draw on some good,
old fashioned, fair dinkum Aussie DNA. The team has evolved over time, and the one
thing that's pretty much stayed constant is that that DNA, the understanding of what it means to
play for the Socceroos and the togetherness this side, because we're always playing,
is playing all over the world and the minute they get back together again it's like a family coming
back. Australia is not renowned for necessarily having a lot of footballers. A lot of times,
you know, we were underestimated. We were written off. We're a cricketing rugby nation. We're not
a nation that plays a lot of football. And I think players really know that, you know,
you need to fight for everything, you need to fight for respect, you need to fight for
opportunities. And that continues. You know, we certainly, when you look at personnel these days,
we have fewer players playing in the top leagues. And that is, from our perspective,
a concern because in the years gone by, we've always had a presence, certainly in the Premier
League, in some of the big leagues around the world. But the actual overall attitude
and desire for players is very much there. And we've got a fresh generation of players coming
through. We have an unbelievable mix of different multicultural backgrounds. And we also now have,
you know, three guys in the current squad who are refugees who came from Africa, Sudan, to
be precise, and the makeup of the Socceroos, the DNA is going to be there, but it's slightly always
changing and but the one constant is what it means and what it takes to play for the Socceroos.
I was going to ask you about the players who were born in Africa, three of them refugees.
Another one was born in South Africa but moved to Australia very, very young. The influence of expat
communities has been at the heart of Australian football for decades, mainly European. Like you,
your parents moved to Australia from Germany. But these are African heritage players
and they kind of speak to the slight antagonism that many Australians feel about,
about the refugees. The treatment of refugees is controversial. Your old Team-Mate,
Craig Foster has spoken about it. He described it graphically as boat people,
torturing boat people, immigrants torturing immigrants. So how significant is it for these
guys to be in the national team and put on the Australia shirts and represent all Australians?
Well, firstly, the three of them are there on merit on footballing terms and they deserve to
be there because they're great players, they're great individuals, fantastic people. And secondly,
yes, very much making up what is a changing face of Australian immigration. What I have to say is
I am embarrassed about how we have treated boat people, how we've treated refugees in the past
and even in the present. And that's something that being a country that's being created off the back
of immigration, multicultural heritage and myself, like you said, coming from a European background,
I'd like to see things change. I'd like to hope and feel that, you know, people in Australia will
understand what it means, what it takes, what it's like to be an immigrant. I'm absolutely
delighted to see the three guys in this squad now originally from Sudan. These guys are incredible
human beings, incredible individuals. I've had the pleasure to get to know them. In particular,
Awer Mabil, who I've over the last couple of months formed a pretty close relationship with.
He's one of the nicest human beings you'll ever come across. And he's also a pretty good
footballer and someone that I think can go on to greater heights beyond this World Cup. They feel
a real sense of pride and honour to represent Australia first and foremost. But they've also
got a huge sense of responsibility or they feel themselves, not that they necessarily have that
responsibility, but they want to take it on board. Having a responsibility for their own communities,
the Sudanese refugee communities within Australia that are in pockets across the country, they see
themselves as role models. They haven't got their heads buried in the sand. They understand that
there are issues within their own communities within Australia. They want to integrate,
they want to be classed as Australians. They want to be, you know, it's their new home,
their opportunity, and they're incredibly grateful for the opportunity that's been given to them. And
they want to show that people from their community have a pathway and there's other ways to integrate
and to be successful and to enjoy the incredible opportunities they have living in Australia.
Going back to the World Cup. How did your team pick themselves up after losing to
Germany in the opening game? And what lessons can this team take from that?
Well, yeah, I mean, back to 2007, it was obviously a bitter blow. And it really is tough to take when
you do lose your opening game as convincingly as we did back then. And in South Africa,
it's kind of putting things into perspective a little bit. I mean, we did play against Germany,
one of the best teams in the world, but saying that we let people down, we let ourselves down,
and we felt that we needed to make amends. We needed to show what we were about and what a
team we were and that we were more than capable of performing at the highest level and making a
statement at the World Cup. And we felt very, very unlucky not to then go on to the next game and win
our next game against Ghana. And we felt, again, we had to play a cent off one in the first game,
one in the second game, which also hindered our opportunities. But we never gave up. And
we still believe going into that last group game against Serbia that we had a chance to
qualify it. Unfortunately, losing following your opening game generally means it's a very,
very difficult task to get into the knockout stages if you don't win your next two games,
and that's not going to change now with the Socceroos, they're in a similar position,
slightly better goal difference than we were back in 2010 by one goal. But
we definitely believe there's still a chance they have to be on the offensive,
they have to be on the front foot and they have to win. Certainly, I believe the two games left.
I suppose the difference might be that in your case, a lot of the players in 2010 were also
there in 2006. So they had experience of the high level because they were also playing at
big clubs in Europe. This squad, more than half of the players have fewer than 15 caps. How
will that inexperience hinder them in terms of picking themselves up and going for it?
Well, sometimes when you have little experience, it's what you don't know that you can build on.
You know, you don't let it affect you. You don't allow the pressure to get to you and
go in there with a bit of naivety and sometimes a bit more freedom to go about your job. And I
think they do have a pretty good mix of experienced players as well. Within that
group. They have a core leadership group as well who work very well together. And I
think the one thing about this team, if it lacks ability and lacks that star quality in the side,
it certainly has camaraderie and work ethic and team spirit. And I think they've shown that all
the way through the qualification stage, but they've also shown it whilst they've
been here in Qatar. So in that first 27 minutes against France was impressive and that's what
they've got to use to build on. They've got to draw on that experience, what it felt like,
how they took the lead against France and use that going forward in the remaining fixtures.
Before the France game. Graham Arnold, the Aussie coach, called for the players to be like 11 boxing
kangaroos. We're going to see the boxing roos on Saturday. How do you see the Tunisia game going?
Well, I'm not sure about the boxing kangaroos, but certainly that desire, that hunger to fight to the
very, very end. Definitely having been around the group quite a lot since being here in Doha,
they are fully focussed. They know their backs are against the wall, they'll be hurting, but they've
got to really put that behind them really quickly and focus on the next game. And it's going to
be a very tough game. Tunisia put on a very good performance against Denmark, and were unfortunate
not to win it. But then obviously there were some calls in the game, the penalty decision that
possibly could have also gone against them. So, I mean, they are a side that are definitely high up
in confidence and one that Australia has to be very, very careful of and also be very much at
their best to win the game against them. Thanks for your time,
Mark. Enjoy the rest of your World Cup. Former Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
We’ll leave you with the sound of jubilant Senegal fans after beating
Qatar. They're back on track and we'll be back in a couple of days. Look out
for a special podcast with Didier Drogba. Until next time, goodbye.