November 16

The night that changed Australian football

After 32 years of heartache, bitterness and despair, it took just seconds for Guus Hiddink to exude a rare sense of calmness in the Socceroos dressing room. Four years prior to the now famous night on November 16, 2005, a fragile Australian team had been bullied off the park by Uruguay in its quest to finally break its World Cup drought. Intimidated from the moment they touched down in Montevideo in 2001, spat on by locals and then roared off the park by 60,000 manic fans in the Estadio Centenario, they had barely stood a chance. Now older, more mature and — with Hiddink in charge — more professional, things would be different four years on. That change in mentality flows through November 16, a gripping documentary from Richard Bayliss and Ben Coonan that depicts the Socceroos’ journey from West Germany in 1974 to the moment John Aloisi’s crisp spot kick struck the back of Fabian Carini’s net.