There were incredible scenes across Australia as fans gathered in their thousands to cheer on the Socceroos in their World Cup blockbuster against Argentina.
After Melbourne’s Fed Square went viral during each Australian match in the group stage, the Socceroos’ first knockout appearance since 2006 saw many more live sites set up around the country – and fans showed up big time for Sunday’s match.
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Fed Square remained the stage for some of the most chaotic and wondrous antics, with fans being turned away an hour before kick-off – and multiple flares being set off.
At 5.04am there was an official alert that it had reached capacity and any fans planning to head down were instructed to head to AAMI Park instead. It wasn’t long before the stadium was “half full”.
Legends were also in attendance at events around the country, with Australia’s first-ever World Cup (1974) coach Rale Rasic joining Socceroos great Alex Tobin to host the live site in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. 10,000 fans were expected to attend the Sydney event.
Unfortunately there were reportedly some ugly scenes at the Sydney venue with two fans left bleeding after being hit by loose flares being tossed.
