Unheralded Socceroos give fans a reason to dream again at the World Cup

"We were going to beat a giant of world football," Neill said as the Socceroos' golden generation boarded a flight home from Europe.

That Socceroos team taught us to dream like no other.

Australia's first World Cup appearance in 32 years ended in the round of 16. Guus Hiddink's team weren't supposed to go that far, so imagine what the Socceroos were going to do in 2010.

Or 2014. Try 2018. Qatar in 2022? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we fail to qualify at all? At least the top brass do something about a struggling national set-up in which beating a giant of world football seems about as likely as that Fabio Grosso penalty being overturned in Kaiserslautern.

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Along came the Grey Wiggle, an unheralded Duke and a strike more Leckie than lucky.

The Socceroos are into the round of 16 for the second time in history. Awaiting them is an international powerhouse in Argentina, led by one of the sport's all-time greats in Lionel Messi.

Depending on who you ask - and how strong your green and gold tinted shades are - we are going to beat a giant of world football.

Because Graham Arnold and his ragtag bunch have given us a reason to dream.

Conventional wisdom suggests Australia cannot win the World Cup, so the benchmark becomes winning at a World Cup. This Mat Ryan-led mob has done that twice already, more than any other Socceroos team.

A win over world No. 3 Argentina would take Australia further than any Socceroos team to have gone before - and it would rank as their greatest achievement in history.

First, they must solve the game's unsolvable riddle.

The sport's holy grail is the one trophy that has eluded seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi.

Many among the game's romantics want to see Argentina win the World Cup, solely so the 35-year-old can get his hands on the glistening gold trophy in what looms as his last chance to do so.

There was a time Socceroos defender Milos Degenek would have counted himself among them. Loves Messi, does the 28-year-old defender.

Messi is arguably the greatest player to have laced up the boots. But, Degenek says, there's only one of him.

You'll lose count of how many times his name will be mentioned in team meetings, but saying you'll stop him and doing it are two vastly different things.

Maybe they'd do better than Paul Wade's attempt to get inside Diego Maradona's head when they stood side by side in the Sydney Football Stadium tunnel.

Thought it would rattle the mercurial Argentine, the former Socceroos captain said, if a bloke was calm enough to wish him a happy birthday moments before a World Cup qualifier.

It did not.

Fast forward 30 years though, and Wade reckons the Socceroos can beat Argentina. If world No, 51 Saudi Arabia could do it during this World Cup, why can't we?

Sunday's winner advances to a quarter-final against the victor of a round of 16 clash between the Netherlands and the United States.

The stakes only get higher. Every step forward in Qatar marks the Socceroos' greatest achievement.

Those outside soccer circles are perhaps yet to grasp what it means to be in the round of 16.

World No. 2 Belgium are packing their bags. Eleventh-ranked Germany are heading to the airport. Denmark, the world No. 10 beaten by the Socceroos, are on a flight home.

But the Australian fans who ventured to Qatar are now scrambling to rearrange their flights. Because they have a reason to dream.

JOIN THE ACTION: You can join the action live in Canberra, with the match to be shown live on a big screen outside the Canberra Theatre Centre. Screening will begin at 5am.

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