Amid the epochal feeling around Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, it was possible to envisage a new world of football. The final of the men’s tournament, then as now contested by the under-23-yearold set, pitted Cameroon against Spain. The United States finished in the top-four, while Brazil had been eliminated early. Australia, still starved of top-flight football after the shock defeat to Iran during qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, went winless.
It didn’t stop the host nation, though, from packing out Olympic Stadium for the gold-medal game, a record attendance of 104,098. The wonderfully named Indomitable Lions, a fan favourite since their memorable display at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, once again won over the crowd. FIFA’s technical report on the tournament, in typical report-speak, noted the “lucky spectators ……
