Early Birthday Present: Australia in the World Cup

It's my 32nd birthday on Saturday, but Australia's soccer team, the Socceroos, gave me an early present by beating Uruguay to qualify for the World Cup in Germany next year.

The last time the Socceroos made it into the World Cup, I was only a few months old.

To give those of you in the US an idea of the significance of this: it's almost the Australian equivalent of the Red Sox winning the World Series.

One of my fondest memories growing up was watching the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. I went for Germany, as I have every time since. Next year, I'll be able to follow my home country for the first time.