Is this a temporary or permanent position?
milflist
After the drawn game, and despite all the other home and away fixtures still on the horizon, Australia’s World Cup dream appeared to be riding on the return clash at the SCG and the pressure was building on the team and coach. As a desperate measure Gutendorf included in his 22-man-squad 33-year-old Peter Wilson who led the Socceroos to their only World Cup finals appearance in 1974 but hadn’t played international football for two years. But Wilson withdrew from the squad (before retiring at the end of the year and becoming the JD Salinger of Australian sport). It was a smart choice. On Saturday, May 16, New Zealand defeated the Socceroos 2-0 prompting headlines like: “Australian soccer died an inglorious death at the Sydney Cricket Ground” and “Heads must roll!” And roll they did, beginning with the head of Gutendorf who had promised to lead Australia to the promised land but instead steered them back to the wilderness.