Episode 1 - Hungary 1 - Australia 2

Bruce Lee once said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” and in choosing their final pre World Cup opponent Australia has opted for a 10000-kicks-once team in Hungary. The Hungarians were once the greatest team in the world even beating England at Wembley when that was still a remarkable achievement. Ultimately though they are best remembered as the greatest team to never win the World Cup and on the evidence here they will hold that title a lot longer.

That's not to say Hungary weren't better than Australia, you could certainly argue they were in the first half. It's just that you would have to look for supporting evidence someplace other than the scoreline which is usually the ultimate arbiter in these matters. Australia's fortunes improved in the second half in large part to the introduction of Mile Jedinak who hasn't quite decided if his beard is hipster or bushranger. Meanwhile commentators around the world are as grateful for his prominent look as they are to Aaron Mooy’s for the opposite reason.

It wasn't until the arrival of Daniel Arzani that things changed on the scoreboard. He received a pass, ran for a bit and thought “sods to this, let’s just kick it hard towards goal”. Despite the goalkeeper having a clear view of the action and with enough time to react he somehow managed to glance the ball with his hand in a way that made the mistake more glaring as the ball gently rolled into the net.

The rest of the match would have given heart to many social players of any age.

Having narrowly missed or botched several opportunities to score Hungary finally scored an equalising goal that came from an Australian keystone cops moment between Trent Sainsbury and Brad Jones. The you-take-it-I-got-it-oops-nobody-has-it moment is played out in suburban grounds all around the world but rarely in an international match. Nothing will make a fan feel closer to their sporting idol than a monumental stuff up such as this.

Sensing an opportunity for greater fan engagement of their own the Hungarians were not to be outdone and contrived an equally bold mistake made more crafty by virtue it was left so late that Australia really couldn't top it. How often does the captain nutmeg his own keeper from a cross to score a winning (aka losing) goal?

People often say whatever the result football was the winner. This time football lost.