As a married mother of two, the best moment of my life so far was 16 November 2005. I was 17 years old and lucky enough to be in the stadium at Moore Park as John Aloisi scored the penalty kick that secured our first spot in the World Cup in my lifetime.

I feel lucky now that every four years I get to relive the shirt-ripping-off exhilaration and glory of our Socceroos and place my entire wellbeing at their boots.

I don’t let them go it alone though: while they can take care of the training, the athletic ability, the protein and the drills, I bring the holy water to their games. I sprinkle some on the TV.

For our first game against Turkey, (I say our, as I feel like an active participant in World Cup matches and the Socceroos in general), I ground my teeth all day in the lead up to the match. I was endlessly agonising about how our young team........

© The Guardian