"I've supported Croatia all my life, and in the World Cup, because Australia has never got there," said Peter Proksa, who was two the last time the Aussies made the finals in 1974.

Australian soccer fans celebrate their team's 2-2 draw with Croatia during their World Cup 2006 match, at an outdoor telecast location in Sydney June 23, 2006.[Reuters]

"I'm happy for the Socceroos, because I was born here and I love Australia as well, but I'm sad because Croatia is out."

While loyalties were divided throughout the city, there was one issue where there was agreement -- the performance of English referee Graham Poll.

Poll was derided for his efforts, which included failing to send off Josip Simunic for his second yellow card and overlooking two strong appeals for Australian penalties.

"Booking a player three times! What was that all about?" said a bemused Andrew Clark, 24, a city bank worker.

"Give us a decent referee and we'll be laughing," he said, echoing opinion that Australia hard also been harshly officiated in their 2-0 Group F defeat to Brazil last week.

Prime Minister John Howard did not miss the chance to surf the wave of euphoria sweeping the nation, describing the achievement as being on a par with Australia's 1983 triumph in sailing's America's Cup.

"It is a great sporting moment," he told the Nine Network.

"What is great about this is that for so long we had in Australia hundreds of thousands of young boys, and increasingly girls now, playing soccer but somehow or other we couldn't break through into the international scene."