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Revision as of 04:41, 10 June 2006
"Australian national football team" redirects here. For other uses, see Australian national football team (disambiguation).
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | Socceroos | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Football Federation Australia | ||
| Head coach | Guus Hiddink, 2005-2006 | ||
| Most caps | Alex Tobin (87) | ||
| Top scorer | Damian Mori (29) | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
| New Zealand 3 - 1 Australia (Dunedin, New Zealand; June 17, 1922) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| Australia 31 - 0 American Samoa (Coffs Harbour, Australia; April 11, 2001) (World Record) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
| Australia 0 - 8 South Africa (Adelaide, Australia; September 17, 1955) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 2 (first in 1974) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 1974 | ||
| OFC Nations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 6 (first in 1980) | ||
| Best result | Winners - 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004 | ||
First The Australian national football (soccer) team represents Australia in international football (soccer) competitions. The team is organised by Football Federation Australia, the sport's national governing body, and its official nickname is "the Socceroos". Australia is ranked # 42 in the FIFA World Rankings for May 2006.
History
The first Australian national team was constituted in 1922 for a tour of New Zealand. During that tour, Australia suffered two defeats and scraped together a draw. Australia, New Zealand, China and South Africa would become regular opponents in "Test" or "Friendly" matches for the next 25 years. With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia would diversify its range of opponents. However, its geographical isolation continued to play a role in its destiny for the next 80 years.
Early World Cup Qualifying Attempts
The national team played at the World Cup finals in West Germany in 1974, which would prove to be their only appearance until 2006. Over that 32 year time span, the Australian team was known for its near misses in its attempts to qualify for the World Cup, most notably the 1998 and 2002 events.
However, Australia's notoriously roundabout path to World Cup Qualification is not a recent development. Throughout its history of attempted World Cup qualification, FIFA had consistently awarded Australia sequences of matches which could be considered illogical, with very limited preparation - a few friendlies and competition with the minnows of Oceania - before a tough 2 leg play-off in less than a week against a well qualified South American or other contender who had a much better preparation of several competition matches over a campaign of perhaps 2 years.
USA 1994 Qualifying Campaign
Australia's road to USA 94 is an example of the difficult qualifying path which the Oceania confederation has to endure. In order to qualify for USA 94, Australia had to endure 3 playoff stages. The first stage was the Oceania playoff. Australia finished on top of Group 1 in Oceania going undefeated in 4 games against Tahiti and the Solomon Islands and scoring 13 goals over the 4 games. Australia played New Zealand in the Oceania playoff. The first leg was played in New Zealand on May 30, 1993, with Australia winning the game 1-0. Australia won the return leg 3-0 to win the playoff stage with a 4-0 aggregate score. Having won the Oceania playoff, Australia now had to win a 2-leg playoff against Canada, the CONCACAF 3rd round runner up. The first leg was played in Canada on July 31, 1993, with the Canadians winning the 1st leg 2-1. In the second leg, which was played on August 15, 1993 in Sydney, Australia managed a 2-1 win which saw the game go into extra time after a 3-3 aggregate scoreline. The game went into a penalty shootout which was won by Australia 4-1. Australia then qualified for the 2-leg playoff against the South American group 1 runner up, Argentina. The first leg was played in Sydney on October 31, 1993. The 1st leg ended with a 1-1 draw. On November 17 1993, The second leg was played in Argentina, with Argentina winning 1-0 and denying Australia a place at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Just to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Australia would have had to beat Argentina, the runners-up from the 1990 World Cup, and ranked 9th in the world at that time.
France 1998 Qualifying Campaign
In 1997, after winning the OFC qualifying tournament, Australia had to play Iran over two legs in one week, with the winner progressing to the World Cup finals to be held in France. Australia, under coach Terry Venables, tied the away leg 1-1 and looked like they were going to proceed to the finals in France, initially leading 2-0 in the home game in Melbourne, until Iran managed to score two late goals and went through on the away goals rule. Uniquely, Austrlia had failed to qualify, despite not losing a single qualifying game! Despite not qualifying for the World Cup finals, Australia was one of two teams who went through the entire world cup undefeated - the other team being France, the eventual winners of the World Cup.
Korea/Japan 2002 Qualifying Campaign
In 2001 Australia again won the Oceania Confederation qualifying tournament. Second and third-string lineups thrashed a number of tiny island nations in a competition that made a mockery of the Confederation, including a 22-0 win against Tonga, and a world record 31-0 demolition of American Samoa. Still missing Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Australia comfortably beat New Zealand, their only real threat in the Oceania confederation. Australia then once again had to win a two leg playoff to advance to the World Cup finals to be held in South Korea and Japan.
On this occasion the opposition was the 5th placed South American team, Uruguay. In the preceding 4 months Uruguay's preparation had been 6 World Cup Qualifying matches, including - beat #2 ranked Brazil 1:0, drew 1:1 with #8 ranked Colombia, drew 1:1 with #2 ranked Argentina. In contrast, Australia's preparation had included no qualifying games since 2 matches in 4 days in June, against #81 ranked New Zealand.
In the first leg in Melbourne, Australia won 1-0 after Kevin Muscat scored from a penalty kick, however Australia's qualification campaign ended unsuccessfully as they lost 3-0 in the away leg in Montevideo just 5 days later.
Outside Qualification Campaigns
The team's miserable record in World Cup competition is not reflected in their reasonable performances against strong European and South American sides, with victories in the 2001 Confederations Cup against France and Brazil. Australia also drew with France 1-1 in Melbourne in November 2001. A particular highlight for Australian football, and the one that attracted most public attention, was the 3-1 victory over traditional sporting rivals England in a friendly in London in 2003.
Acceptance into the AFC
Many commentators and fans felt that the only way for Australia to progress was to abandon the Oceania Football Confederation. Football had developed over time to place increasing importance on tournaments rather than friendly matches. This established the Continental championships and their qualifiers as the major source of competitive matches for national teams. This served to starve Australia of potential opponents and resulted in long gaps between fixtures for the national team.
The late Johnny Warren, a respected football broadcaster and former Socceroo captain, described his desire for Australia to join Asia. Despite previous attempts to do so, each notoriously ending in failure, a story was leaked from Tokyo in March 2005 suggesting that FFA had entered into secret discussions with the AFC on this very issue. On March 23, the AFC Executive Committee made a unanimous decision to invite Australia to join the AFC.
AFC President, Mohammed Bin Hammam, outlined reasons for this decision.
- As well as being a developed football nation, Australia brings a developed economy and this is actually what we want in football. Besides Japan, Korea, China and Saudi Arabia if Australia joins the benefits are huge, this is what we're after.
On April 17, the OFC executive committee unanimously endorsed Australia's proposed move. FIFA approved the move on June 30, and it took effect on January 1, 2006.
On December 1, the AFC Executive Committee announced that Australia will be put into the ASEAN zone.
Australia has duly been entered into the Asian Cup Qualifying Tournament beginning in February, 2006. On 4th January 2006, Australia was drawn into group D, alongside Bahrain, Lebanon and Kuwait.
Australia's first game as a member of the AFC was on 22 February 2006, a 3-1 win away to Bahrain in the Asian Cup qualifier.
Germany 2006 Qualifying Campaign
In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the Oceania Football Confederation World Cup qualification tournament. The team drew 2-2 with the Solomon Islands, which combined with other results put that team ahead of New Zealand in the standings and meaning that the Solomon Islands qualified for the final playoff rather than the expected New Zealand.
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Coach Frank Farina stood down from the position by "mutual consent" on June 29, 2005 after Australia failed to win a game at the Confederations Cup 2005, citing ever increasing speculation over his position. On July 22, Guus Hiddink was announced by FFA as the new national coach. This announcement came after intense speculation by the Australian media over potential candidates and even a premature announcement from Hiddink himself. Hiddink now combines his roles as manager of Dutch club PSV Eindhoven with that of Australia, and will remain the coach of Australia until the end of the 2006 World Cup, after which he will coach Russia.
After some initial training sessions with the Australian team in the Netherlands, his first campaign as national coach resulted in a 9-1 aggregate win over the Solomon Islands in the OFC Qualifying Tournament Final. The remaining task for Hiddink and Australia was the Oceania-South America playoff against the fifth placed team from the CONMEBOL Qualifying Tournament for a place in the World Cup.
In October 2005, Australia beat Jamaica 5-0 in a friendly in London. The win was the Socceroos' biggest win against a team ranked higher than them in the FIFA World Rankings list and also, Australia's biggest win against a country which has participated in the World Cup.
Australia, ranked #49, then moved on to play 18th ranked Uruguay in a rematch of the qualifying matches in 2001. Again, a huge contrast in preparation. Australia had only two recent qualifying matches, against #138 Solomon Islands, only 3 days apart. Uruguay's preparation had included 4 qualifying matches, in the previous 2 months, including: beaten #26 Colombia, drawn with #33 Ecuador, beaten #4 Argentina.
Fearing a repeat of the disturbing events in Montevideo in 2001, Australia announced that they would hold their training sessions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and would only stay in Montevideo for the game. Uruguay called for the 1st leg to be moved a day earlier, to November 11. This idea was rejected by Australia. As a result, Uruguay had announced that they had moved the kick off time back 5 hours to 9:00 p.m. local time on November 12. This meant that Australia would miss their direct flight back to Sydney for the second leg. This would also mean that Uruguay would have an extra day of preparation for the second leg.
However, this plan backfired on the Uruguayans. Their plans to charter a plane for a direct flight to Sydney fell through. When Uruguay asked to move the kickoff back, Australia, which by that time had found a charter for immediately after the game, refused. Eventually, FIFA stepped in and ordered the kickoff moved back to 6:00 p.m. local time.
Uruguay defeated Australia 1-0 in Montevideo on November 12, 2005, after a header from Dario Rodriguez. Australia had the better of their Uruguayan opponents for a lot of the match, but they could not capitalise on their opportunities. In Sydney, on November 16 for the second leg of the qualifying series and in front of 83,000 fans at Telstra Stadium, and 3.4 million more watching the televised broadcast, Australia led Uruguay 1-0 after 90 minutes following a goal by Marco Bresciano after a miss-pass by Harry Kewell in the first half. The aggregate was tied, and extra time was played. Neither team scored after two periods of extra time, bringing the game to a penalty shootout. Australia won the penalty shootout 4-2 Mark Schwarzer made two saves in the penalty shootout.
The resulting win led to scenes of wild jubilation across the country, as fans rejoiced at the Socceroos qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, their first qualification in 32 years.
Germany were also the hosts the last time Australia qualified for the World Cup back in 1974.
Immediately after that qualification, Australia were to go into the 2006 World Cup as the second lowest ranked side. Their ranking on the FIFA World Rankings improved in subsequent months, leap-frogging other qualified countries.
Preparation For The 2006 FIFA World Cup
On 7 December 2005, USA National coach Bruce Arena sparked controversy among the Australian supporters after saying that Australia, along with Trinidad & Tobago, were "the weaker sides in the competition". Days later, Arena released a statement saying that he was misinterpreted.
On 9 December 2005, Australia was placed into World Cup Group F along with defending champions Brazil, Croatia and Japan. Both the Australian & Croatian media are heavily anticipating the Australia-Croatia match, which will be the final Group game for the 2 teams, because several players on both sides have close ties to the other country. Among the Australian players of Croatian background are Mark Viduka, Zeljko Kalac, Ante Covic, Tony Popovic, Josip Skoko and Jason Culina. Conversely, three Croatian players were born in Australia—regular starter Josip Šimunić and fringe players Joey Didulica and Anthony Šerić.
In late December 2005, Coach Guus Hiddink appointed former Dutch player Johan Neeskens as Assistant Coach who will work alongside Graham Arnold, Ron Smith, Tony Franken and Anthony Crea.
On 13 February 2006, Australia launched a new home and away strip for the World Cup. The home strip, similar to the 1974 outfit, is an entirely yellow shirt with green shorts. The away strip is entirely navy blue with yellow trimmings. The jerseys were launched at a lavish ceremony at the Berlin Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
On 17 March 2006, The FIFA World Cup trophy visited Sydney on its tour around the world.
In April 2006, Brazilian striker Ronaldo attempted to intimidate the Socceroos before their World Cup match, by claiming that he had never heard of Socceroo players Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell, despite having twice played against them.
As part of a national support effort for the Socceroos in Australia, the television network SBS put on a competition, "Song for the Socceroos", in order to select a World Cup anthem for the Socceroos. The winners tied, "Green and Gold" and "Here Come the Socceroos" were announced on 16 May 2006.
On 25 May 2006 in Melbourne Australia played a friendly against Greece, current European Champions, and ranked #20 in the world (just one place below much favoured Germany). Australia won 1-0 thanks to a Josip Skoko volley early on in the match. The match was at the the 98,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground, and was sold out in only 2 hours and was a great send off for Australia from home soil, despite the questionable quality of the Greek performance.
Australia played the Netherlands, current head coach Guus Hiddink's country of origin, in a friendly match in Rotterdam on 4 June 2006. Australia managed to hold the #3-ranked team in the world to a 1-1 draw, courtesy of Tim Cahill's 53th minute strike following a goal-line scramble when Mark Viduka hit the crossbar from a penalty kick. This equalised, after a 9th-minute goal by Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, which was scored by a follow-up strike after the Socceroos failed to clear the ball after goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer, parried a shot. The only other blemish was the questionable dismissal of defender Luke Wilkshire in the 61st minute, for an altercation with a Dutch player. The referee deemed this to be his second bookable offence and he recieved a second yellow and subsequent red card. The Dutch team claimed afterwards that they were concerned at the rough tackling of the Australian players, with many avoiding tackles against their aggressive opponents.
Australia played a final pre-World Cup friendly against 123rd in the world-ranked Liechtenstein on 7 June 2006. Defender Lucas Neill headed an own goal in the 8th minute, giving Liechtenstein the lead until Mile Sterjovski equalised the score in the 20th. Australia struggled to gain a lead on their rivals until the final 15 minutes when a goal each from Joshua Kennedy and John Aloisi won Australia the game 3-1.
Upcoming Matches
Australia's upcoming matches are as follows:
- World Cup - Group matches
- Asia Cup Qualifiers
- Australia v Kuwait - 16 August 2006 - Aussie Stadium, Sydney, Australia
- Australia v Lebanon - 1 September 2006 - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia
- Kuwait v Australia - 6 September 2006 - Kuwait
- Australia v Bahrain - 11 October 2006 - Australia
- Lebanon v Australia - 15 November 2006 - Lebanon
2006 World Cup squad
Coach: 
Guus Hiddink, until the conclusion of the 2006 World Cup
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Player drain by other countries
One frustrating fact for the Socceroos is the fact that some promising players end up playing for other nations due to the lack of a strong professional league in Australia. As many Australians have roots in Europe and qualify for European passports, they are eligible to play for non-Australian national teams. Native Australians players who have chosen other teams are:
- Joey Didulica - Croatia
- Tony Dorigo - England
- Ivan Ergic - Serbia & Montenegro
- Jamie McMaster - England
- Anthony Seric - Croatia
- Josip Simunic - Croatia
- Sasa Ilic - Yugoslavia
The following non-natives were eligible to play for Australia but chose other national teams:
- Christian Vieri - Italy. Vieri was born in Bologna, Italy, but raised in Australia, and was eligible for both.
- Craig Johnston - England. Johnston grew up in Australia but was born in South Africa to Australian parents. He played for England at the Under-21 level, but did not earn a senior cap despite a callup late in his career.
The most common destination has been Croatia: three Australian Croats play for Croatia (Didulica, Šerić and Šimunić) and seven for Australia (Čulina, Popović, Skoko, Viduka, Čović, Kalac and Bresciano).
Tournament records
World Cup record
- 1930 to 1962 – Did not enter
- 1966 - Did not qualify
- 1970 - Did not qualify
- 1974 - Round 1
- 1978 to 2002 - Did not qualify
- 2006 - Qualified
Confederations Cup record
- 1992 - Not invited
- 1995 - Not invited
- 1997 - Runner Up
- 1999 - Did not qualify
- 2001 - Third Place
- 2003 - Did not qualify
- 2005 - First Round
Oceania Nations Cup record
- 1973 - Did not enter
- 1980 - Champions
- 1996 - Champions
- 1998 - Second place
- 2000 - Champions
- 2002 - Second place
- 2004 - Champions
Records
Top Ten "A" Caps
- 87 - Alex Tobin (1988-1998)
- 84 - Paul Wade (1986-1996)
- 75 - Tony Vidmar (1991-2006)
- 64 - Peter Wilson (1970-1979)
- 61 - Attila Abonyi (1967-1977)
- 60 - John Kosmina (1976-1988)
- 59 - Milan Ivanovic (1991-1998)
- 59 - Stan Lazaridis (1993-)
- 57 - Jimmy Rooney (1971-1980)
- 56 - Graham Arnold (1985-1997)
Top Ten "A" Goals
- 29 - Damian Mori
- 25 - Attila Abonyi
- 25 - John Kosmina
- 23 - John Aloisi
- 21 - Archie Thompson
- 20 - David Zdrilic
- 19 - Graham Arnold
- 18 - Ray Baartz
- 17 - Gary Cole
- 17 - Aurelio Vidmar
Most goals in a match
- 13 - Archie Thompson v American Samoa, 2001
- 8 - David Zdrilic v American Samoa, 2001
- 7 - Gary Cole v Fiji, 1981
- 6 - John Aloisi v Tonga, 2001
- 5 - Damian Mori v Solomons Islands, 1997
Highest team score
- 31 (world record) v American Samoa, 2001
- 22 v Tonga, 2001
- 17 v Cook Islands, 2000
- 13 v Solomon Islands, 1997
Record in World Cup Finals 1974
- v East Germany in Hamburg, 0-2
- v West Germany in Hamburg, 0-3
- v Chile in West Berlin, 0-0
Notable Former Players
- Kevin Muscat, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rangers, Millwall and Melbourne Victory
- Paul Okon, Club Brugge, Lazio, Middlesbrough and Leeds United
- Ned Zelic, Borussia Dortmund, 1860 Munich and Newcastle Jets
- Mark Bosnich, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea
- Frank Farina, Club Brugge, A.S. Bari and Lille
- Graham Arnold, Roda JC and NAC Breda
- Thomas Chesterman, Wigan Athletic and Napoli
- Aurelio Vidmar, KSV Waregem, Feyenoord Rotterdam and Adelaide City
- Robbie Slater, Lens, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United
- Damian Mori, Adelaide City and Perth Glory
- Paul Trimboli, South Melbourne
- Alex Tobin, Adelaide City
- Paul Wade, South Melbourne
- Charlie Yankos, Heidelberg United
- Richard Baker, Man Utd and Liverpool
- Craig Johnston, Liverpool and England B
- David Mitchell, Feyenoord and Chelsea
- Mike Petersen, Ajax Amsterdam and South Melbourne
- Ray Baartz, Sydney City Hakoah
- Alan Davidson, South Melbourne and Melbourne Croatia
- Milan Ivanovic, Red Star Belgrade and Adelaide City
- Johnny Warren, Canterbury-Marrickville and St. George-Budapest
- Harry Williams, St. George-Budapest
- Peter Wilson, APIA-Leichhardt
- Manfred Schaefer, St. George-Budapest
- Joe Marston, APIA-Leichhardt, Preston North End
External links
- FFA official website
- Archive of results 1922-
- RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
- RSSSF archive of coaches 1922-1998
- Socceroos Realm
- the SBS World Game site
- The Green & Gold Army Site
- Home of the Socceroos for the 2006 World Cup
References
- http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/public/Article/show.asp?ArticleID=5318&menuItemID=72
- http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18714991%255E11088,00.html
| International association football | ||
|---|---|---|
| World (FIFA) |  | |
| Asia (AFC) | ||
| Africa (CAF) | ||
| North America (CONCACAF) | ||
| South America (CONMEBOL) | ||
| Oceania (OFC) | ||
| Europe (UEFA) | ||
| Inter-Continental |
| |
| Non-FIFA | ||
| National men's football teams of Asia (AFC) | |
|---|---|
| AFC Asian Cup | |
| West Asia (WAFF) | |
| Central Asia (CAFA) | |
| South Asia (SAFF) | |
| East Asia (EAFF) | |
| Southeast Asia (AFF) | |
| Defunct | |
| Former |
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| |
| 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists | |
|---|---|
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Quarter-finals | |
| Round of 16 | |
| Group stage | |
