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Revision as of 10:24, 5 June 2006 by Daniel (talk | contribs) (→Preparation For The 2006 FIFA World Cup)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) "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.
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.
France 1998 Qualifying Campaign
In 1997, after winning the OFC qualifying tournament, Australia had to play Iran over two legs 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.
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 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.
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 then moved on to play Uruguay in a qualifying rematch of the matches in 2001. Fearing a repeat of the events in Montevideo in 2001, Australia announced that they would hold their training sessions in Buenos Aires in 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 and qualified for the
, their first Football World Cup qualification in 32 years. 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 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. Also worth mentioning is the similarity that Brazil, like in 1974, go into the World Cup as defending champions after having defeated a European team in the final. In 1970, Brazil beat Italy in the Final, and in 2002, Brazil beat Germany to take the title.
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. In preparation for the tournament, the Socceroos drew with the Netherlands 1-1 in June 2006 in the lead up to the World Cup. A friendly against Greece took place on 25 May 2006 at the the 98,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Australians won 1-0 thanks to a Josip Skoko volley early on in the match. The match was sold out in only 2 hours. .
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 and Josip Skoko. Conversely, three Croatian players were born in Australia—regular starter Josip Simunic and fringe players Joey Didulica and Anthony Seric.
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" was announced on 16 May 2006.
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 humble the #3-ranked team with a 1-1 draw, courtesy of Tim Cahill's 59th minute strike following a goal-line scramble when Mark Viduka hit the crossbar from a penalty kick in thr 53rd minute. This followed a 9th-minute strike by Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, scored when the Socceroos failed to clear their lines from a corner kick. The only blemish was a red card given to defender Luke Wilkshire in the 61st minute for an altercation with a Dutch player.
Upcoming Matches
Australia's upcoming matches are as follows:
- Australia v Liechtenstein - Friendly - 7 June 2006 - Ulm, Germany
- 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
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Player drain by other countries
One frustrating fact for the Socceroos is the fact that some promising players are lured away by other nations. As many Australians have roots in Europe, European nations can claim native Australians for their squad using the "Granny Rule", i.e. players become eligible if they can prove that they have ancestors of that particular nations. Native Australians players who have chosen another team are:
- Joey Didulica - Croatia
- Tony Dorigo - England
- Ivan Ergic - Serbia & Montenegro
- Jamie McMaster - England
- Anthony Seric - Croatia
- Josip Simunic - Croatia
- Sasa Ilic - Yugoslavia
- Christian Vieri - Italy (note: Vieri was born in Bologna, Italy, but raised in Australia and was eligible for both)
- Craig Johnston - England (note:Johnston grew up in Australia but was born in South Africa to Australian parents. He never played for Australia due to his desire to play for England, he finally made the English squad but never played for them mainly due to his shock early retirement at 28)
The most common destination has been the Croatian national football team because of the apparent popularity of football among the Australian Croats: three play for the Croatian team (Didulica, Šerić and Šimunić), and six/seven for the Australian team (Čulina, Popović, Skoko, Viduka, Čović and Kalac; plus Bresciano who is of mixed heritage).
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
Players with more than 40 "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)
- 58 - Stan Lazaridis (1993-)
- 57 - Jimmy Rooney (1971-1980)
- 56 - Graham Arnold (1985-1997)
- 55 - Tony Popovic (1995-)
- 51 - Alan Davidson (1980-1991)
- 51 - Zeljko Kalac (1992-)
- 49 - Manfred Schaefer (1967-1974)
- 49 - Charlie Yankos (1983-1989)
- 48 - Ray Baartz (1967-1974)
- 46 - Brett Emerton (1998-)
- 45 - Damian Mori (1992-2002)
- 45 - Kevin Muscat (1994-2005)
- 45 - Scott Chipperfield (1998-)
- 45 - Josip Skoko (1997-)
- 44 - Mehmet Durakovic (1990-2002)
- 44 - Graham Jennings (1983-1989)
- 44 - Aurelio Vidmar (1988-2001)
- 42 - Johnny Warren (1965-1974)
Top 10 "A" Goals
- 29 - Damian Mori
- 25 - Attila Abonyi
- 25 - John Kosmina
- 22 - 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
- 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
- Eddie Krncevic, Anderlecht and Liege
- 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 | ||
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| World (FIFA) |  | |
| Asia (AFC) | ||
| Africa (CAF) | ||
| North America (CONCACAF) | ||
| South America (CONMEBOL) | ||
| Oceania (OFC) | ||
| Europe (UEFA) | ||
| Inter-Continental |
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| Non-FIFA | ||
| National men's football teams of Asia (AFC) | |
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| AFC Asian Cup | |
| West Asia (WAFF) | |
| Central Asia (CAFA) | |
| South Asia (SAFF) | |
| East Asia (EAFF) | |
| Southeast Asia (AFF) | |
| Defunct | |
| Former |
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