Australia national football team
Categories: Oceanian national football teams | Asian national football teams | Australian sports teams | Soccer in Australia
| Nickname | Socceroos |
| Association | Football Federation Australia |
| Coach | Guus Hiddink, 2005- |
| Most caps | Alex Tobin (87) |
| Top scorer | Damian Mori (29) |
| First International New Zealand 3 - 1 Australia (Dunedin, New Zealand; June 17, 1922) | |
| Largest win Australia 31 - 0 American Samoa (Coffs Harbour, Australia; April 11, 2001) | |
| Worst defeat Australia 0 - 8 South Africa (Adelaide, Australia; September 17, 1955) | |
| World Cup | |
| Appearances | 1 (First in 1974) |
| Best result | Round 1, 1974 |
| OFC Nations Cup | |
| Appearances | 6 (First in 1980) |
| Best result | Winners, 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
The Australia national football team is Australia's men's national association football (soccer) team. They are organised by the Football Federation Australia (until 2005 called Australian Soccer Association), the national governing body for the game in Australia.
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History
The first ever Australian national football 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 football 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 to date has been their only appearance in this event. Over more recent years, the Australian team is 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 difficult 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. For some people tis sequense of matches are illogical.
Unfancied Opponents
Australia's first attempt to qualify was for the 1966 tournament in England. As a result of a decision to award very few places to non-European/South American nations, FIFA determined that Australia would playoff against North Korea. In 1965, North Korea was a political entity not recognised by many nations including the United Kingdom. Additionally, the match was scheduled to take place in "neutral" Cambodia - a staunchly Communist state at that time. Both before and after the game there were calls from all sides for Australia to claim their place in the World Cup instead of North Korea.
Future campaigns for the 1970, 1978, 1982, and 1986 World Cups would see Australia put into competition with politically isolated or non-aligned nations. Opponents included Israel (who neighbouring Arab nations refused to play), Republic of China on Taiwan (who had lost much political recognition to Beijing), Iran (who had undergone a revolution) and New Zealand (another Oceanian nation). However, this preliminary tournament would always result in a playoff with one or two other stronger countries from Europe or South America.
Protests from the Australian Soccer Federation and attempts to join the Asian Football Confederation at this time were rejected. However, the qualifying process was simplified from the 1990 World Cup where the OFC was granted 0.5 qualifying spots.
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, however Iran managed to score two later 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.
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—in March 2005, a story was leaked from Tokyo suggesting that the 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 will take effect on January 1, 2006.
Australia has duly been entered into the Asian Cup Qualifying Tournament beginning in February, 2006.
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 did draw 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.
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 the 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. It is believed that Hiddink will combine his roles as manager of PSV Eindhoven and Australia for now, but may elect to take over full time as national coach should Australia qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
Hiddink subsequently led Australia to a 9-1 aggregate win over the Solomon Islands in the OFC Qualifying Tournament Final, and will lead Australia in 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. This win was the Socceroos' biggest win against a team that is ranked higher than them in the FIFA World Rankings list.
As of 13 October 2005 it has been established that Australia will play Uruguay on 12 November 2005 and 16 November 2005 in Montevideo and Sydney respectively for the right to compete in the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Just like in 2001, The Australia v Uruguay playoff isn't without its controversy. 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 9:00pm 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.
Notable Players
Current notable players include Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Craig Moore, Mark Schwarzer, Brett Emerton and John Aloisi.
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
Confederations Cup record
- 1992 - Not invited
- 1995 - Not invited
- 1997 - Runner Up
- 1999 - Did not qualify
- 2001 - Third Place
- 2003 - Did not qualify
- 2005 - Round 1
Oceania Nations Cup record
- 1973 - Did not enter
- 1980 - Champions
- 1996 - Champions
- 1998 - Second place
- 2000 - Champions
- 2002 - Second place
- 2004 - Champions
Records
Most appearances
- 87 - Alex Tobin (1988-2000)
- 84 - Paul Wade (1986-96)
- 71 - Tony Vidmar (1991-)
- 64 - Peter Wilson (1970-79)
Most goals
- 29 - Damian Mori (45 caps, 1992-2002)
- 25 - Attila Abonyi (62 caps, 1967-1977)
- 25 - John Kosmina (60 caps, 1977-1988)
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
Highest team score
- 31 v American Samoa, 2001
- 22 v Tonga, 2001
- 17 v Cook Islands, 2000
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
External links
- Archive of results 1922-
- RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
- RSSSF archive of coaches 1922-1998
- Socceroos Realm
| National football teams of Oceania (OFC) |
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American Samoa | Australia* | Cook Islands | Fiji | New Caledonia | New Zealand | Papua New Guinea | Samoa | Solomon Islands | Tahiti | Tonga | Vanuatu | </br> *will cease to be a member from Jan 1 2006. |
| National football teams of Asia (AFC) |
|
Afghanistan | Australia* | Bahrain | Bangladesh | Bhutan | Brunei | Cambodia | China | Chinese Taipei | East Timor | Guam | Hong Kong | India | Indonesia | Iran | Iraq | Japan | Jordan | Korea, North | Korea, South | Kuwait | Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Lebanon | Macau | Malaysia | Maldives | Mongolia | Myanmar | Nepal | Oman | Pakistan | Palestine | Philippines | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Singapore | Sri Lanka | Syria | Tajikistan | Thailand | Turkmenistan | United Arab Emirates | Uzbekistan | Vietnam | Yemen </br> *Joining effective January 1, 2006. |
| International football |
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FIFA - World Cup - Women's World Cup - World Rankings - Player of the Year
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fr:Équipe d'Australie de football pl:Reprezentacja Australii w piłce nożnej pt:Seleção Australiana de Futebol sv:Australiens fotbollslandslag