Australia men's national soccer team

"Australian national football team" redirects here. For other uses, see Australian national football team (disambiguation).

Australia

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Socceroos
Association	Football Federation Australia
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Graham Arnold (caretaker)
Captain	Lucas Neill
Most caps	Alex Tobin (87)
Top scorer	Damian Mori (29)
FIFA code	AUS
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	37 (+1)
Highest	31 (July 1997)
Lowest	92 (June 2000)
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) Qualifier for 2002 World Cup (International Record)
Biggest defeat
Australia 0 - 8 South Africa Template:Country data South Africa old (Adelaide, Australia; September 17, 1955)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 1974)
Best result	Round 2, 2006
OFC Nations Cup & Asian Cup (Since 2006)
Appearances	OFC: 6 (First in OFC: 1980) AFC: 0 (first in AFC: 2007)
Best result	OFC: Winners - 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004 AFC: -

The Australian national football (soccer) team represents Australia in international football competitions. The team is organised by Football Federation Australia, the sport's national governing body, and its official nickname is "the Socceroos" or the "Qantas Socceroos" for sponsorship reasons. Australia is a four time Oceania Champion and has been represented at two World Cup finals tournaments, in 1974 and 2006. Their best result was in the 2006 FIFA World Cup where they won against Japan, lost to Brazil, and then drew with Croatia to reach the second round, where they lost 0-1 to eventual winners Italy. The 2006 event produced Australia's first ever World Cup finals goal during their match against Japan. As of October 2006, they are ranked 37th in the FIFA World Rankings, up 1 from the September rankings. They are 26th in the World Football Elo Ratings.

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 Campaigns

The Australian national team first played at the World Cup finals in West Germany in 1974, after many failed qualification attempts. It would prove to be their only appearance until 2006.

The road to the 1974 world cup began with a series of home and away matches against Iraq, New Zealand, & Indonesia. The Socceroos, having won this tournament, then played and won a two-legged fixure against one of the socceroo's biggest rivals Iran, managing to hold on to a slim overall lead in front of 120,000 Iranian fans in the Azadi stadium, Tehran, during the second leg. South Korea, having itself knocked out Israel at the equivalent stage, was then drawn as Australia's final hurdle. Over the course of another two-legged playoff the scores remained even, and so a deciding match was played in Hong Kong, where Jimmy Mackay scored the only goal for Australia from a free kick.

The team performed with honour at the 1974 world cup, and although unable to overcome the professional teams from host nations East and West Germany, the Socceroos, captained by local amatuer Peter Wilson, did manage a scoreless draw against Chile. It was to be the last appearance for the Australian team until the World Cup tournament returned to Germany more than three decades later. 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.

USA 1994 qualifying campaign

Australia's road to USA 94 is an example of the difficult qualifying path which members of the Oceania confederation have 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 four games against weaker sides Tahiti and the Solomon Islands and scoring thirteen goals over the four 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. This match has been named one of the most memorable matches by many of the retired Australian and Iranian football players.

Korea/Japan 2002 qualifying campaign

In 2001 Australia again won the Oceania Confederation qualifying tournament for Template:WC. 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 America 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 four months Uruguay's preparation had been six 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 two 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 five days later.

Outside qualification campaigns

The team's previously miserable record in World Cup competition was 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 was duly entered into the Asian Cup Qualifying Tournament which began in February, 2006. On 4 January 2006, Australia was drawn into group D, alongside Bahrain, Lebanon and Kuwait. Lebanon have since withdrawn due to violence in the area.

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. They subsequently qualified for the finals on 16 August 2006 after defeating Kuwait 2-0 in Sydney.

Germany 2006 qualifying campaign

In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the Template:WC 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.

Australia face Germany in the 2005 Confederations Cup

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 combined his roles as manager of Dutch club PSV Eindhoven with that of Australia, and remained the coach of Australia until the end of the Australian team's 2006 World Cup campaign, after which he accepted a position coaching 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.

File:Aus Vs Uru Crowd.jpg

Australia vs Uruguay World cup qualifer 2nd leg, Telstra Stadium, Sydney, 16 November 2005.

Australia, ranked #49, then moved on to play 18th ranked Uruguay in a rematch of the qualifying matches in 2001. Again, there was a huge contrast in preparation. Australia had only two recent qualifying matches, against #138 Solomon Islands, only three days apart. Uruguay's preparation had included four qualifying matches, in the previous two months, including: beaten #26 Colombia, drawn with #33 Ecuador, and beaten #4 Argentina.

Fearing a repeat of security problems which occurred 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 first 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 five 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, and an estimated 4 million more watching in pubs and clubs, Australia led Uruguay 1-0 after 90 minutes following a goal by Mark Bresciano after a mis-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; Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer made two saves.

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 went into the 2006 World Cup as the second lowest-ranked side. Their ranking on the FIFA World Rankings improved in subsequent months, leapfrogging other qualified countries.

Preparation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Australia was placed into 2006 World Cup Group F, along with defending champions Brazil, Croatia and Japan.

In late December 2005, Coach Guus Hiddink appointed former Dutch player, Johan Neeskens, as Assistant Coach, to 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 preparation for the upcoming World Cup, Socceroos player Tony Vidmar was ruled out of the World Cup after being diagnosed with a heart condition. In all, the squad that won the qualification matches saw 5 changes in the lead-up the the World Cup finals. Joel Griffiths, Ahmad Elrich, Ljubo Milicevic, Tony Vidmar and Michael Thwaite were replaced by Joshua Kennedy, Mile Sterjovski, Michael Beauchamp, Craig Moore and Mark Milligan respectively.

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 winning song "Green and Gold" was announced on 16 May.[1].

On 25 May 2006 in Melbourne, Australia played a friendly against Greece, current European Champions, and ranked #20 in FIFA rankings. Australia won 1-0 thanks to a Josip Skoko volley early on in the match. The match was at the 98,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground, was sold out in only 2 hours, and was a great sendoff for Australia from home soil, despite the questionable quality of the Greek performance.

Australia played the Netherlands in a friendly match in Rotterdam on 4 June. The Dutch, ranked #3 in the world, went ahead in the 9th minute after goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer parried a Ruud van Nistelrooy shot, the Socceroos failed to clear the ball and van Nistelrooy scored with a follow-up strike. Australia's Tim Cahill equalised in the 53rd minute following a goal-line scramble after Mark Viduka hit the crossbar from a penalty kick. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. The only blemish was the dismissal of defender Luke Wilkshire in the 61st minute, after a wild challenge on Giovanni van Bronckhorst. 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. The next day, the Socceroos left for Germany.

Australia played a final pre-World Cup friendly against 123rd-ranked Liechtenstein on 7 June. Defender Lucas Neill headed an own goal in the 8th minute, giving Liechtenstein the lead until Mile Sterjovski equalised 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.

2006 FIFA World Cup

While in Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Socceroos stayed in the town of Öhringen. Just days before Australia's first World Cup match against Japan, the Japan Football Association chairman claimed the Socceroos were "guilty of a lot of dirty fouls" and that "they target ankles in particular."

On 12 June, the Socceroos defeated Japan 3-1 in their opening game in Kaiserslautern, with Tim Cahill scoring two goals (84', 89') and John Aloisi scoring one (92+') all in the last eight minutes to claim their first World Cup finals victory. An early controversial call by Egyptian referee Essam Abd El Fatah, that awarded a goal (26') to Shunsuke Nakamura, despite an apparent foul to Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, had the Australians playing catch-up until the last eight minutes. Schwarzer and Viduka claimed that Abd El Fatah apologised over allowing Nakamura's goal to stand after the incident, admitting he had made a mistake, although Abd El Fatah later denied making an apology and said that "FIFA's refereeing committee... agreed unanimously that Japan’s goal against Australia was correct." Both Cahill and Aloisi came in as substitutes in the second half of the game. Their goals are the first ever scored by Australia in the World Cup Finals, and Australia became the first team in the 2006 tournament to come back after being 1-0 down. Also, no other team has scored three goals in the last seven minutes of a match in World Cup finals history.

On 18 June, hours before Australia's second game against world champions Brazil, a British newspaper claimed that several Australian players had placed bets amongst themselves, which was said to be against FIFA regulations . Tim Cahill admitted that teammates Lucas Neill and Archie Thompson bet that Cahill would score the first ever Australian goal at the World Cup. Mark Viduka also said that the players were taking bets on who was going to be the first to score, and that goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac was the bookmaker. FIFA have since cleared all players of any wrongdoing, by interpreting their regulations as referring to betting with professional bookmakers, rather than betting within a team.

Australia met Brazil in their second Group F game in Munich on June 18. The Australians held Brazil to a 0-0 half time scoreline before Adriano put Brazil in front (49'). Brazil substitute Fred scored (90') with the help of substitute Robinho to give Brazil a 2-0 win, which saw the Brazilians go through to the second round.

A day later, following the Brazil game, Harry Kewell was in hot water after an altercation with the referee from the Brazil game. FIFA announced that it would investigate the incident. On 20 June, charges were dismissed against Kewell due to "inconsistent reporting by match officials", allowing him to play the next game against Croatia.

On 22 June, Australia faced Croatia in Stuttgart. The final score was 2-2. A goal from Darijo Srna in the second minute put Australia on the back foot. Australia equalised with a penalty goal from Craig Moore (38'). Niko Kovac gave Croatia a 2-1 lead before Australia equalised again through Harry Kewell (79') in a moment described by SBS broadcast commentator Simon Hill as "well, it had to be Harry". Kewell appeared to be offside for the goal, in a match riddled with errors. The referee Graham Poll dismissed calls for a penalty in the 5th minute when Croatia's Josip Simunic literally wrestled Mark Viduka to the ground near goal, missed one of two clear handballs by the Croatian defence in the penalty area, blew the final whistle at the moment that John Aloisi scored what would have been a winning goal, and, in an extraordinary error, presented Simunic with three yellow cards before sending him off after the final whistle. Poll issued eight yellow cards resulting in three expulsions. Brett Emerton was sent off for his second bookable offence (although he was already suspended for the next match for receiving his second yellow card of the group stage earlier in the match). The Daily Telegraph reported on 25 June that Graham Poll was dismissed from World Cup refereeing duties by FIFA, who claimed that his mistake was "unacceptable". As Brazil beat Japan 4-1, Australia proceeded to the next round to face Italy.

On 26 June, Australia met Italy in Kaiserslautern. Kewell was unavailable for the game, entering the stadium on crutches reportedly suffering from an attack of gout and infected blisters rather than a recurrence of a groin injury. The score at half-time was 0-0. Italy went down to 10 men due to the controversial red card (51') given to Marco Materazzi. Otherwise, six yellow cards were issued in total. Almost three minutes into stoppage time, a controversial penalty was awarded to Italy when Fabio Grosso appeared to have taken a dive and went down under a Lucas Neill challenge in the final seconds of the match. Francesco Totti scored from the spot (95') and the game ended immediately. The final score was 1-0 in favour of Italy, eliminating Australia from the tournament. Coach Guus Hiddink officially ended his reign as the coach of the Socceroos following the 1-0 loss to Italy and took the managerial job with Russia. Italian coach Marcello Lippi denied that Grosso had dived, describing the incident as "a clear foul". Australian assistant coach Graham Arnold, however, branded the penalty a "joke", to the agreement of several Australian players, including Tim Cahill, who believed Grosso should have been cautioned for diving. On Sunday, October 29, 2006, FIFA President Sepp Blatter apologised for the penalty and was quoted saying "The Socceroos should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy... because they were up to beating Italy." However following outrage from Italian football authorities, a statement of FIFA President was issued to refute the interview, claiming that Blatter's words had been misquoted. "At no time did the FIFA President make any inappropriate comment whatsoever concerning the Australia vs. Italy match, and he most certainly did not comment negatively about Italy. The topic as to whether the controversial penalty kick awarded to Italy in the last moments of the game was justified or not, never even came up during the interview." It should be noted however, that despite claims the media misquoted or exaggerated Blatter's words, the interview was broadcasted on Australian national television.

On 7 November 2006, Australian television program 20 to 1 gave Australia's performance at the 2006 World Cup the # 1 spot on the episode 20 to 1: Triumphs and Tragedies, which was devoted to the most outstanding moments in sport.

Preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup

Australia vs Kuwait Asian cup qualifer, Aussie Stadium, Sydney, 16 August 2006.

Following the success of the socceroos and Guus Hiddink at the 2006 World Cup there has been much speculation as to who will be the next Australian coach. Graham Arnold holds the Head Coach position in a caretaker capacity. John Kosmina holds the Assistant Coach position for the upcoming Asian Cup Qualifiers. Ron Smith, the technical director under Guus Hiddink, took up the position of head coach with A-League club Perth Glory in July 2006.

Leading contenders include:

• José Pekerman, recently coach of Argentina
• Miguel Ángel Lotina, recently coach of Espanyol, a Spanish club in La Liga

Martin O'Neill was previously being considered but in August 2006 took up the position of manager at Aston Villa FC in England.

FFA reportedly approached Gérard Houllier and made an offer, but no agreement was reached.

FFA chairman Frank Lowy has recently revealed his interest in Leo Beenhakker, currently the coach of Poland.

Lucas Neill, appearing on the Australian television program Rove Live on July 4, 2006, claimed that Guus Hiddink's contract with Russia is only for two years (most likely for Euro 2008), and that the players are not ruling out a return from him to Australian soil for 2010 in South Africa.

In the July 2006 FIFA World Rankings, Australia moved up nine places since May 2006 to 33rd, one place above Hiddink's Russia, but the August 2006 rankings saw Australia sink back four places to 37th.

On 16 August 2006, an Australian team composed largely of A-League players, beat Kuwait 2-0 in Sydney. This saw them qualify for the 2007 Asian Cup, through late second half goals from Adelaide United's Travis Dodd and Sydney FC's Sasho Petrovski.

On 6 September 2006, Australia suffered its first loss in the Asian Cup Qualifiers, losing 2-0 away to Kuwait. It was Kuwait's first win in 13 internationals.

On Saturday 7 October, Australia played Paraguay in a friendly in Brisbane. Outgoing Socceroo Tony Popovic scored the opening goal late in the second half before substitute Michael Beauchamp scored an own goal with 1 minute left in the game to tie the game 1-1 at full time.

On Wednesday 11 October, Australia played their final Asian Cup Qualifier against Bahrain. John Aloisi scored the opener and Bresciano a stunning volley to lead the Socceroos to a 2-0 victory. As a result the Socceroos will be seeded for the Asia Cup Finals.

Upcoming matches

• Ghana v Australia - International friendly - November 14 2006 - Loftus Road, London
• Denmark v Australia - International friendly February 6 2007 - Loftus Road, London
• Australia's next international tournament is the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, to be held in July 2007

Australia has two friendlies which are in the negotiation stages, but not confirmed.

• Australia v Brazil - International friendly - June 2007 - Australia
• Australia v Argentina - International friendly - June 2007 - Australia

Current squad

2007 Asian Cup qualification squad

The following players have been called up for 2007 Asian Cup qualification in 2006.

• (*) = vs Bahrain in Bahrain, 22 February 2006.
• (**) = vs Kuwait in Australia, 16 August 2006.
• (***) = vs Kuwait in Kuwait, 6 September 2006.
• (****) = vs Bahrain in Australia, 11 October 2006.
• (~~) = Training Squad member only

Note:

• Squad against Kuwait in Australia is formed by A-League players.
• Squad against Kuwait in Kuwait is formed by overseas-based players.
• Craig Moore was suspended by Football Federation Australia for disciplinary reasons and did not play against Bahrain in Australia.

Caps and goals correct as of after all qualifying matches.

Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Mark Schwarzer ***/****	October 61972	43	0	Middlesbrough
12	1GK	Ante Čović */***/****	June 131975	1	0	Hammarby IF
40	1GK	Michael Petkovic *	July 161976	4	0	Sivasspor
51	1GK	Clint Bolton **	August 22 1975	4	0	Sydney FC
52	1GK	Danny Vukovic **	March 271985	0	0	Central Coast Mariners

Defenders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
2	2DF	Lucas Neill ****	March 9 1978	31	0	Blackburn Rovers
3	2DF	Craig Moore ****	December 12 1975	37	3	Newcastle United
14	2DF	Scott Chipperfield ***/****	December 30 1975	52	11	FC Basel
16	2DF	Michael Thwaite *	May 2 1983	2	0	Wisła Kraków
24	2DF	Ljubo Milicevic ***	February 13 1981	6	0	BSC Young Boys
26	2DF	Michael Beauchamp */***/****	March 8 1981	5	0	1. FC Nürnberg
27	2DF	Alvin Ceccoli */**	August 5 1974	6	0	Sydney FC
32	2DF	Patrick Kisnorbo ***	March 24 1981	7	0	Leicester City
33	2DF	Mark Milligan **	August 4 1985	3	0	Sydney FC
35	2DF	Jade North */**/****	January 7 1982	14	0	Newcastle United Jets
36	2DF	Jonathan McKain */***	September 21 1982	12	0	FCU Politehnica Timişoara
38	2DF	Michael Valkanis */**	August 23 1974	1	0	Adelaide United FC
46	2DF	Kevin Muscat **/****	August 7 1973	46	10	Melbourne Victory
54	2DF	Iain Fyfe **	April 3 1982	0	0	Sydney FC
-	2DF	Alex Wilkinson ~~	August 13 1984	0	0	Central Coast Mariners
-	2DF	Adrian Leijer ~~	March 25 1986	0	0	Melbourne Victory

Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
4	3MF	Tim Cahill ****	December 6 1979	22	11	Everton F.C.
7	3MF	Brett Emerton ****	February 22 1979	53	11	Blackburn Rovers
8	3MF	Josip Skoko */***/****	December 10 1975	49	9	Wigan Athletic
13	3MF	Vince Grella ****	October 5 1979	24	0	Parma
17	3MF	Jason Čulina ****	August 5 1980	19	1	PSV Eindhoven
20	3MF	Luke Wilkshire */***	October 2 1981	12	0	FC Twente
21	3MF	Ahmad Elrich */***	May 30 1981	17	5	Fulham F.C.
23	3MF	Mark Bresciano ****	February 11 1980	30	8	U.S. Città di Palermo
23	3MF	Mile Sterjovski ***/****	May 27 1979	27	4	FC Basel
30	3MF	David Carney */**	November 30 1983	2	0	Sydney FC
41	3MF	Spase Dilevski *	May 131985	0	0	Queensland Roar
42	3MF	Nick Ward */***	March 24 1985	0	0	QPR
43	3MF	Carl Valeri *	August 141984	0	0	Grosseto
44	3MF	Steve Corica **	March 24 1973	32	5	Sydney FC
45	3MF	Travis Dodd **	January 6 1980	2	1	Adelaide United
47	3MF	Kristian Sarkies **	October 25 1986	1	0	Melbourne Victory
48	3MF	Matt McKay **	January 11 1983	1	0	Queensland Roar
50	3MF	Stuart Musialik **	March 29 1980	0	0	Newcastle United Jets
57	3MF	Jacob Burns ***	January 21 1978	2	0	Wisła Kraków

Strikers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
15	4FW	John Aloisi ***/****	February 5 1976	48	25	Deportivo Alavés
19	4FW	Joel Griffiths **	August 21 1979	2	1	Newcastle United Jets
22	4FW	Archie Thompson */**/****	October 23 1978	23	21	Melbourne Victory
25	4FW	Brett Holman */***	March 27 1984	2	0	NEC Nijmegen
28	4FW	Alex Brosque */**/****	October 12 1983	4	0	Sydney FC
29	4FW	Sasho Petrovski **	March 5 1975	2	1	Sydney FC
31	4FW	Scott McDonald */***	August 21 1983	2	0	Motherwell F.C.
53	4FW	Mark Bridge ~~	November 7 1985	0	0	Newcastle United Jets
60	4FW	Ryan Griffiths ***	August 10 1981	1	0	Rapid Bucureşti
61	4FW	Daniel Allsopp ~~	August 10 1978	0	0	Melbourne Victory

2006 World Cup squad

See 2006 FIFA World Cup squads - Australia

Notable former players

• Stan Lazaridis
• Tony Vidmar
• Paul Okon
• Ned Zelić
• Mark Bosnich
• Frank Farina
• Graham Arnold
• Aurelio Vidmar

• Robbie Slater
• Damian Mori
• Paul Trimboli
• Alex Tobin
• Paul Wade
• Charlie Yankos
• David Mitchell
• Mike Petersen

• Ray Baartz
• Alan Davidson
• Milan Ivanović
• Johnny Warren
• Harry Williams
• Peter Wilson
• Manfred Schaefer
• Joe Marston

Player drain to other countries

One frustrating fact for the Socceroos is that some promising players end up playing for other nations. As many Australians have roots in Europe and qualify for European passports, they are eligible to play for non-Australian national teams. Australian-born players who have chosen other national teams are:

• Joey Didulica - Croatia
• Tony Dorigo - England
• Saša Ilić - Serbia and Montenegro
• Anthony Šerić - Croatia
• Josip Šimunić - Croatia

As of October 2006, two of the above players remain active in international football; Šerić and Šimunić, for Croatia.

The following players were eligible to play for Australia but chose other national teams:

• Christian Vieri - Italy. Vieri was born in Bologna, but partly raised in Australia, and was eligible for both.
• Craig Johnston - England. Johnston was born in South Africa to Australian parents and grew up in Australia. He played for England at the Under-21 level, but did not earn a senior cap despite a callup late in his career.
• Ivan Ergić - Serbia and Montenegro. Born in Croatia, raised in Australia.
• Georgios Samaras - Greece. His father was born in Australia. "My father was born here in Melbourne … I had the opportunity to do that (play for Australia), but I preferred Greece," he said. "It was a possibility and I was close to doing it."

As of October 2006, Ivan Ergić remains active in international football, playing for the newly-formed Serbian football team.

Tournament records

World Cup record

Year	Finish	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1930 to 1962	Did not enter
1966 to 1970	Did not qualify
1974	Round 1	3	0	1	2	0	5
1978 to 2002	Did not qualify
2006	Round 2	4	1	1	2	5	6
Total		7	1	2	4	5	11

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

• Champions - 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004
• Second place - 1998, 2002
• Did not enter - 1973

Asian Cup record

• 2007 - Qualified (seeded)

Records

Top Ten "A" Caps

• 87 - Alex Tobin (1988-1998)
• 84 - Paul Wade (1986-1996)
• 76 - Tony Vidmar (1991-2006)
• 64 - Peter Wilson (1970-1979)
• 61 - Attila Abonyi (1967-1977)
• 60 - Stan Lazaridis (1993-2006)
• 60 - John Kosmina (1976-1988)
• 59 - Milan Ivanović (1991-1998)
• 58 - Tony Popović (1995-2006)
• 57 - Jimmy Rooney (1971-1980)
• 54 - Zeljko Kalac (1992-2006)

Top Ten "A" Goals

• 29 - Damian Mori
• 25 - Attila Abonyi
• 25 - John Kosmina
• 25 - John Aloisi
• 22 - Archie Thompson
• 20 - David Zdrilić
• 19 - Graham Arnold
• 18 - Ray Baartz
• 17 - Gary Cole
• 17 - Aurelio Vidmar

(Players in bold still available for national team selection)

Most goals in a match

• 13 - Archie Thompson (world record) v American Samoa, 2001
• 8 - David Zdrilić 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 FIFA World Cup

• Hamburg: East Germany-Australia 2-0 (Curran 58' og, Streich 72').
• Hamburg: Australia-West Germany 0-3 (Overath 12', Cullmann 34', Müller 53').
• West Berlin: Australia-Chile 0-0.

2006 FIFA World Cup

• Kaiserslautern: Australia-Japan 3-1 (Nakamura 26'; Cahill 84', 89'; Aloisi 92').
• Munich: Australia-Brazil 0-2 (Adriano 49'; Fred 90').
• Stuttgart: Australia-Croatia 2-2 (Srna 2'; Moore 38'pen; N.Kovac 56'; Kewell 79') .
• Kaiserslautern: Italy-Australia 1-0 (Totti 95' pen)

External links

• FFA official website
• Archive of results 1922-
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1922-1998
• the SBS World Game site
• The Green & Gold Army Site
• Home of the Socceroos for the 2006 World Cup

References

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