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{{Infobox National football team| Name = Australia| Badge = FootballFederationAustralia-logo.png| FIFA Trigramme = AUS| FIFA Rank = 48| FIFA max = 31| FIFA max date = July 1997| FIFA min = 92| FIFA min date = June 2000| Elo Rank = 38| Elo max = 9| Elo max date = November 2001| Elo min = 75| Elo min date = November 1965| Nickname = Socceroos| Association = Football Federation Australia ([Asia)]| Captain = Mark Viduka and Lucas Neill (87)| Top scorer = [Damian Mori (29)], New Zealand; June 17 1922)]
(Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia; April 11 2001)], Australia; September 17 1955)], Finland; September 21 1960)]| Regional name = OFC Nations Cup &
AFC Asian Cup (Since 2006)]
AFC: 2007 AFC Asian Cup| Regional cup best = OFC: Winners - 1980 OFC Nations Cup, 1996 OFC Nations Cup,
2000 OFC Nations Cup, 2004 OFC Nations Cup
AFC: Quarter finals- 2007 AFC Asian Cup| Confederations cup apps = 3| Confederations cup first = 1997| Confederations cup best = 2nd, Confederations Cup 1997-->The Australian national football team is controlled by the Football Federation Australia and represents Australia in international football (soccer) competitions. Its official nickname is "the Socceroos". It is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation and has been invited to join the ASEAN zone. Australia is a four time Oceania Champion and has been represented at two World Cup finals tournaments, in 1974 and 2006. As of August 2007, they are ranked 49th in the FIFA World Rankings The australian captain is alessio carducci{{cite news]|accessdate=2006-07-12--> and 38th in the World Football Elo Ratings.{{cite web|title=World Football Elo Ratings|url=http://www.eloratings.net/world.html|accessdate=2007-04-16-->

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 a draw. Australia, New Zealand national football team, China national football team and South Africa national football team became regular opponents in "Test" or "Friendly" matches for the next 25 years. With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia diversified 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 FIFA World Cup, after many failed qualification attempts. It would prove to be their only appearance until 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The road to the 1974 World Cup began with a series of home and away matches against Iraq national football team, New Zealand national soccer team, and Indonesia national football team. The Socceroos, having won this tournament, then played and won a two-legged fixture against one of the Socceroos' biggest rivals Iran national football team, 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 national football team, having itself knocked out Israel national football team 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 Germany national football team and West Germany national football team Germany, the Socceroos, captained by local amateur Peter Wilson, did manage a scoreless draw against Chile national football team. 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 Football World Cup, most notably the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2002 FIFA World Cup events.

USA 1994 qualifying campaign Australia's road to 1994 FIFA World Cup is an example of the difficult qualifying path which members of the Oceania confederation have had 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. After the game Argentine legend Diego Maradona was so impressed with the Socceroos performance that he said to then captain Paul Wade "Your tears of pain, will one day be tears of joy". Just to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Australia would have had to beat Argentina, the runners-up from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and ranked 9th in the world at that time.

France 1998 qualifying campaign In 1997, after winning the Oceania Football Confederation 1998 FIFA World Cup (qualification OFC), Australia had to play Iran national football team over two legs in one week, with the winner progressing to the 1998 FIFA World Cup 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. The atmosphere at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the game was described as "like that of a graveyard" by many fans - At the time the crowd that packed the MCG was the highest ever for a football match in Australia, and after being very confident of progressing to the FIFA World Cup with only 30 minutes to go - suddenly being eliminated was devastating. Harry Kewell, who would become possibly the greatest Socceroo of all announced his arrival in this tie, with goals in both the away and home legs.

Korea/Japan 2002 qualifying campaign In 2001 Australia again won the 2002 FIFA World Cup (qualification OFC) for 2002 FIFA World Cup. Second and third-string lineups thrashed a number of tiny island nations in a competition that made a mockery of the Confederation, including a world-record 22-0 win against Tonga national football team, then smashed that record with a 31-0 demolition of American Samoa national soccer team days later. Still missing Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Australia comfortably beat New Zealand national soccer team, their only real threat in the Oceania confederation. Australia then once again had to win a two leg playoff in November, in order 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 national football team. In the preceding four months Uruguay's preparation had been 2002 FIFA World Cup (qualification CONMEBOL), as follows: 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, although had played two friendly matches - a loss to Japan in August and a 1:1 draw with France in November.

In the first leg in Melbourne, Australia won 1-0 after Kevin Muscat scored from a penalty kick (football); 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 FIFA Confederations Cup against France national football team and Brazil national football team. Australia finished the competition in 3rd place after a 3rd place play-off win against 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 national football team in a friendly in London in 2003.

Germany 2006 qualifying campaign In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC). The team drew 2-2 with the Solomon Islands national football team, 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 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, 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 Russian national football team.

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 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (play-off CONMEBOL-OFC) against the fifth placed team from the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) for a place in the World Cup.

In October 2005, Australia beat Jamaica national football team 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 national football team 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 (they ended up flying over in "economy" class seating on a regular commercial flight). When Uruguay asked to move the kickoff back, Australia, which by that time had arranged, with their sponsor Qantas, a specially fitted out 747 (which included massage tables, and much room and space) 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-shot 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 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (play-off CONMEBOL-OFC) 4-2, making Australia the only team to ever qualify for a World Cup via a penalty shootout. 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.

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 Socceroos captain, expressed 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 Asian Football Confederation.

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. Earlier, on December 1, the AFC Executive Committee announced that Australia will be put into the ASEAN zone. Currently, Australia is an invitee member of ASEAN Football Federation.

Australia was duly entered into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification which began in 2006. On January 4, Australia was drawn into group D, alongside Bahrain national football team, Lebanon national football team and Kuwait national football team. Lebanon later withdrew due to 2006 Lebanon War in the area. Australia's first game as a member of the Asian Football Confederation was on February 22, a 3-1 win away to Bahrain national football team in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification. They subsequently qualified for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup on August 16 after defeating Kuwait national football team 2-0 in Sydney.

Preparation for Germany 2006 Australia was placed into 2006 FIFA World Cup - Group F, along with defending champions Brazil national football team, Croatia national football team and Japan national football team.

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 FIFA World Cup 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 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 Special Broadcasting Service 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..

On 25 May 2006 in Melbourne, Australia played a friendly against Greece national football team, current 2004 European Football Championship, and ranked #20 in FIFA rankings. Australia won 1-0 thanks to a Josip Skoko volley early on in the match. The match, at the 100,000 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 national football team 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 next day, the Socceroos left for Germany.

Australia played a final pre-World Cup friendly against 123rd-ranked Liechtenstein national football team 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 opponents until the final 15 minutes when a goal each from Joshua Kennedy and John Aloisi won Australia the game 3-1.

Germany 2006 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 national football team, it was reported in the west that the Japan Football Association chairman claimed the Socceroos were "guilty of a lot of dirty fouls" and that "they target ankles in particular." However, a further scrutiny of the original Japanese script reveals that there was a misinterpretation by the western media, possibly to spice up the competition. While it is unclear who started this mistranslation, deliberately or otherwise, Saburo Kawabuchi of Japan Football Association later commented that this would not be the first or the last time mistranslation happens and should not be taken too seriously.

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+') 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 national football team in their second Group F game in Munich on June 18. The Australians held Brazil to a 0-0 half time scoreline before Adriano Leite Ribeiro put Brazil in front (49'). Brazil substitute Frederico Chaves Guedes 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 national football team 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. Here, Simunic is the world record holder for "Most Yellow Cards in a Football Match." 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 national football team in Kaiserslautern. Kewell was unavailable for the game, entering the stadium on crutches reportedly suffering from an attack of gout and infected blisters (later diagnosed as septic arthritis). 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 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 with Australia eliminated. 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 Russian national football team. Australian assistant coach Graham Arnold branded the penalty a "joke", to the agreement of several Australian players, including Tim Cahill, who believed Grosso should have been cautioned for diving. Italian coach Marcello Lippi denied that Grosso had dived, describing the incident as "a clear foul". Australia became the team to go out of a World Cup with the last kick of the ball (in regular time), however FIFA President Sepp Blatter quite extraordinarily went on to formally apologise to the Australian FA months later - for what he considered a series of errors in refereeing judgment throughout the match against Italy.

After Germany 2006 & Preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup 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. Several famous foreign coaches have been linked to the job but no one has been hired yet. Hiddink's assistant, Graham Arnold succeeded Hiddink's reign as a caretaker coach for the upcoming 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. While, former Socceroos and Adelaide United FC coach, John Kosmina was appointed as Arnold's assistant. They both later on were confirmed to continue on the job until the conclusion of 2007 AFC Asian Cup, while the Football Federation Australia continues the search for Hiddink's successor to lead Socceroos for 2010 FIFA World Cup.

, 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifying match, Aussie Stadium, Sydney, 16 August 2006.

After moving to Asian Football Federation in 2006, Australia entered into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification. Australia was drawn into Group D, alongside Bahrain national football team, Lebanon national football team and Kuwait national football team. Lebanon later withdrew due to the 2006 Lebanon War in the area. Australia began their first AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign in February 2006, prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In their first match, the Socceroos defeated Bahrain national football team 3-1 in Manama, Bahrain.

The second qualifying match took place after the World Cup. At this time, Guus Hiddink had resigned from his position as Socceroos' coach, leaving his former assistant Graham Arnold in charge. In his first match as Socceroos' coach, Arnold managed to lead the Socceroos to victory against Kuwait national football team 2-0 in Sydney with a squad comprised of only A-League players. This win ensured Australia qualification for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.

Australia then finished their qualifying campaign as Group D winner with 3 wins and 1 defeat. Their first and only defeat in the 2007 Asian Cup qualification came on September 2006, when Kuwait defeated Australia 2-0 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Later in 2006, Australia played two friendly matches against Paraguay national football team and Ghana national football team in their preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup. On December 19, Australia were seeded for the 2007 Asian Cup and subsequently drawn in Group A along with Thailand national football team (one of the co-hosts), Oman national football team and Iraq national football team.

Australia began 2007 with a friendly match against Denmark national football team, where they suffered their second defeat under Arnold. However, Australia bounced back in their next match, a 2-0 win away against China national football team. Australia then played Uruguay national football team, on June 2 in Sydney, which was known as 'The Rematch' despite the match not being an official FIFA international. Australia lost the match 2-1 with Mile Sterjovski scoring in the 6th minute but the scores were levelled in the 40th when Diego Forlan scored. But an error by young Australian keeper, Bradley Jones, gave Uruguay the winner in the 77th minute.

On June 30, Australia defeated Singapore national football team 3-0 in their final match prior to the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. In this match, Harry Kewell returned to the Socceroos for the first time since the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He marked his return by scoring a goal in between captain Mark Viduka's brace.

Asian Cup 2007 Australia, led by Graham Arnold, went to their first 2007_AFC_Asian_Cup sending a strong squad which included 15 players from the 2006 FIFA World Cup team. Australia was drawn in 2007_AFC_Asian_Cup#Group_A alongside (co-host) Thailand national football team, Oman national football team and Iraq national football team.

In their first match, Australia were only able to earn a 1-1 draw against a lower-ranked Oman national football team team. Australia played poorly, with Oman leading for most of the match, but were once again saved by Tim Cahill who scored a late equalizer in the 90th minute after coming on as a substitute in the second half.

The Socceroos lost the second group match 3-1 to Iraq national football team, with Lucas Neill receiving a red card (90'), following two yellow cards. Mark Viduka (49') scored the lone goal for the Australians.

In the third match of the group stage, the Socceroos defeated Thailand national football team 4-0 with Mark Viduka scoring two goals, and Michael Beauchamp and Harry Kewell scoring one apiece. This victory assured Australia's progression to the quarter finals of the tournament.

After drawing 1-1 with Japan national football team after extra time, Australia exited the tournament on penalties at the quarter final stage. The first two Australian penalty kicks were both unsuccessful by Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill with Australia eventually bowing out 4-3 to end their inaugural participation in Asia's most prestigious tournament.

In a friendly international at the MCG on the 11th of September, 2007, the Socceroos were defeated by Argentina one goal to nil. The friendly was Graham Arnold's last game as head coach. It has been widely speculated that Dutchman Dick Advocaat will take over as Head Coach for the Socceroos 2010 World Cup Qualifiers by the end of the year.

Player drain to other countries One 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. Example of Australian-born players who have chosen other national teams are:

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

Fixtures and results In 2006, Australia was involved in 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches against Bahrain national football team and Kuwait national football team, 2006 FIFA World Cup matches in Germany, friendly matches as preparation for 2006 FIFA World Cup against Greece national football team, Netherlands national football team and Liechtenstein national football team and friendly matches as preparation for 2007 AFC Asian Cup against Paraguay national football team and Ghana national football team.

In 2007, Australia was involved in friendly matches as preparation for 2007 AFC Asian Cup against Denmark national football team, China national football team, Uruguay national football team and Singapore national football team and 2007 AFC Asian Cup matches in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Tournament records World Cup {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||1930 FIFA World Cup - 1962 FIFA World Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1966 FIFA World Cup - 1970 FIFA World Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1974 FIFA World Cup || Round 1 || 3 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 0 || 5|-||1978 FIFA World Cup - 2002 FIFA World Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||2006 FIFA World Cup || Round 2 || 4 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 5 || 6|-||Total || || 7 || 1 || 2 || 4 || 5 || 11|}

Asian Cup {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||2007 AFC Asian Cup ||Final|| 4 || 1 || 2 || 1 || 7 || 5|-||Total || || 4 || 1 || 2 || 1 || 7 || 5|}

Confederations Cup {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||1992 King Fahd Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1995 King Fahd Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1997 FIFA Confederations Cup || Runner Up || 5 || 2 || 1 || 2 || 4 || 8|-||1999 FIFA Confederations Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||2001 FIFA Confederations Cup || 3rd Place || 4 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 3 || 2|-||2003 FIFA Confederations Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||2005 FIFA Confederations Cup || Round 1 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 5 || 10|-||2009 FIFA Confederations Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||Total || || 12 || 4 || 1 || 7 || 12 || 20|}

Oceania Nations Cup No longer an Oceania Football Confederation member.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||1973 OFC Nations Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1980 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 4 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 24 || 2|-||1996 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 4 || 3 || 1 || 0 || 14 || 0|-||1998 OFC Nations Cup || Runner Up || 4 || 3 || 0 || 1 || 23 || 3|-||2000 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 4 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 26 || 0|-||2002 OFC Nations Cup || Runner Up || 5 || 4 || 0 || 1 || 23 || 2|-||2004 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 7 || 6 || 1 || 0 || 32 || 4|-||Total || || 28 || 20 || 2 || 2 || 142 || 11|}



Coaches {| class="wikitable"!width=300 |Name!width=80 |Period!width=45 |Matches!width=45 |Wins!width=45 |Draws!width=45 |Losses!width=300 |Achievements|-| Tiko Jelisavcic| align="center" |1967 - 1969| align="center" | 23| align="center" | 13| align="center" | 7| align="center" | 3||-| [Ralé Rasic|-| [Brian Green (Australian football coach)| align="center" |1976| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 0| align="center" | 0||-| Jim Shoulder| align="center" |1979 - 1981| align="center" | 18| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 8| align="center" | 7| Winner of the [1980 OFC Nations Cup| align="center" |1981 - 1983| align="center" | 12| align="center" | 8| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 3||-| [Frank Arok (caretaker during Frank Arok absence)| align="center" |1983| align="center" | 4| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 0| align="center" | 1||-| [Les Scheinflug (caretaker)]| align="center" |1990 - 1996| align="center" | 56| align="center" | 26| align="center" | 11| align="center" | 19| Winner of the 1996 OFC Nations Cup (caretaker during Eddie Thomson absence)| align="center" |1992| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 0||-| [Vic Fernandez (caretaker during Eddie Thomson absence)] (caretaker during Eddie Thomson absence)| align="center" |1994| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 0| align="center" | 0||-| Raul Blanco (caretaker)]| align="center" |1997 - 1998| align="center" | 23| align="center" | 15| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 5| Runner-up of the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup (caretaker)| align="center" |1998 - 1999| align="center" | 5| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 1| Runner-up of the [1998 OFC Nations Cup| align="center" |1999 - 2005| align="center" | 58| align="center" | 34| align="center" | 9| align="center" | 15| Winner of the [2000 OFC Nations Cup
3rd place at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup
Runner-up of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup
Winner of the 2004 OFC Nations Cup
1st round of the [2005 FIFA Confederations Cup| align="center" |2005 - 2006| align="center" | 13| align="center" | 8| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 3| 2nd round at the [2006 FIFA World Cup| align="center" |2006 - 2007| align="center" | 14| align="center" | 5| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 6| Quarter finalists at the [2007 Asian Nations Cup| align="center" |2008 -| align="center" | -| align="center" | -| align="center" | -| align="center" | -| -|}

Players Current squad The following players have been named for the Socceroos friendly against Argentina_national_football_team in September.Players are sorted by shirt number and international caps.
Caps and goals are correct as of 11 September 2007, including against Argentina national football team.


Recent call-up The following players have all recently been called up to the Australia squad within the last 18 months.
Players are sorted by position and caps and goals are correct as of September 2007.

Previous squads

Notable former players Players are ordered by year of debut with national football team 1947 1955 1965 1967 1969 1970 1974 1977 1979 1980 1981 1983 1984 1985 1986 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996

Players with most caps As of 23 July 2007, the players with the most caps for Australia are:{]|1988 - 1998|87|2|-!2|align="left"|[Paul Wade|1991 - 2006|76|3|-!4|align="left"|[Peter Wilson|1967 - 1977|61|25|-|align="left"|[Brett Emerton|1977 - 1988|60|25|-|align="left"|[Stan Lazaridis|1991 - 1998|59|0|-!10|align="left"|[Tony Popović|1970 - 1980|57|4|-|}

Players with most goals As of 22 July 2007, the players with the most goals for Australia are:{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="3" style="text-align: center;"|-!width=20 |#!width=120 |Name!width=80 |Career!width=80 |Goals (Caps)!width=80 |Average|-!1|style="text-align:left;"|

{{Infobox National football team| Name = Australia| Badge = FootballFederationAustralia-logo.png| FIFA Trigramme = AUS| FIFA Rank = 48| FIFA max = 31| FIFA max date = July 1997| FIFA min = 92| FIFA min date = June 2000| Elo Rank = 38| Elo max = 9| Elo max date = November 2001| Elo min = 75| Elo min date = November 1965| Nickname = Socceroos| Association = Football Federation Australia ([Asia)]| Captain = Mark Viduka and Lucas Neill (87)| Top scorer = [Damian Mori (29)], New Zealand; June 17 1922)]
(Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia; April 11 2001)], Australia; September 17 1955)], Finland; September 21 1960)]| Regional name = OFC Nations Cup &
AFC Asian Cup (Since 2006)]
AFC: 2007 AFC Asian Cup| Regional cup best = OFC: Winners - 1980 OFC Nations Cup, 1996 OFC Nations Cup,
2000 OFC Nations Cup, 2004 OFC Nations Cup
AFC: Quarter finals- 2007 AFC Asian Cup| Confederations cup apps = 3| Confederations cup first = 1997| Confederations cup best = 2nd, Confederations Cup 1997-->The Australian national football team is controlled by the Football Federation Australia and represents Australia in international football (soccer) competitions. Its official nickname is "the Socceroos". It is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation and has been invited to join the ASEAN zone. Australia is a four time Oceania Champion and has been represented at two World Cup finals tournaments, in 1974 and 2006. As of August 2007, they are ranked 49th in the FIFA World Rankings The australian captain is alessio carducci{{cite news]|accessdate=2006-07-12--> and 38th in the World Football Elo Ratings.{{cite web|title=World Football Elo Ratings|url=http://www.eloratings.net/world.html|accessdate=2007-04-16-->

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 a draw. Australia, New Zealand national football team, China national football team and South Africa national football team became regular opponents in "Test" or "Friendly" matches for the next 25 years. With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia diversified 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 FIFA World Cup, after many failed qualification attempts. It would prove to be their only appearance until 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The road to the 1974 World Cup began with a series of home and away matches against Iraq national football team, New Zealand national soccer team, and Indonesia national football team. The Socceroos, having won this tournament, then played and won a two-legged fixture against one of the Socceroos' biggest rivals Iran national football team, 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 national football team, having itself knocked out Israel national football team 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 Germany national football team and West Germany national football team Germany, the Socceroos, captained by local amateur Peter Wilson, did manage a scoreless draw against Chile national football team. 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 Football World Cup, most notably the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2002 FIFA World Cup events.

USA 1994 qualifying campaign Australia's road to 1994 FIFA World Cup is an example of the difficult qualifying path which members of the Oceania confederation have had 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. After the game Argentine legend Diego Maradona was so impressed with the Socceroos performance that he said to then captain Paul Wade "Your tears of pain, will one day be tears of joy". Just to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Australia would have had to beat Argentina, the runners-up from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and ranked 9th in the world at that time.

France 1998 qualifying campaign In 1997, after winning the Oceania Football Confederation 1998 FIFA World Cup (qualification OFC), Australia had to play Iran national football team over two legs in one week, with the winner progressing to the 1998 FIFA World Cup 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. The atmosphere at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the game was described as "like that of a graveyard" by many fans - At the time the crowd that packed the MCG was the highest ever for a football match in Australia, and after being very confident of progressing to the FIFA World Cup with only 30 minutes to go - suddenly being eliminated was devastating. Harry Kewell, who would become possibly the greatest Socceroo of all announced his arrival in this tie, with goals in both the away and home legs.

Korea/Japan 2002 qualifying campaign In 2001 Australia again won the 2002 FIFA World Cup (qualification OFC) for 2002 FIFA World Cup. Second and third-string lineups thrashed a number of tiny island nations in a competition that made a mockery of the Confederation, including a world-record 22-0 win against Tonga national football team, then smashed that record with a 31-0 demolition of American Samoa national soccer team days later. Still missing Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Australia comfortably beat New Zealand national soccer team, their only real threat in the Oceania confederation. Australia then once again had to win a two leg playoff in November, in order 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 national football team. In the preceding four months Uruguay's preparation had been 2002 FIFA World Cup (qualification CONMEBOL), as follows: 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, although had played two friendly matches - a loss to Japan in August and a 1:1 draw with France in November.

In the first leg in Melbourne, Australia won 1-0 after Kevin Muscat scored from a penalty kick (football); 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 FIFA Confederations Cup against France national football team and Brazil national football team. Australia finished the competition in 3rd place after a 3rd place play-off win against 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 national football team in a friendly in London in 2003.

Germany 2006 qualifying campaign In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC). The team drew 2-2 with the Solomon Islands national football team, 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 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, 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 Russian national football team.

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 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (play-off CONMEBOL-OFC) against the fifth placed team from the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) for a place in the World Cup.

In October 2005, Australia beat Jamaica national football team 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 national football team 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 (they ended up flying over in "economy" class seating on a regular commercial flight). When Uruguay asked to move the kickoff back, Australia, which by that time had arranged, with their sponsor Qantas, a specially fitted out 747 (which included massage tables, and much room and space) 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-shot 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 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (play-off CONMEBOL-OFC) 4-2, making Australia the only team to ever qualify for a World Cup via a penalty shootout. 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.

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 Socceroos captain, expressed 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 Asian Football Confederation.

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. Earlier, on December 1, the AFC Executive Committee announced that Australia will be put into the ASEAN zone. Currently, Australia is an invitee member of ASEAN Football Federation.

Australia was duly entered into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification which began in 2006. On January 4, Australia was drawn into group D, alongside Bahrain national football team, Lebanon national football team and Kuwait national football team. Lebanon later withdrew due to 2006 Lebanon War in the area. Australia's first game as a member of the Asian Football Confederation was on February 22, a 3-1 win away to Bahrain national football team in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification. They subsequently qualified for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup on August 16 after defeating Kuwait national football team 2-0 in Sydney.

Preparation for Germany 2006 Australia was placed into 2006 FIFA World Cup - Group F, along with defending champions Brazil national football team, Croatia national football team and Japan national football team.

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 FIFA World Cup 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 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 Special Broadcasting Service 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..

On 25 May 2006 in Melbourne, Australia played a friendly against Greece national football team, current 2004 European Football Championship, and ranked #20 in FIFA rankings. Australia won 1-0 thanks to a Josip Skoko volley early on in the match. The match, at the 100,000 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 national football team 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 next day, the Socceroos left for Germany.

Australia played a final pre-World Cup friendly against 123rd-ranked Liechtenstein national football team 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 opponents until the final 15 minutes when a goal each from Joshua Kennedy and John Aloisi won Australia the game 3-1.

Germany 2006 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 national football team, it was reported in the west that the Japan Football Association chairman claimed the Socceroos were "guilty of a lot of dirty fouls" and that "they target ankles in particular." However, a further scrutiny of the original Japanese script reveals that there was a misinterpretation by the western media, possibly to spice up the competition. While it is unclear who started this mistranslation, deliberately or otherwise, Saburo Kawabuchi of Japan Football Association later commented that this would not be the first or the last time mistranslation happens and should not be taken too seriously.

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+') 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 national football team in their second Group F game in Munich on June 18. The Australians held Brazil to a 0-0 half time scoreline before Adriano Leite Ribeiro put Brazil in front (49'). Brazil substitute Frederico Chaves Guedes 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 national football team 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. Here, Simunic is the world record holder for "Most Yellow Cards in a Football Match." 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 national football team in Kaiserslautern. Kewell was unavailable for the game, entering the stadium on crutches reportedly suffering from an attack of gout and infected blisters (later diagnosed as septic arthritis). 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 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 with Australia eliminated. 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 Russian national football team. Australian assistant coach Graham Arnold branded the penalty a "joke", to the agreement of several Australian players, including Tim Cahill, who believed Grosso should have been cautioned for diving. Italian coach Marcello Lippi denied that Grosso had dived, describing the incident as "a clear foul". Australia became the team to go out of a World Cup with the last kick of the ball (in regular time), however FIFA President Sepp Blatter quite extraordinarily went on to formally apologise to the Australian FA months later - for what he considered a series of errors in refereeing judgment throughout the match against Italy.

After Germany 2006 & Preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup 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. Several famous foreign coaches have been linked to the job but no one has been hired yet. Hiddink's assistant, Graham Arnold succeeded Hiddink's reign as a caretaker coach for the upcoming 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. While, former Socceroos and Adelaide United FC coach, John Kosmina was appointed as Arnold's assistant. They both later on were confirmed to continue on the job until the conclusion of 2007 AFC Asian Cup, while the Football Federation Australia continues the search for Hiddink's successor to lead Socceroos for 2010 FIFA World Cup.

, 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifying match, Aussie Stadium, Sydney, 16 August 2006.

After moving to Asian Football Federation in 2006, Australia entered into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification. Australia was drawn into Group D, alongside Bahrain national football team, Lebanon national football team and Kuwait national football team. Lebanon later withdrew due to the 2006 Lebanon War in the area. Australia began their first AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign in February 2006, prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In their first match, the Socceroos defeated Bahrain national football team 3-1 in Manama, Bahrain.

The second qualifying match took place after the World Cup. At this time, Guus Hiddink had resigned from his position as Socceroos' coach, leaving his former assistant Graham Arnold in charge. In his first match as Socceroos' coach, Arnold managed to lead the Socceroos to victory against Kuwait national football team 2-0 in Sydney with a squad comprised of only A-League players. This win ensured Australia qualification for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.

Australia then finished their qualifying campaign as Group D winner with 3 wins and 1 defeat. Their first and only defeat in the 2007 Asian Cup qualification came on September 2006, when Kuwait defeated Australia 2-0 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Later in 2006, Australia played two friendly matches against Paraguay national football team and Ghana national football team in their preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup. On December 19, Australia were seeded for the 2007 Asian Cup and subsequently drawn in Group A along with Thailand national football team (one of the co-hosts), Oman national football team and Iraq national football team.

Australia began 2007 with a friendly match against Denmark national football team, where they suffered their second defeat under Arnold. However, Australia bounced back in their next match, a 2-0 win away against China national football team. Australia then played Uruguay national football team, on June 2 in Sydney, which was known as 'The Rematch' despite the match not being an official FIFA international. Australia lost the match 2-1 with Mile Sterjovski scoring in the 6th minute but the scores were levelled in the 40th when Diego Forlan scored. But an error by young Australian keeper, Bradley Jones, gave Uruguay the winner in the 77th minute.

On June 30, Australia defeated Singapore national football team 3-0 in their final match prior to the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. In this match, Harry Kewell returned to the Socceroos for the first time since the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He marked his return by scoring a goal in between captain Mark Viduka's brace.

Asian Cup 2007 Australia, led by Graham Arnold, went to their first 2007_AFC_Asian_Cup sending a strong squad which included 15 players from the 2006 FIFA World Cup team. Australia was drawn in 2007_AFC_Asian_Cup#Group_A alongside (co-host) Thailand national football team, Oman national football team and Iraq national football team.

In their first match, Australia were only able to earn a 1-1 draw against a lower-ranked Oman national football team team. Australia played poorly, with Oman leading for most of the match, but were once again saved by Tim Cahill who scored a late equalizer in the 90th minute after coming on as a substitute in the second half.

The Socceroos lost the second group match 3-1 to Iraq national football team, with Lucas Neill receiving a red card (90'), following two yellow cards. Mark Viduka (49') scored the lone goal for the Australians.

In the third match of the group stage, the Socceroos defeated Thailand national football team 4-0 with Mark Viduka scoring two goals, and Michael Beauchamp and Harry Kewell scoring one apiece. This victory assured Australia's progression to the quarter finals of the tournament.

After drawing 1-1 with Japan national football team after extra time, Australia exited the tournament on penalties at the quarter final stage. The first two Australian penalty kicks were both unsuccessful by Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill with Australia eventually bowing out 4-3 to end their inaugural participation in Asia's most prestigious tournament.

In a friendly international at the MCG on the 11th of September, 2007, the Socceroos were defeated by Argentina one goal to nil. The friendly was Graham Arnold's last game as head coach. It has been widely speculated that Dutchman Dick Advocaat will take over as Head Coach for the Socceroos 2010 World Cup Qualifiers by the end of the year.

Player drain to other countries One 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. Example of Australian-born players who have chosen other national teams are:

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

Fixtures and results In 2006, Australia was involved in 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches against Bahrain national football team and Kuwait national football team, 2006 FIFA World Cup matches in Germany, friendly matches as preparation for 2006 FIFA World Cup against Greece national football team, Netherlands national football team and Liechtenstein national football team and friendly matches as preparation for 2007 AFC Asian Cup against Paraguay national football team and Ghana national football team.

In 2007, Australia was involved in friendly matches as preparation for 2007 AFC Asian Cup against Denmark national football team, China national football team, Uruguay national football team and Singapore national football team and 2007 AFC Asian Cup matches in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Tournament records World Cup {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||1930 FIFA World Cup - 1962 FIFA World Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1966 FIFA World Cup - 1970 FIFA World Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1974 FIFA World Cup || Round 1 || 3 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 0 || 5|-||1978 FIFA World Cup - 2002 FIFA World Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||2006 FIFA World Cup || Round 2 || 4 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 5 || 6|-||Total || || 7 || 1 || 2 || 4 || 5 || 11|}

Asian Cup {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||2007 AFC Asian Cup ||Final|| 4 || 1 || 2 || 1 || 7 || 5|-||Total || || 4 || 1 || 2 || 1 || 7 || 5|}

Confederations Cup {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||1992 King Fahd Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1995 King Fahd Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1997 FIFA Confederations Cup || Runner Up || 5 || 2 || 1 || 2 || 4 || 8|-||1999 FIFA Confederations Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||2001 FIFA Confederations Cup || 3rd Place || 4 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 3 || 2|-||2003 FIFA Confederations Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||2005 FIFA Confederations Cup || Round 1 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 5 || 10|-||2009 FIFA Confederations Cup || DNQ || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||Total || || 12 || 4 || 1 || 7 || 12 || 20|}

Oceania Nations Cup No longer an Oceania Football Confederation member.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|-!width=80 | Year!width=80 | Result!width=20 |Pld!width=20 |W!width=20 |D!width=20 |L!width=20 |GF!width=20 |GA|-||1973 OFC Nations Cup || DNP || – || – || – || – || – || –|-||1980 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 4 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 24 || 2|-||1996 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 4 || 3 || 1 || 0 || 14 || 0|-||1998 OFC Nations Cup || Runner Up || 4 || 3 || 0 || 1 || 23 || 3|-||2000 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 4 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 26 || 0|-||2002 OFC Nations Cup || Runner Up || 5 || 4 || 0 || 1 || 23 || 2|-||2004 OFC Nations Cup || Winner || 7 || 6 || 1 || 0 || 32 || 4|-||Total || || 28 || 20 || 2 || 2 || 142 || 11|}



Coaches {| class="wikitable"!width=300 |Name!width=80 |Period!width=45 |Matches!width=45 |Wins!width=45 |Draws!width=45 |Losses!width=300 |Achievements|-| Tiko Jelisavcic| align="center" |1967 - 1969| align="center" | 23| align="center" | 13| align="center" | 7| align="center" | 3||-| [Ralé Rasic|-| [Brian Green (Australian football coach)| align="center" |1976| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 0| align="center" | 0||-| Jim Shoulder| align="center" |1979 - 1981| align="center" | 18| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 8| align="center" | 7| Winner of the [1980 OFC Nations Cup| align="center" |1981 - 1983| align="center" | 12| align="center" | 8| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 3||-| [Frank Arok (caretaker during Frank Arok absence)| align="center" |1983| align="center" | 4| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 0| align="center" | 1||-| [Les Scheinflug (caretaker)]| align="center" |1990 - 1996| align="center" | 56| align="center" | 26| align="center" | 11| align="center" | 19| Winner of the 1996 OFC Nations Cup (caretaker during Eddie Thomson absence)| align="center" |1992| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 0||-| [Vic Fernandez (caretaker during Eddie Thomson absence)] (caretaker during Eddie Thomson absence)| align="center" |1994| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 0| align="center" | 0||-| Raul Blanco (caretaker)]| align="center" |1997 - 1998| align="center" | 23| align="center" | 15| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 5| Runner-up of the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup (caretaker)| align="center" |1998 - 1999| align="center" | 5| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 1| align="center" | 1| Runner-up of the [1998 OFC Nations Cup| align="center" |1999 - 2005| align="center" | 58| align="center" | 34| align="center" | 9| align="center" | 15| Winner of the [2000 OFC Nations Cup
3rd place at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup
Runner-up of the 2002 OFC Nations Cup
Winner of the 2004 OFC Nations Cup
1st round of the [2005 FIFA Confederations Cup| align="center" |2005 - 2006| align="center" | 13| align="center" | 8| align="center" | 2| align="center" | 3| 2nd round at the [2006 FIFA World Cup| align="center" |2006 - 2007| align="center" | 14| align="center" | 5| align="center" | 3| align="center" | 6| Quarter finalists at the [2007 Asian Nations Cup| align="center" |2008 -| align="center" | -| align="center" | -| align="center" | -| align="center" | -| -|}

Players Current squad The following players have been named for the Socceroos friendly against Argentina_national_football_team in September.Players are sorted by shirt number and international caps.
Caps and goals are correct as of 11 September 2007, including against Argentina national football team.


Recent call-up The following players have all recently been called up to the Australia squad within the last 18 months.
Players are sorted by position and caps and goals are correct as of September 2007.

Previous squads

Notable former players Players are ordered by year of debut with national football team 1947 1955 1965 1967 1969 1970 1974 1977 1979 1980 1981 1983 1984 1985 1986 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996

Players with most caps As of 23 July 2007, the players with the most caps for Australia are:{]|1988 - 1998|87|2|-!2|align="left"|[Paul Wade|1991 - 2006|76|3|-!4|align="left"|[Peter Wilson|1967 - 1977|61|25|-|align="left"|[Brett Emerton|1977 - 1988|60|25|-|align="left"|[Stan Lazaridis|1991 - 1998|59|0|-!10|align="left"|[Tony Popović|1970 - 1980|57|4|-|}

Players with most goals As of 22 July 2007, the players with the most goals for Australia are:{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="3" style="text-align: center;"|-!width=20 |#!width=120 |Name!width=80 |Career!width=80 |Goals (Caps)!width=80 |Average|-!1|style="text-align:left;"|

Socceroos
Socceroos

Australia national football (soccer) team - Wikipedia, the free ...
The Australian national football team represents Australia in international association football (soccer) competitions. Its official nickname is "the Socceroos".

NewsNow: Socceroos
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The World Cup qualifying matches of the Australian national team, the Socceroos, will be shown on free-to-air television after the Australian government agreed to add them to the ...

ABC Sport - Socceroos
ABC Online Index - Sport News ... Posted: 18:33:22 Monday, July 9, 2007. Socceroos in a lather over sapping Asian heat

FIFA.com - Socceroos savour perfect start
Pim Verbeek enjoyed a dream debut as Australia coach as the Socceroos blazed past Qatar 3-0 in their first-ever Asian FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Football - Yahoo!7 Sport
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has promised to use Tuesday's (Wednesday 5am AEST) friendly against South Africa at Loftus Road to experiment with personnel.

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Australia's Sally McLellan has won the silver medal in the women's 100m hurdles at the Beijing Olympics. ...Read More

Electronic Arts UK Community - View Profile: socceroos-pro
socceroos-pro is a Rookie in the Electronic Arts UK Community. View socceroos-pro's profile. ... About socceroos-pro Biography I Love Soccer, I Live It I Drink It, I Eat It.

 

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