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
Head coach	Graham Arnold (caretaker)
Most caps	Alex Tobin (87)
Top scorer	Damian Mori (29)
FIFA code	AUS
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	37 (-4)
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 (World 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 / AFC: 0 (first in OFC: 1980 / 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". Australia 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 August 2006, they are ranked 37th in the FIFA World Rankings making them the highest ranked member of the Asian Football Confederation. They are 18th 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 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 Iran, managing to hold on to a slim overall lead in front of 120,000 Iranian men in Tehran, during the second leg. South Korea, having itself knocked out Isreal 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 the 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 has to endure. In order to qualify for USA 94, Australia had to endure 3 playoff stages. The first stage was the Oceania playoff. Australia finished on top of Group 1 in Oceania going undefeated in 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, one of which appeared offside, and went through on the away goals rule. Despite not qualifying for the World Cup finals, Australia held the distinction of being just one of two teams who went through the entire 1998 World Cup campaign undefeated – the other being eventual champions France, who as hosts qualified automatically.

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 questionable dismissal of defender Luke Wilkshire in the 61st minute, for an altercation with a Dutch player. The referee deemed this to be his second bookable offence and he received a second yellow and consequent red card. The Dutch team claimed afterwards that they were concerned at the rough tackling of the Australian players, with many avoiding tackles against their aggressive opponents. 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 Brazilian player 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. Harry 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 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 moments later. The final score was 1-0 in favour of Italy, eliminating Australia from the tournament. 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.

Coach Guus Hiddink officially ended his reign as the coach of the Socceroos following the 1-0 loss to Italy and will now coach Russia.

Post 2006 World 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.

Graham Arnold holds the Head Coach position in a caretaker capacity.

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

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
• Sven-Göran Eriksson, recently coach of England
• 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 Gerard Houllier and made an offer, but no agreement was reached.

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, Australia beat Kuwait 2-0 in Sydney, which 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.

Upcoming matches

Australia's upcoming matches are as follows:

Asia Cup Qualifiers

• Kuwait v Australia - September 6 2006 - Kuwait
• Australia v Bahrain - October 11 2006 - Aussie Stadium, Sydney, Australia

Friendlies

• Croatia v Australia - September 1 2006 - Zagreb, Croatia
• Australia v Paraguay - October 7 2006 - Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia

Current Squad (Asian Cup Qualifiers)

This is the 22-man squad used for Australia's match against Kuwait. A * indicates that the player was part of the 18-man match squad. Caps and goals correct as of after the Kuwait match.

Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
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
27	2DF	Alvin Ceccoli *	August 5 1974	6	0	Sydney FC
~~	2DF	Alex Wilkinson	August 13 1984	0	0	Central Coast Mariners
54	2DF	Iain Fyfe *	April 3 1982	0	0	Sydney FC
~~	2DF	Adrian Leijer	March 25 1986	0	0	Melbourne Victory
33	2DF	Mark Milligan *	August 4 1985	2	0	Sydney FC
46	2DF	Kevin Muscat *	August 7 1973	46	10	Melbourne Victory
35	2DF	Jade North *	January 7 1982	13	0	Newcastle United Jets
38	2DF	Michael Valkanis *	August 23 1974	1	0	Adelaide United FC

Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
30	3MF	David Carney *	November 30 1983	2	0	Sydney FC
44	3MF	Steve Corica *	11 November 1980	41	6	Sydney FC
45	3MF	Travis Dodd *	January 6 1980	1	1	Adelaide United
11	3MF	Stan Lazaridis	August 16 1972	59	0	Perth Glory
48	3MF	Matt McKay *	January 11 1983	1	0	Queensland Roar
50	3MF	Stuart Musialik *	March 29 1980	0	0	Newcastle United Jets
47	3MF	Kristian Sarkies *	October 25 1986	3	0	Melbourne Victory

Strikers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
~~	4FW	Mark Bridge	November 7 1985	0	0	Newcastle United Jets
28	4FW	Alex Brosque *	October 12 1983	4	0	Sydney FC
19	4FW	Joel Griffiths *	August 21 1979	2	1	Newcastle United Jets
29	4FW	Sasho Petrovski *	March 5 1975	2	1	Sydney FC
22	4FW	Archie Thompson *	October 23 1978	21	21	Melbourne Victory

2006 World Cup squad

The head coach for 2006 World Cup was Guus Hiddink, whose contract ended at after the competition.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Mark Schwarzer	6 October 1972	40	Middlesbrough
2	2DF	Lucas Neill	9 March 1978	29	Blackburn Rovers
3	2DF	Craig Moore	12 December 1975	37	Newcastle United
4	3MF	Tim Cahill	6 December 1979	20	Everton
5	3MF	Jason Čulina	5 August 1980	17	PSV
6	2DF	Tony Popović	4 July 1973	57	Al-Arabi
7	3MF	Brett Emerton	22 February 1979	51	Blackburn Rovers
8	3MF	Josip Skoko	10 December 1975	46	Wigan Athletic
9	4FW	Mark Viduka	9 October 1975	37	Middlesbrough
10	4FW	Harry Kewell	22 September 1978	23	Liverpool
11	3MF	Stan Lazaridis	16 August 1972	59	Perth Glory
12	1GK	Ante Čović	13 June 1975	1	Hammarby
13	3MF	Vince Grella	5 October 1979	21	Parma
14	2DF	Scott Chipperfield	30 December 1975	50	FC Basel
15	4FW	John Aloisi	5 February 1976	45	Alavés
16	2DF	Michael Beauchamp	8 March 1981	2	FC Nürnberg
17	4FW	Archie Thompson	23 October 1978	20	Melbourne Victory
18	1GK	Željko Kalac	16 December 1972	53	AC Milan
19	4FW	Joshua Kennedy	20 August 1982	3	FC Nürnberg
20	3MF	Luke Wilkshire	2 October 1981	10	FC Twente
21	3MF	Mile Sterjovski	27 May 1979	25	FC Basel
22	2DF	Mark Milligan	4 August 1985	1	Sydney FC
23	3MF	Mark Bresciano	11 February 1980	28	Palermo

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
• Anthony Šerić - Croatia
• Josip Šimunić - Croatia
• Saša Ilić - Serbia and Montenegro

The following non-natives were eligible to play for Australia but chose other national teams:

• Christian Vieri - Italy. Vieri was born in Bologna, but raised in Australia, and was eligible for both.
• Craig Johnston - England. Johnston grew up in Australia but was born in South Africa to Australian parents. He played for England at the Under-21 level, but did not earn a senior cap despite a callup late in his career.
• 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."

The most common destination has been Croatia: three Croatian Australians play for Croatia (Didulica, Šerić and Šimunić) and seven for Australia (Čulina, Popović, Skoko, Viduka, Čović, Kalac and Bresciano, whose mother is Croatian).

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

Records

Top Ten "A" Caps

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

Top Ten "A" Goals

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

(Players in bold still playing)

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

• 2006
  • Australia 3 (Cahill 84', 89', Aloisi 92' ) Japan 1 (Nakamura 26' ) in Kaiserslautern.
  • Australia 0 Brazil 2 (Adriano 49', Fred 90' ) in Munich.
  • Australia 2 (Moore 38'pen, Kewell 79') Croatia 2 (Srna 2', N.Kovac 56' ) in Stuttgart.
  • Italy 1 (Totti 95' pen) Australia 0 in Kaiserslautern.

Notable former players

• Kevin Muscat, Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Rangers
• Paul Okon, Club Brugge, Lazio, Fiorentina, Middlesbrough, Watford,Leeds United and Newcastle Jets
• Ned Zelić, Borussia Dortmund, 1860 Munich and Newcastle Jets
• Mark Bosnich, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea
• Frank Farina, Club Brugge, A.S. Bari and Lille
• Graham Arnold, Roda JC, NAC Breda and Northern Spirit
• Aurelio Vidmar, KSV Waregem, Feyenoord Rotterdam and Adelaide City
• Robbie Slater, Lens, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Northern Spirit
• Damian Mori, Adelaide City and Perth Glory
• Paul Trimboli, South Melbourne
• Alex Tobin, Adelaide City
• Paul Wade, South Melbourne
• Charlie Yankos, Heidelberg United
• David Mitchell, Feyenoord and Chelsea
• Mike Petersen, Ajax Amsterdam and South Melbourne
• Ray Baartz, Sydney City Hakoah
• Alan Davidson, South Melbourne and Melbourne Croatia
• Milan Ivanović, Red Star Belgrade and Adelaide City
• Johnny Warren, Canterbury-Marrickville and St. George-Budapest
• Harry Williams, St. George-Budapest
• Peter Wilson, APIA-Leichhardt
• Manfred Schaefer, St. George-Budapest
• Joe Marston, APIA-Leichhardt, Preston North End
• Craig Foster, Crystal Palace F.C. and Portsmouth F.C.

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