Australia national football team

The Australia national football team is Australia's men's national association football (soccer) team. They are organised by the Football Federation Australia (until 2005 called Australian Soccer Association), the national governing body for the game in Australia.

History

The first ever Australian national football team was constituted in 1922 for a tour of New Zealand. During that tour, Australia suffered two defeats and scraped together a draw. Australia, New Zealand, China and South Africa would become regular opponents in "Test" or "Friendly" matches for the next 25 years. With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia would diversify its range of opponents. However, its geographical isolation continued to play a role in football destiny for the next 80 years.

Related Topics:
New Zealand - China - South Africa

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Early World Cup Qualifying Attempts

The national team played at the World Cup finals in West Germany in 1974, which to date has been their only appearance in this event. Over more recent years, the Australian team is known for its near misses in its attempts to qualify for the World Cup, most notably the 1998 and 2002 events.

Related Topics:
1974 - World Cup - 1998 - 2002

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However, Australia's notoriously difficult path to World Cup Qualification is not a recent development. Throughout its history of attempted World Cup qualification, FIFA had consistently awarded Australia seemingly illogical sequences of matches.

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Unfancied Opponents

Australia's first attempt to qualify was for the 1966 tournament in England. As a result of a decision to award very few places to non-European/South American nations, FIFA determined that Australia would playoff against North Korea. In 1965, North Korea was a political entity not recognised by many nations including the United Kingdom. Additionally, the match was scheduled to take place in "neutral" Cambodia - a staunchly Communist state at that time. Both before and after the game there were calls from all sides for Australia to claim their place in the World Cup instead of North Korea.

Related Topics:
1966 tournament in England - North Korea - United Kingdom - Cambodia

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Future campaigns for the 1970, 1978, 1982, and 1986 World Cups would see Australia put into competition with politically isolated or non-aligned nations. Opponents included Israel (who neighbouring Arab nations refused to play), Republic of China on Taiwan (who had lost much political recognition to Beijing), Iran (who had undergone a revolution) and New Zealand (another Oceanian nation). However, this preliminary tournament would always result in a playoff with one or two other stronger countries from Europe or South America.

Related Topics:
1970 - 1978 - 1982 - 1986 - Israel - Republic of China - Taiwan - Iran - New Zealand

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Protests from the Australian Soccer Federation and attempts to join the Asian Football Confederation at this time were rejected. However, the qualifying process was simplified from the 1990 World Cup where the OFC was granted 0.5 qualifying spots.

Related Topics:
1990 - OFC

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France 1998 Qualifying Campaign

In 1997, after winning the OFC qualifying tournament, Australia had to play Iran over two legs with the winner progressing to the World Cup finals to be held in France. Australia, under coach Terry Venables, tied the away leg 1-1 and looked like they were going to proceed to the finals in France, initially leading 2-0 in the home game in Melbourne, however Iran managed to score two later goals and went through on the away goals rule.

Related Topics:
1997 - OFC - Iran - World Cup finals - France - Terry Venables - Melbourne - Away goals rule

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Korea/Japan 2002 Qualifying Campaign

In 2001 Australia again won the Oceania Confederation qualifying tournament. Second and third-string lineups thrashed a number of tiny island nations in a competition that made a mockery of the Confederation, including a world record 31-0 demolition of American Samoa. Still missing Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Australia comfortably beat New Zealand, their only real threat in the Oceania confederation. Australia then once again had to win a two leg playoff to advance to the World Cup finals to be held in South Korea and Japan. On this occasion the opposition was the 5th placed South American team, Uruguay. In the first leg in Melbourne, Australia won 1-0 after Kevin Muscat scored from a penalty kick, however Australia's qualification campaign ended unsuccessfully as they lost 3-0 in the away leg in Montevideo.

Related Topics:
2001 - American Samoa - Harry Kewell - Mark Viduka - New Zealand - World Cup finals - South Korea - Japan - Uruguay - Montevideo

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Outside Qualification Campaigns

The team's miserable record in World Cup competition is not reflected in their reasonable performances against strong European and South American sides, with victories in the 2001 Confederations Cup against France and Brazil. 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.

Related Topics:
2001 Confederations Cup - France - Brazil - England - London

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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.

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Johnny Warren, a respected football broadcaster and former Socceroo captain, described his desire for Australia to join Asia. Despite previous attempts to do so—each notoriously ending in failure—in March 2005, a story was leaked from Tokyo suggesting that the FFA had entered into secret discussions with the AFC on this very issue. On March 23, the AFC Executive Committee made a unanimous decision to invite Australia to join the AFC.

Related Topics:
Johnny Warren - 2005

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AFC President, Mohammed Bin Hammam, outlined reasons for this decision.

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: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.

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On April 17, the OFC executive committee unanimously endorsed Australia's proposed move. FIFA approved the move on June 30, and it will take effect on January 1, 2006.

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Australia has duly been entered into the Asian Cup Qualifying Tournament beginning in February, 2006.

Related Topics:
February - 2006

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Germany 2006 Qualifying Campaign

In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the Oceania Football Confederation World Cup qualification tournament. The team did draw 2-2 with the Solomon Islands, which combined with other results put that team ahead of New Zealand in the standings and meaning that the Solomon Islands qualified for the final playoff rather than the expected New Zealand.

Related Topics:
Oceania Football Confederation World Cup qualification tournament - Solomon Islands

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Coach Frank Farina stood down from the position by 'mutual consent' on June 29, 2005 after Australia failed to win a game at the Confederations Cup 2005, citing ever increasing speculation over his position. On July 22, Guus Hiddink was announced by the FFA as the new national coach. This announcement came after intense speculation by the Australian media over potential candidates and even a premature announcement from Hiddink himself. It is believed that Hiddink will combine his roles as manager of PSV Eindhoven and Australia for now, but may elect to take over full time as national coach should Australia qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Related Topics:
Frank Farina - June 29 - 2005 - Confederations Cup 2005 - July 22 - Guus Hiddink - PSV Eindhoven - Australia

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Hiddink subsequently led Australia to a 9-1 aggregate win over the Solomon Islands in the OFC Qualifying Tournament Final, and will lead Australia in the Oceania-South America playoff against the fifth placed team from the CONMEBOL Qualifying Tournament for a place in the World Cup.

Related Topics:
Hiddink - Oceania-South America playoff - CONMEBOL Qualifying Tournament

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Notable Players

Current notable players include Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Craig Moore, Mark Schwarzer and Brett Emerton.

Related Topics:
Harry Kewell - Mark Viduka - Tim Cahill - Craig Moore - Mark Schwarzer - Brett Emerton

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