Written by Thomas Esamie and Jean-Michel Cazal. For more details see credits.
| Well the 1998 World Cup is another one Australia can enjoy from the lounge and Terry Venables still had not committed beyond his initial contract until June although the administration would like his involvement for the 2000 Olympics and a tilt at the 2002 World Cup. Still football goes on and Australia played against 3 World Cup finalists more for their benefit than our own. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : February 7 1998 | Venue : Olympic Park, Melbourne | |||
| Australia Zeljko Kalac, Fausto deAmicis (Goran Lozanovski 46 (sent off 77)), Robert Hooker, Milan Ivanovic, Alex Tobin, Steve Horvat, Ernie Tapai (Brett Emerton 75), Paul Bilokapic (Troy Halpin 46), Paul Trimboli (Abbas Saad 63), Gabriel Mendez (Kris Trajanovski 63), John Markovski |
0 | - | 1 | Chile Nelson Tapia, Pedro Reyes (sent off 84), Ronald Fuentes, Javier Margas, Francisco Rojas, Pablo Galdames (Fernando Cornejo 65), Clarence Acuna, Nelson Parraguez, Jose Luis Sierra (Marcelo Vega 82), Juan Carreno (Manuel Neira 78), Rodrigo Barrera (Jorge Gomez 87) Goals : Acuna 19 |
| Referee : Gerry Connolly Attendance : 12000 Coaches : Terry Venables (Australia), Nelson Acosta (Chile) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match Report by Alan Clark Match Report by Chris Dunkerley Match Report by David Arnold | |||
| Deflated after their loss and generally expected to not do much better against the near full strength Asian sides (as opposed to the decidedly 'B' Chile side) Australia managed to turn things around. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : February 11 1998 | Venue : Sydney Football Stadium | |||
| Australia Jason Petkovic, Alex Tobin (c), Steve Horvat, Fausto deAmicis, Mark Babic, Brett Emerton, Paul Trimboli (Gabriel Mendez 76), Kris Trajanovski (John Markovski 76), Troy Halpin, Abbas Saad (Paul Bilokapic 89), Ernie Tapai Goals : Tapai 39 |
1 | - | 0 | South Korea Dong Mung Seo, Jung Heok Kim (Ki Hyung Lee 66), Tae Young Kim (Sang Yoon Lee 85), Young Il Choi (c), Min Sung Lee (Sung Yong Choi 63), Dae Il Jang, Sang Chul Yoo, Jong Hwan Yoon (Dong Won Seo 71), Jong Soo Ko, Yong Soo Choi, Soon Jin Jin (Kyung Keun Gwak 46) |
| Referee : Brett Hugo Attendance : 9823 Coaches : Terry Venables (Australia), Cha Bum Kun (South Korea) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match Report by Markian Jaworsky Match Report by Chris Dunkerley Match 'Report' by David Borella | |||
| After coming back to win against the Koreans having lost in the first game of the series against Chile Australia were looking for some sort of indication that they were infact good enough, if not lucky enough, to mix it with the top 32 nations of the World. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : February 15 1998 | Venue : Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide | |||
| Australia Zeljko Kalac, Milan Ivanovic (c), Alex Tobin, Dominic Longo (Steve Horvat 46), Fausto deAmicis (sent off 6), Brett Emerton, Kris Trajanovski, Troy Halpin, Ernie Tapai (Goran Lozanovski 84), John Markovski (Gabriel Mendez 46 (Paul Trimboli 64)), Abbas Saad |
0 | - | 3 | Japan Seigou Narazaki, Masami Ihara (c), Yutaka Akita, Akira Narahashi, Toshihiro Hattori, Motohiro Yamaguchi (sent off 79), Hidetoshi Nakata, Hiroshi Nanami (Shunsuke Nakamura 71), Tadatoshi Masuda (Takashi Hirano 64), Shoji Jo (Wagner Lopes 64), Atsushi Yanagisawa Goals : Nakata 6pk, Hirano 66, 70 |
| Referee : Mark Shield Attendance : 9541 Coaches : Terry Venables (Australia), Takeshi Okada (Japan) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match Report by Andrew Howe Match Report by Lance Librandi | |||
| A year and a half after he took over the coaching role for Australia Terry Venables bade farewell and returned to Crystal Palace. The game against Croatia was a warm-up for them and provided much intruige as Ante Seric was named in the provisional Croatian World Cup squad _and_ the Australian squad for this game. In the end Seric opted for the Croats and after making his debut some weeks earlier ended up playing against Australia. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : June 6 1998 | Venue : Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb | |||
| Croatia Drazen Ladic (Marijan Mrmic 46), Mario Stanic (Zoran Mamic 46), Robert Jarni (Ante Seric 40), Igor Stimac (Igor Tudor 46), Zvonimir Soldo (Goran Juric 5), Dario Simic, Aljosa Asanovic (Krunoslav Jurcic 46), Robert Prosinecki (Petar Krpan 59), Davor Suker (Ardijan Kozniku 64), Zvonimir Boban (c), Silvio Maric Goals : Suker 14pk 37, 63pk, Boban 47 83, Prosinecki 40, Kozniku 72 |
7 | - | 0 | Australia Zeljko Kalac, Kevin Muscat, Fausto de Amicis (Nick Rizzo 64), Tony Popovic, Alex Tobin (c), Mark Babic, Brett Emerton, Craig Foster, Mark Viduka, Josip Skoko (Ross Aloisi 74), John Aloisi (Joe Spiteri 64) |
| Referee : Gerd Grabher (Austria) Linesmen : Egon Bereuter, Markus Mayr (Austria) Attendance : 12000 Coaches : Terry Venables (Australia), Miroslav Blazevic (Croatia) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match Comments by Ray Gatt Match Comments by John Rathjen | |||
| Well since FIFA is persisting with the Confederations Cup Oceania has revived the Nations Cup to produce an entrant. There was a preliminary competition between 10 nations, 4 of which joined Australia and New Zealand in 2 groups. This was Australia's first group game, I don't think there's a soul in the country who knew it was on, which is reflected in the attendance. Of course all this might have had to do with the match being played on the weekend of the championship matches for Australian Rules and Rugby League football, the dominant football codes in Australia. This was a Oceania Nations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : September 25 1998 | Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Jason Petkovic, Alex Tobin, Ernie Tapai, Damian Mori, Paul Trimboli (Kris Trajanovski 87), Simon Colosimo, Alvin Ceccoli, Goran Lozanovski (Scott Chipperfield 62), Dominic Longo, Kasey Wehrman (Carl Veart 62), Brad Maloney Goals : Mori 2, 25, 44 |
3 | - | 1 | Fiji Isekeli Sevanaia, Luke Nabro, Valerio Nasema, Emosi Baleinuku, Manoa Masi, Shailend Lal, Alivate Driu (Ratu Meli Debalevu 79), Esala Masinisu, Ulaisi Seruvatu, Waisea Nabenu (Kameli Kilaiwaca 58), Marika Namaqa Goal : Masinisu 62 |
| Referee : Bruce Grimshaw (New Zealand) Linesmen : Fred Lencie, Kevin Moffat Attendance : 900 Coaches : Raul Blanco (Australia), Billy Singh (Fiji) | ||||
| Australia met the Cook Islands in their second, and final, group game and managed to be bettered by Iran yet again. 16-0 is one short of Iran's world record of 17-0 over the Maldives in 1998 World Cup qualifying. This was a Oceania Nations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : September 28 1998 | Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Jason Petkovic, Robert Trajkovski, Alex Tobin (Glen Gwynne 65), Mark Babic, Troy Halpin, Damian Mori (Kris Trajanovski 46), Paul Trimboli, Simon Colosimo, Alvin Ceccoli, Kasey Wehrman (Scott Chipperfield 46), Brad Maloney Goals : Trimboli 1, 12, 63, Mori 8, 15, 30, 34, Maloney 17, 89, Ceccoli 42, Trajanovski 48, 68, 76, 88, Chipperfield 66, Halpin 80 |
16 | - | 0 | Cook Islands Tristram Chambers, Dean Tereu, Edward Drolett, Heath Dickenson, Teremaki Paniani, Stentor Mani, James Nand, Joseph Chambers, Sadaraka Puroku, Nikorima Te Miha (John Pareanga 68), Valloa Tiere |
| Referee : Massimo Raveino (Tahiti) Linesmen : Fred Lencie, Kevin Moffat Attendance : Coaches : Raul Blanco (Australia), Alex Napa (Cook Islands) | ||||
| So thus came the semi-final game for Australia against Tahiti. In 1996 Australia played Tahiti over 2 legs to decide the Oceania champion and won easily. This time Tahiti were less helpful, still Australia prevailed to set up a meeting with New Zealand in the final. This was a Oceania Nations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : October 2 1998 | Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Jason Petkovic, Robert Trajkovski, Fausto DeAmicis, Alex Tobin, Mark Babic, Troy Halpin, Damian Mori, Paul Trimboli (Glen Gwynne 56), Alvin Ceccoli, Kris Trajanovski (Carl Veart 64), Brad Maloney Goals : Mori 1, 32, 81, Veart 86 |
4 | - | 1 | Tahiti Patrick Jaquemet (Daniel Tapeta 1), Eric Etaeta, Teva Zavaroni (Rupena Raumati 58), Gerald Quennet, Jean Luc Rousseau, Hiro Labaste, Heimana Paama, Sylvain Booene, Steeve Lecaill, Bruno Beramelli (Harold Amaru 82), Benoit Michelena Goal : Labaste 55 |
| Referee : Intaz Shah (Fiji) Linesmen : Suresh Behari (Fiji), Kevin Moffat (NZ) Attendance : ?? Coaches : Raul Blanco (Australia), Eddy Rousseau (Tahiti) | ||||
| Australia managed to reach the final of this event and reserved their worst performance to last. New Zealand, capable of some diabolic play themselves, shone long enough to deserve the win and collect the AUD$1.3mil along with entry to the Confederation Cup finals next year in Mexico. This was an Oceania Nations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : October 4 1998 | Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Jason Petkovic, Alex Tobin (Dominic Longo 60), Mark Babic, Troy Halpin (Kris Trajanovski 62), Damian Mori, Paul Trimboli, Simon Colosimo, Alvin Ceccoli, Goran Lozanovski (Scott Chipperfield 46), Kasey Wehrman, Brad Maloney |
0 | - | 1 | New Zealand Jason Batty, Chris Zoricich, Sean Douglas (Ivan Vicelich 85), Gavin Wilkinson, Mark Burton, Aaran Lines, Chris Jackson, Harry Ngata (Che Bunce 74), Mark Atkinson, Danny Hay, Vaughan Coveny Goal : Burton 24 |
| Referee : Massimo Raveino (Tahiti) Linesmen : Fred Lencie (Vanuatu), Suresh Behari (Fiji) Attendance : ?? Coaches : Raul Blanco (Australia), Ken Dugdale (New Zealand) | ||||
| Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match Reflections by various | ||||
| Originally this match was designed to be a warm-up game for the Socceroos ahead of the Confederations Cup in January 1999. As it turned out there were rumours of cancellations before Australia honoured their commitment with a squad of largely Olympic Games candidates. The USA too were looking for new blood, not the least of which was the coach who had been appointed a matter of days beforehand and was in his maiden game. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : November 6 1998 | Venue : Spartan Stadium, San Jose | |||
| United States of America Zach Thornton, Jeff Agoos, Carlos Llamosa (sent off 90), Eddie Pope, Richie Williams (Chris Armas 46), Eddie Lewis (Ben Olsen 73), Clint Mathis (Mark Chung 69), Joe-Max Moore, Cobi Jones (c), Roy Lassiter (CJ Brown 90), Brian McBride |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Jason Petkovic, Brett Emerton, Hayden Foxe, Alex Tobin (c), Tony Popovic, Kasey Wehrman, Lucas Neill, Mark Viduka, Josip Skoko, Damian Mori, Simon Colosimo (Raphael Bove 90+) |
| Referee : Mike Siefert (Canada) Linesmen : Eric Roy, John Nielson (Canada) Attendance : 15074 Coaches : Raul Blanco (Australia), Bruce Arena (USA) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Markian Jaworsky Match Report by David Marshall | |||