Written by Thomas Esamie. For more details see credits.
| As a result of Australia's admission into the Asian confederation as of Jan 1, 2006 they are now included in the Asian Cup, held in 2007. Being Oceania champions all the time was cool for Confederation cup eligibility, bit harder now. Guus was deputised by Graham Arnold and Johan Neeskens for this match due to Guus' European club commitments. Apparently the local crowd were protesting against the National Teams recent performances by staying away from the game, hence the low turnout. Seems to have helped though, this was Peruzovic's last match before Riyadh Al Thawadi took over. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : February 22 | Venue : National Stadium, Riffa | |||
| Bahrain Ali Hassaan Al Thani, Mohammed Hasan, Abdulla Marzooq (sent off 86), Sayed Al Wadaei, Rashed Al Doseri (Ali Aamer Musaifer 77), Hussain Abdullah, Mohamed Salmeen, Salman Ali, Sayed Mohamed Husain, Hussain Habib (Aala Hubail 62), Mohamed Hubail Goal : Hussain Ali 36 |
1 | - | 3 | Australia Ante Covic, Michael Thwaite (Brett Holman 46), Michael Beauchamp, Jon McKain, Jade North, Alvin Ceccoli, Luke Wilkshire, Josip Skoko, Ahmad Elrich, Archie Thompson, Scott McDonald (David Carney 82) Goals : Thompson 53, Skoko 79, Elrich 88pk |
| Referee : Subkhiddin MOHD SALLEH (Malaysia) Linesmen : Mohamed SAEED (Maldives), Nasaruddin ISHAK (Malaysia) Attendance : 2500 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Luka Peruzovic (Bahrain) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Football Australia Match Report by Rami Hulayyel Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Apparently Melbourne is an OK place to host matches again. How quickly we forget. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : May 25 | Venue : Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||
| Australia Zeljko Kalac, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Josip Skoko (Luke Wilkshire 60), Mark Viduka (Archie Thompson 61), Vince Grella, Scott Chipperfield (Tony Popovic 49), Mile Sterjovski (Stan Lazaridis 73), Marco Bresciano Goal : Skoko 16 |
1 | - | 0 | Greece Antonios Nikopolidis, Georgios Seitaridis, Traianos Dellas, Angelos Basinas (Dimitrios Salpigidis 46), Stylianos Giannkopoylos (Theodoros Zagorakis 46), Angelos Charisteas, Geprgios Karagounis (Theofanis Gekas 84), Panagiotis Fyssas (Ioannis Amanatidis 78), Konstantinos Katsouranis, Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Panagiotis Lagos 46), Georgios Samaras (Georgios Anatolakis 46) |
| Referee : Mike Riley (England) Linesmen : Jim Ouliaris (Australia), Matthew Cream (Australia) Attendance : 95103 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Otto Rehhagel (Greece) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous Match Report by Alan Clark | |||
| Well it was a tough workout, and not just for Australia. Though not a spiteful match it was certainly physical and a sterling display by Mark Schwarzer ensured that Cahill's followup on a Viduka penalty was enough to take a draw off the Dutch. A few days rior to this game Australia played VV Kloetinge in an 8-1 training match. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : June 4 | Venue : De Kuip Stadium, Rotterdam | |||
| Netherlands Edwin Van Der Sar, Joris Mathijsen, Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Dirk Kuyt 64), Phillip Cocu (Hedwiges Maduro 36), Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Jan Kromkamp (John Heitinga 46), Andre Ooijer, Robin van Persie, Mark van Bommel, Wesley Sneijder (Denny Landzaat 50) Goal : van Nistelrooy 10 |
1 | - | 1 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Mark Viduka (John Aloisi 65), Vince Grella, Scott Chipperfield, Luke Wilkshire (sent off 61), Mile Sterjovski (Tim Cahill 52), Marco Bresciano (Archie Thompson 67) Goal : Cahill 55 |
| Referee : Mike Dean (England) Linesmen : Attendance : 46000 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Marco van Basten (Netherlands) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous Match Report by Fred Legget Match Report by James Walker Match Report by Football Federation Australia | |||
| The final match prior to the World Cup proper was against the semi-pro outfit representing Liechtenstein. Perhaps notable was that Sterjovski was the only one not to score with his head. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : June 7 | Venue : Donaustadion, Ulm, Germany | |||
| Liechtenstein Peter Jehle, Martin Telser, Daniel Hasler, Marco Ritzberger, Martin Stocklasa, Benjamin Fischer (Roger Beck 84), Ronny Buchel, Thomas Beck (Raphael Rohrer 84), Mario Frick, Sandor Maierhofer (Daniel Frick 69), Fabio D'Elia Goal : Neill 8og |
1 | - | 3 | Australia Zeljko Kalac, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore (Michael Beauchamp 77), Tim Cahill (Mark Milligan 83), Tony Popovic, Brett Emerton, Josip Skoko (Neil Kilkenny 83), Harry Kewell (Joshua Kennedy 58), Stan Lazaridis (Archie Thompson 66), John Aloisi, Mile Sterjovski (Kristian Sarkies 83) Goals : Sterjovski 24, Kennedy 75, Aloisi 81 |
| Referee : Wolfgang Stark (Germany) Linesmen : Attendance : 5872 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Martin Andermatt (Liechtenstein) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
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| Oh the glory, the sweet beautiful glory... This was a World Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 12 | Venue : Fritz Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany | |||
| Japan Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Yuichi Komano, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata, Naohiro Takahara, Shunsuke Nakamura, Atsushi Yanagisawa (Shinji Ono 79), Alessandro Santos, Takashi Fukunishi, Keisuke Tsuboi (Teroyuki Moniwa 56 (Masashi Oguro 91)), Yuji Nakazawa Goal : Nakamura 26 |
1 | - | 3 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Craig Moore (Joshua Kennedy 61), Lucas Neill, Luke Wilkshire (John Aloisi 75), Marco Bresciano (Tim Cahill 53), Brett Emerton, Scott Chipperfield, Vince Grella, Jason Culina, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka Goals : Cahill 84, 89, Aloisi 90 |
| Referee : ABD EL FATAH Essam (Egypt) Linesmen : DANTA Dramane (Mali), NDOYE Mamadou (Senegal) Attendance : 46000 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Zico (Japan) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous Match Report by Trent Dickeson | |||
| This was a World Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 18 | Venue : World Cup Stadium, Munich, Germany | |||
| Brazil Nelson Dida, Marcos Cafu, Ferreira Lucio, Silveira Juan, Fereira da Rosa Emerson (Gilberto Silva 72), Roberto Carlos, Leite Adriano (Chaves Fred 88), Ricardo Kaka, Luiz Ronaldo (De Souza Robinho 72), Gaucho Ronaldinho, Jose Ze Roberto Goals : Adriano 49, Fred 90 |
2 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore (John Aloisi 69), Tim Cahill (Harry Kewell 56), Jason Culina, Tony Popovic (Marco Bresciano 41), Brett Emerton, Mark Viduka, Vince Grella, Scott Chipperfield, Mile Sterjovski |
| Referee : Markus Merk (GER) Linesmen : Christian Schraer (GER), Jan-Hendrik Salver (GER) Attendance : 66000 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Carlos Alberta Parreira (Brazil) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous Match Report by Trent Dickeson | |||
| This was a World Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 22 | Venue : Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart, Germany | |||
| Croatia Stipe PLETIKOSA, Darijo Srna, Josip Simunic (sent off 90), Igor Tudor, Dario Simic (sent off 85), Marko Babic, Dado Prso, Niko Kovac, Stjepan Tomas (Ivan Klasnic 83), Ivica Olic (Luka Modric 74), Niko Kranjcar (Jerko Leko 65) Goals : Srna 2, Kovac 56 |
2 | - | 2 | Australia Zeljko Kalac, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tim Cahill, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton (sent off 87), Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Vince Grella (John Aloisi 63), Scott Chipperfield (Joshua Kennedy 75), Mile Sterjovski (Marco Bresciano 71) Goals : Moore 38pk, Kewell 79 |
| Referee : Graham Poll (England) Linesmen : Philip Sharp (England), Glenn Turner (England) Attendance : 52000 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Zlatko Kranjcar (Croatia) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous Match Report by Trent Dickeson | |||
| The end came bitterly but the journey was glorious. This was a World Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 26 | Venue : Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern, Germany | |||
| Italy Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Grosso, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero (Francesco Totti 75), Gennaro Gattuso, Luca Toni (Andrea Barzagli 56), Alberto Gilardino (Vicenzo Iaquinta 46), Gianluca Zambrotta, Simone Perrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Marco Materazzi (sent off 50) Goal : Totti 90pk |
1 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tim Cahill, Jason Culina, Mark Viduka, Vince Grella, Scott Chipperfield, Luke Wilkshire, Mile Sterjovski (John Aloisi 81), Marco Bresciano |
| Referee : Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain) Linesmen : Pedro Medina Hernandez (Spain), Victoriano Giraldez Carrasco (Spain) Attendance : 46000 Coaches : Guus Hiddink (Australia), Marcello Lippi (Italy) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous Match Report by Trent Dickeson | |||
| Prior to this match Lebanon officially withdrew from the competition (something about the neighbours) leaving 3 teams competing for 2 spots. The game already played by Lebanon (a 1-1 draw to Kuwait) was declared null and void. Australia had been scheduled to play them August 31 in Adelaide and November 15 away. Also for this game Graham Arnold was installed as coach (for the time being at least) and for his assistant he chose John Kosmina. Oddly amusing as Arnold more or less replaced Kosmina in the Socceroo lineup in their playing days. Kevin Muscat returns the Socceroos as captain and the only guy more likely than him to be sent off, Archie, was named his deputy. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : August 16 | Venue : Sydney Football Stadium | |||
| Australia Clint Bolton, Joel Griffiths (Sasho Petrovski 56), Kevin Muscat, Archie Thompson (Alex Brosque 69), Alvin Ceccoli, David Carney, Mark Milligan, Jade North, Michael Valkanis, Steve Corica (Matthew McKay 90), Travis Dodd Goals : Dodd 75, Petrovski 86 |
2 | - | 0 | Kuwait Nawaf Al Khaldi, Yaqobu Abdullah, Nohayr Al-Shamari, Abdul Rahman Al Dawood, Khalaf Al Mutairi (Walied Jumah 79), Ahmad Al Eidan, Bader Al Mutwa, Jarah Al Ataiqi, Nawaf Al Mutairi (Nawaf Al Otaibi 87), Fahad Al Hamad (Fahad Al Rashidi 84), Fahad Shaheen |
| Referee : Junjie Huang (China) Linesmen : Tiejun Liu (China), Dequan Zhou (China) Attendance : 32622 Coaches : Graham Arnold (Australia), Mihai Stoichita (Kuwait) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
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| Kuwait were denied a clear penalty, Australia missed an open goal (I won't say it was you Ryan... D'Oh!) and eventually the away side succumbed to a combination of heat, lack of preparation and absence of cohesion. Still, having already qualified I guess it was the right time to experiment. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : September 6 | Venue : Kaifan Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City | |||
| Kuwait Nawaf Al Khaldi, Yaqoub Abdullah, Nohayr Al Shamari, Abdul Rahman Al Dawood, Fahad Shaheen (Walied Jumah 38), Khalaf Al Mutairi (Naser Al Hajeri 82), Ahmad Al Eidan, Bader Al Motawaa, Jarah Al Ataiqi, Nawaf Al Mutairi, Fahad Al Hamad Goals : Al Mutairi 55, Al Motawaa 60 |
2 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Ljubo Milicevic, Michael Beauchamp, Scott Chipperfield, Jon McKain, Josip Skoko, Brett Holman, Luke Wilkshire (Scott McDonald 62), Ahmad Elrich (Ryan Griffiths 30), Mile Sterjovski, John Aloisi |
| Referee : Toru Kamikawa (Japan) Linesmen : Hiroshi Tezuka, Yasuhiko Yamazaki (Japan) Attendance : 8000 Coaches : Graham Arnold (Australia), Mihai Stoichita (Kuwait) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by AFC Match Report by Valiya S. Sajjad Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| It was a 'meaningless' friendly but marked the retirement of 5 players, 4 of them from the home side. No more Kalac, Lazaridis, Vidmar and, going out with what seemed like the winner, Popovic. Thanks guys. I'm sure Gamarra will have his well-wishers too. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : October 7 | Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Zeljko Kalac (Mark Schwarzer 89), Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Tony Vidmar (Jade North 72), Tony Popovic (Michael Beauchamp 90), Brett Emerton, Josip Skoko (Jason Culina 59), Stan Lazaridis (Archie Thompson 50), Vince Grella, John Aloisi, Marco Bresciano (Mark Milligan 90) Goal : Popovic 88 |
1 | - | 1 | Paraguay Justo Villar, Delio Toledo, Carlos Gamarra (Paulo da Silva 64), Julio Manzur, Jose Domingo Salcedo (Jorge Nunez 77), Carlos Bonet (Pedro Sarabia 84), Edgar Barreto, Roberto Acuna (Diego Gavilan 72), Cristian Riveros, Oscar Cardozo, Nelson Cuevas (Salvador Cabanas 72) Goal : Beauchamp 90og |
| Referee : Joji Kashihara (Japan) Linesmen : Ben Wilson (Australia), Jason Power (Australia) Attendance : 47609 Coaches : Graham Arnold (Australia), Raul Vicente Amarilla (Paraguay) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Regardless of the result here Bahrain was going to have to win its final match against Kuwait to qualify for the finals and in the interest of expediency sent their Olympic team, along with their coach to allow the big boys to prepare for the last game on October 15. I'd have hoped for more but if you count Aloisi's offside goal and Sterjovski's bullet which beat everything but the crossbar, it was a good day. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : October 11 | Venue : Sydney Football Stadium | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill (Josip Skoko 81), Brett Emerton, Vince Grella, Scott Chipperfield, John Aloisi, Jason Culina, Mark Bresciano (Travis Dodd 67), Michael Beauchamp, Mile Sterjovski (Archie Thompson 75) Goals : Aloisi 17, Bresciano 24 |
2 | - | 0 | Bahrain Sayed Sabt Abbas, Faouzi Aaish, Abbas Ayyad, Jasim Al Chuban, Ali Aamer Mustaifer, Ebrahim Meshkhas, Mahmood Abdul Rahman, Mahmood Mohamed (Fahad Hasan 61), Husein Al Shekar (Mohamed Mahmood 68), Mahmood Ayyad, Ismaeel Hasan (Ebrahim Al Muqla 88) |
| Referee : Fareed Ali Mohamed Al Marzouqi (UAE) Linesmen : Ahmed Yaqoob Mohamed (UAE), Mohamed Jesem Saif Hamad Al Mehairi (UAE) Attendance : 36606 Coaches : Graham Arnold (Australia), Senad Kreso (Bahrain) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Football Federation Australia | |||
| This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : November 14 | Venue : Loftus Road, London, England | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Craig Moore (Michael Thwaite 46), Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Scott Chipperfield, Vince Grella (Kasey Wehrman 53), John Aloisi, Mark Bresciano (Ryan Griffiths 78), Mile Sterjovski, Luke Wilkshire (Brett Holman 75), Patrick Kisnorbo Goal : Aloisi 27pk |
1 | - | 1 | Ghana Richard Kingson (Sammy Adjei 59),Hans Adu Sarpie, Habib Mohammed, Francis Dickoh, Eric Addo, Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Laryea Kingson (Haminu Dramani 84), Junior Agogo, Sulley Al Muntari, Peter Ofori-Quaye (Asamoah Gyan 71) Goal : Agogo 75 |
| Referee : Mark Clattenburg (England) Linesmen : Gavin Ward, James Linington (England) Attendance : 14379 Coaches : Graham Arnold (Australia), Claude Le Roy (Ghana) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Football Australia | |||