Written by Tony Persoglia & Greg Stock

Sources: FFA Media Releases, Soccerway, Andrew Howe & Alexander Milas

The final phase of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics took place in Thailand in January, Australia fielded a squad which was largely plucked from the A-League with a selection of European based players made available by their respective clubs during the non-FIFA window period. In oppressively hot and humid conditions, Graham Arnold rotated his squad and exhausted his bench in each match of the group stage and although unbeaten, Australia’s only win came, surprisingly, against the hosts, who had dispatched Bahrain impressively 5-0 in their opening match.
Played: Wednesday January 8 2020				Venue: Thammasat Stadium, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Australia Thomas Glover, Gabriel Cleur, Alex Gersbach, Dylan Ryan, Al Hassan Toure, Reno Piscopo (Jacob Italiano 65), Aiden O’Neill (Zachary Duncan 65), Thomas Deng (c), Trent Buhagiar, Keanu Baccus, Connor Metcalfe (Daniel Bouman 76). Goal: Piscopo 62	1	-	1	Iraq Ali Kadhim Hadi, Najm Shwan, Mustafa Mohammad Jaber, Abdulabbas Ayad, Muntadher Sattar, Mohammad Mazhar, Sadeq Zamil, Mohammad Reda Jaleel (Mohammad Qasem 69), Alaa Raad (Hasan Matrook 87), Murad Mohammad (Omer Assi 71), Hussain Jabar. Goal: Nassif 77
Referee: Fu Ming (China) Assistant Referees: Shi Xiang & Cao Yi (China) Fourth Official: H Dilan Perera (Sri Lanka) Attendance: 106 Coaches: Graham Arnold (Australia), Abdul Ghani Shahad (Iraq)
Played: Saturday January 11 2020				Venue: Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand
Australia Thomas Glover, Alex Gersbach, Dylan Ryan, Joshua Laws (Denis Genreau 45), Tass Mourdoukoutas, Zachary Duncan, Reno Piscopo, Thomas Deng (c), Nicholas D’Agostino, Daniel Bouman (Al Hassan Toure 67), Jacob Italiano (Ramy Najjarine 84). Goals: D’Agostino 43, 76	2	-	1	Thailand Korraphat Nareechan, Shinnaphat Lee-Oh, Meechok Mahasaranukul, Saringkan Promsupa, Kritsada Kaman, Thitathorn Aksornsri, Anon Amornlertsak, Supachok Sarachat, Sorawit Panthong (Worachit Kanitsribumphen 86), Supachai Chaided (Nanthawat Suankaeo 63), Suphanat Mueanta (Jaroensak Wonggorn 64). Goal: Amornlertsak 23
Referee: Turki Al Khudair (Saudi Arabia) Assistant Referees: Mohammed Al Abakry & Khalaf Al Shamari (Saudi Arabia) Fourth Official: Jumpei Iida (Japan) Attendance: 22,352 Coaches: Graham Arnold (Australia), Akira Nishino (Thailand)
Played: Tuesday January 14 2020				Venue: Thammasat Stadium, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Australia Thomas Glover, Gabriel Cleur, Alex Gersbach (c), Dylan Ryan, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Ramy Najjarine (Jacob Italiano 79), Zachary Duncan (Aiden O'Neill 79), Al Hassan Toure, Reno Piscopo, Keanu Baccus, Daniel Bouman (Nicholas D’Agostino 60). Goal: Najjarine 34	1	-	1	Bahrain Ammar Ahmed, Ahmed Bughammar (Ahmed Al Zaimoor 46), Hamad Al Shamsan, Sayed Mohamed Ameen, Hasan Yahya Ali, Mohamed Ahmadi Abdulrahman (Mohammed Al Hardan 76), Abbas Fadhel Al Asfoor, Jasim Al-Salama, Mohamed Jasim Marhoon, Ahmed Saleh Sanad (Sayed Hashim 64), Hasan Al Karani. Goal: Jasim Marhoon 45+3
Referee: Mohamed Abdulla Hassan Mohd (United Arab Emirates) Assistant Referees: Mohamed Alhammadi & Hassan Suqatari Al Mahri (United Arab Emirates) Fourth Official: Kim Jong-Hyeok (South Korea) Coaches: Graham Arnold (Australia), Samir Chammam (Bahrain)
The knockout phase began with a win over a stubborn Syria in added time courtesy of a brilliantly taken goal by Al Hassan Toure. This set up a double chance at qualification but Australia failed miserably at the first hurdle, fatigued and lacking creativity in the front third, they were outplayed and outclassed by South Korea who scored two second-half goals to relegate the Olyroos to the 3rd-place playoff against Uzbekistan. Nick D'Agostino would ultimately secure qualification with a fantastic solo run and finish to book a place in Tokyo, the nation's first Olympic appearance since Beijing 2008.
Played: Saturday January 18 2020				Venue: Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand
Australia Thomas Glover, Alex Gersbach, Thomas Deng (c), Dylan Ryan, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Keanu Baccus, Reno Piscopo (Ben Folami 99), Ramy Najjarine (Trent Buhagiar 90), Zachary Duncan (Aiden O'Neill 75), Daniel Bouman (Al Hassan Toure 65), Nicholas D’Agostino. Goals: Toure 101	1 aet	-	0 aet	Syria Mohammed Ourabi, Mohammed Kamel Koaeh (Anas Alaji 100), Yosief Mohammad, Zaid Ghareer (Mohamad Al Hallak 105), Kamel Hameesheh, Simon Amin (Abdul Adi 90), Khaled Kerdagli, Abdalrahman Barakat, Youssef Al Hamawi, Mohamed Fares Arnaout, Mohammad Al Bari (Abd Alhadi Shalha 81).
Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan) Assistant Referees: Hiroshi Yamauchi & Jun Mihara (Japan) Fourth Official: Nawaf Abdulla (Bahrain) Coaches: Graham Arnold (Australia), Ayman Hakeem (Syria)
Played: Wednesday January 22 2020				Venue: Thammasat Stadium, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Australia Thomas Glover, Alex Gersbach (c), Gabriel Cleur, Connor Metcalfe (Denis Genreau 46), Dylan Ryan, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Aiden O'Neill (Ben Folami 66), Keanu Baccus, Jacob Italiano (Reno Piscopo 66), Trent Buhagiar, Al Hassan Toure.	0	-	2	South Korea Song Bum-Keun, Lee Sang-Min, Jeong Tae-Wook, Lee You-Hyeon, Won Du-jae, Kang Yoon-Sung, Eom Won-Sang (Lee Dong-Jun 46), Kim Dong-Hyun, Oh Se-Hun, Kim Dae-Won (Kim Tae-Hyeon 87), Jung Seung-Won (Lee Dong-Gyeong 64). Goals: Kim Dae-Won 56, Lee Dong-Gyeong 76
Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain) Assistant Referees: Mohamed Jaafar Mohamed Salman & Abdulla Saleh (Bahrain) Fourth Official: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan) Coaches: Graham Arnold (Australia), Kim Hak-Beom (South Korea)
Played: Saturday January 25 2020				Venue: Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand
Australia Thomas Glover, Alex Gersbach, Thomas Deng (c), Dylan Ryan, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Keanu Baccus, Reno Piscopo (Ben Folami 86), Ramy Najjarine (Denis Genreau 46), Zachary Duncan, Daniel Bouman (Al Hassan Toure 65), Nicholas D’Agostino. Goal: D'Agostino 47	1	-	0	Uzbekistan Abduvohid Nematov, Khodjiakbar Alidjanov, Islomjon Kobilov, Ilkhomjon Alijanov (Doston Ibragimov 75), Husniddin Aliqulov, Azizjon Ganiev, Djasur Yakhshibaev, Nurillo Tukhtasinov (Oybek Bozorov 53) (sent off 59), Abdulla Abdullayev, Bobur Abdukhalikov, Mirjakhon Mirakhmadov (Sharof Mukhiddinov 61).
Referees: Mohamed Abdulla Hassan Mohd (United Arab Emirates) Assistant Referees: Mohamed Jaafar Mohamed Salman & Abdulla Saleh (Bahrain) Fourth Official: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan) Coaches: Graham Arnold (Australia), Kim Hak-Beom (South Korea)
The Olyroos held a training camp in Sydney in November playing two matches against A-League club sides.
Played: Thursday November 12 2020				Venue: Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah, Sydney
Sydney FC Tom Howard-Belle, Patrick Flottman, Alex Wilkinson, Alexander Baumjohann (Anthony Caceras 63), Michael Zullo (Harry Van Der Saag 78), Paulo Retre (Calem Nieuwenhof 63), Milos Ninkovic (Chris Zuvela 84), Kostas Barbarouses, Trent Buhagiar (Patrick Wood 78), Rhyan Grant, Luke Brattan. Goals: Retre 5, Buhagiar 15, Zullo 18	3	-	0	Australia Thomas Glover, Tass Mourdoukoutas (Connor O'Toole 86), Lachlan Wales (Connor Metcalfe 63), Deni Genreau (Luke Ivanovic 63), Brandon Wilson (John Koutroumbis 74), Ramy Najjarine (Cameron Devlin 74), Keanu Baccus (Angus Thurgate 46), Daniel Bouman (Aiden O'Neill 46), Nathaniel Atkinson (Tate Russell 63), Kye Rowles (Jordan O'Doherty 74), Joel King (Joshua Laws 86).
Referee: Tim Danaskos (Australia) Assistant Referees: Lane Greenshields and Andrej Giev (Australia) Fourth Official: Kelly Jones Attendance: 1,243 Coaches: Steve Corica (Sydney FC), Graham Arnold (Australia)
Played: Tuesday November 17 2020				Venue: Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah, Sydney
Macarthur Bulls FC Nick Suman, Mark Milligan (Anthony Golec 72), Aleksander Jovanovic (Yianni Nicolaou 72), Ivan Franjic (Giovanni Pannucio 72), Walter Scott (Theph Theph 72), Moudi Najjar, Aleksander Susnjar (Eddie Caspers 72), Michael Ruhs, Liam Rose (Lachlan Rose 63), Matt Derbyshire (Charles M'Mombwa 63), Andony Martis (Yianni Perkatis 72). Goal: Rose 68	1	-	2	Australia Thomas Glover, Connor O'Toole (John Koutroumbis 63), Tass Mourdoukoutas (Ryan Strain 63), Lachlan Wales (Ramy Najjarine 63), Connor Metcalfe, Angus Thurgate (Daniel Bouman 63), Deni Genreau (Joshua Laws 46), Keanu Baccus (Jordan O'Doherty 63), Nathaniel Atkinson (Cameron Devlin 46), Kye Rowles (Tate Russell 46), Aiden O'Neill. Goals: Metcalfe 78, Najjarine 80
Referee: Ben Abrahams (Australia) Assistant Referees: Lane Greenshields and Bradley Wright (Australia) Fourth Official: Hassan Jomaa Attendance: No Public Allowed Coaches: Ante Milicic (Macarthur Bulls FC), Graham Arnold (Australia)

Last updated: 26 December 2020.