Source: Soccer World.

Friendly Matches
Thursday April 25 1974 Olympic Park, Melbourne, Australia Referee: Peter Rampley (Australia) Assistant Referees: Stuart Mellings and Roger Lamb (Australia) Attendance: 20,283
AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer (Adrian Alston 37), Col Curran, Jim Mackay, Ray Richards, Jim Rooney, Ray Baartz, Gary Manuel (Peter Ollerton 62), Branko Buljevic Coach: Rale Rasic	0	-	0	Uruguay Hector Santos, Mario Gonzalez, Walter Olivera Prada (Gustavo De Simone 46), Juan Masnik Homos, Mario Zoryez, Julio Jimenez, Denis Milar Otero (Walter Mantegazza Gonzalez 62), Alberto Cardaccio, Juan Ramon Silva, Fernando Morena, Ruben Romeo Corbo Coach: Roberto Porta
1974 was the year that Australia were making their debut in the FIFA World Cup Finals in West Germany. As part of the team's preparations, the Australian Soccer Federation organised the Uruguayan national side to play two matches in Melbourne and Sydney. The Uruguayan side had also qualified for the World Cup Finals and under new coach Roberto Porta were also looking for some hard competition before the tournament.
Saturday April 27 1974 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia Referee: Don Campbell (Australia) Assistant Referees: Peter Rampley and B.Wilkinson (Australia) Attendance: 23,302
AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Ray Richards, Col Curran, Jim Rooney, David Harding, Jim Mackay, Ray Baartz (Adrian Alston 76), Atti Abonyi, Peter Ollerton Coach: Rale Rasic Goals: Baartz 59, Ollerton 84	2	-	0	Uruguay Gustavo Fernandez Figueroa, Mario Gonzalez, Gustavo De Simone, Luis Garisto Pan, Mario Zoryez (Juan Ramon Silva 83), Julio Jimenez, Walter Mantegazza Gonzalez, Alberto Cardaccio, Jose Gomez (Dennis Milar Otero 68), Fernando Morena, Ruben Romeo Corbo Coach: Roberto Porta Red Card: Garisto Pan 76
The second match in Sydney was a hard game and is remembered as the day that Australian striker Ray Baartz was felled by a karate chop from Uruguayan defender Luis Garisto. Garisto was sent off for the incident and was reported to FIFA for violent conduct. Ray Baartz on the other hand was declared medically unfit to play and missed the World Cup Finals in West Germany, though he did travel with the team.
Tuesday May 21 1974 Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia Referee: Juremi (Indonesia) Attendance: 62,000
Indonesia Ronny Pasla, Sutan Harhara, Rusdy Bahalwan, Subordro, Oyong Liza, Batjo, Waskito, Ronny Pattinasarany, Risdianto (Andi Lala 85), Anjas Asmara (Djunsid Abdullah 80), Abdul Kadir Coach: Not known Goal: Waskito 89	1	-	2	AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer, Col Curran, Ray Richards (John Warren 46), Jim Rooney (Harry Williams 72), Jim Mackay, Adrian Alston (Gary Manuel 60), Peter Ollerton, Branko Buljevic (Atti Abonyi 46) Coach: Rale Rasic Goals: Wilson 77, Curran 80
Australia team left for the FIFA World Cup Finals in West Germany with a squad of 22 players. The journey to Europe included a stopover in Jakarta and Tel Aviv where they would play two friendlies as warm-up matches. The first in Jakarta was against the Indonesian national team.
Tuesday May 28 1974 Bloomfield Stadium, Jaffa, Israel Referee: Jean Dubach (Switzerland) Attendance: 14,000
Israel Yosef Sorinov, Israel Hajaj, Yeshaayahu Schwager, Zvi Rozen, Menachem Bello, Eli Leventhal, Itzhak Shum, Yeoshua Feygenbaum, Gideon Damti (Oded Machnes 80), Yitzhak Peretz, Yoel Masuari Coach: David Schweitzer Goals: Feygenbaum 58, 88	2	-	1	AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer, Harry Williams, Ray Richards, Jim Rooney, Jim Mackay, Adrian Alston, Peter Ollerton (Gary Manuel 70), Branko Buljevic (Atti Abonyi 88) Coach: Rale Rasic Goal: Mackay 89
Australia arrived in Tel Aviv where they played another friendly against the Israeli national team. A second match was scheduled a few days later but was called off after a vandal sprayed broken glass all over the ground.
FIFA World Cup
Friday June 14 1974 Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, West Germany Referee: Youssoupha N'Diaye (Senegal) Linesmen: Pablo Sanchez Ibanez (Spain), Omar Delgado (Colombia) Attendance: 17,000
East Germany Jurgen Croy, Gerhard Kische, Bernd Bransch, Konrad Weise, Siegmar Waetzlich, Juergen Sparwasser, Harald Imscher, Jurgen Pommerenke, Wolfram Lowe (Martin Hoffmann 55), Joachim Streich, Eberhard Vogel Coach: Georg Buschner Cautions: Waetzlich 32, Vogel 58, Kische 61 Goals: Curran 58 Own Goal, Streich 72	2	-	0	AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer, Col Curran, Ray Richards, Jim Mackay, Jim Rooney, John Warren, Adrian Alston, Branko Buljevic Coach: Rale Rasic
Australia's first sojourn into a FIFA World Cup Finals took place in June 1974. The world press gave Australia little hope of getting through the first round after the draw had placed them in the same group as Chile, West and East Germany. Back in Australia, the soccer public were wild with enthusiasm as it was Australia's first time in such elite company. The first match was against East Germany in Hamburg.
Tuesday June 18 1974 Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, West Germany Referee: Mustafa Kamil (Egypt) Linesmen: Alfonso Gonzalez Archundia (Mexico), Edison A. Perez Nunez (Peru) Attendance: 53,300
West Germany Sepp Maier, Berti Vogts, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeness, Bernhard Cullmann (Herbert Wimmer 67), Wolfgang Overath, Jurgen Grabowski, Gerhard Mueller, Jupp Heynckes (Bernd Hoelzenbein 46) Coach: Helmut Schon Goals: Overath 13, Cullmann 34, Mueller 53	3	-	0	AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer, Col Curran, Ray Richards, Jim Rooney, Jim Mackay, Ernie Campbell (Atti Abonyi 46), Adrian Alston, Branko Buljevic (Peter Ollerton 61) Coach: Rale Rasic Caution: Mackay
Australia's second round robin match was played against West Germany, again in Hamburg. The West Germans were favourite to win the tournament and outclassed the Socceroos with ease.
Saturday June 22 1974 Olympiastadion, West Berlin, West Germany Referee: Jafar Namdar (Iran) Linesmen: Vital Loraux (Belgium), Arie Van Gemert (Netherlands) Attendance: 17,400
Chile Leopoldo Vallejos, Rolando Garcia, Alberto Quintano, Elias Figueroa, Antonio Arias, Guillermo Paez, Carlos Reinoso, Francisco Valdez (Rogello Farias 55), Carlos Caszely, Sergio Ahumada, Leonardo Veliz (Guillermo Yavar 72) Coach: Luis Alemos Lugue	0	-	0	AUSTRALIA Jack Reilly, Doug Utjesenovic, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer, Col Curran (Harry Williams 83), Ray Richards, Jim Mackay, Jim Rooney, Atti Abonyi, Adrian Alston (Peter Ollerton 65), Branko Buljevic Coach: Rale Rasic Cautions: Richards 37, 79; Red Card: Richards 83
A dead rubber in effect, Australia's third match was against Chile, who had also fallen victim to the East and West Germans. The match was played in torrential rain and proved to be a close match. Had it not been for Ray Richards being sent off, Australia stood a chance of scoring and earning more than their eventual point, their first in FIFA World Cup Finals. Oddly, Richards played for about four minutes after being booked a second time before an alert linesman pointed out the mistake to the Iranian referee.

Last updated: 21 December 2023.