Written by Thomas Esamie, Greg Stock and Jean-Michel Cazal. Thanks to Kevin Christopher (Studs Up editor) for the use of his personal material and John Punshon for the cross referencing of material. For more details see credits.
| Australia was invited to participate in the inaugural Merlion Cup in Singapore in October 1982. Drawn in Group B with Indonesia and Thailand, their campaign began with a match against the Thai national side. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : October 6 1982 | Venue : National Stadium, Singapore | |||
| Thailand Suriyar Boonlert, (Lineup incomplete) |
0 | - | 4 | Australia Martyn Crook, Alan Davidson, David Ratcliffe, Tony Henderson, Alan Niven, Peter Katholos, Gary Byrne, Peter Raskopoulos, Phil O'Connor, Gary Cole (Charlie Egan 78), John Kosmina Goals : Phil O'Connor, John Kosmina 46, 79, Gary Cole 71 |
| Referee : N Chandra (Singapore) Attendance : 3,000 Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| The second game in Group B was against Indonesia. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : October 11 1982 | Venue : Singapore | |||
| Indonesia (Lineup unavailable) |
0 | - | 2 | Australia Martyn Crook, Alan Davidson, Steve Blair, Tony Henderson, Alan Niven, George Christopoulos, Gary Byrne, Peter Raskopoulos (Peter Katholos 64), David Mitchell, John Kosmina, Charlie Egan (Phil O'Connor 64) Goals : Mitchell 73, 77 |
| Referee : Lee Kok Leong (Singapore) Attendance 5,000 Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| Australia had qualified for the semi-finals by winning Group B and were drawn against Malaysia. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : October 14 1982 | Venue : National Stadium, Singapore | |||
| Malaysia (Lineup incomplete) R Arumugham (Ong Yu Tiang 46'), Wong Hong Nang, Zainal Abidin, Serbegeth Singh, Naser Yusof, Napoleon Rozario |
0 | - | 5 | Australia Martyn Crook, Alan Davidson, Steve Blair, Tony Henderson, Alan Niven, Peter Katholos, Gary Byrne, George Christopoulos, Phil O'Connor (Gary Cole 68), John Kosmina, David Mitchell Goals : Katholos 19, 37, Kosmina 56, O'Connor 64, Cole 77 |
| Attendance : 12,000 Coaches : M Chandran (Malaysia), Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| After beating Malaysia convincingly in the semi-final, Australia faced the South Korean side in the final. Played in front of a very parochial crowd, Australia managed to hold out and win the inaugural Merlion Cup. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : October 17 1982 | Venue : National Stadium, Singapore | |||
| South Korea (Lineup incomplete) Oh Suk Jae, Park Chiang Seun Goals : Oh Suk Jae 59, Park Chang Seun 83 |
2 | - | 3 | Australia Martyn Crook, Alan Davidson, Steve Blair, Tony Henderson, Alan Niven, Peter Katholos, Gary Byrne, George Christopoulos, Phil O'Connor, John Kosmina, David Mitchell Goals : O'Connor 17, Mitchell 34, Christopoulos 61 |
| Referee : N Chandra (Singapore) Attendance : 25,000 Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||