Written by Thomas Esamie. For more details see credits.
| Australia had been trying to set up a series of matches around this time of the year but each one fell through. This one finally got played... This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : February 28 | Venue : Nemesio Camacho Stadium, Bogota | |||
| Colombia Farid Mondragon, Gonzalo Martinez (Ivan Lopez 46), Andres Orozco, Alex Fernandez, Roberto Carlos Cortes, Freddy Grisales, Hernando Pati�o (Andres Perez 56), Alex Viveros, Oscar Restrepo (Arnulfo Valentierra 41), Nestor Salazar (Carlos Castro 74), Jorge Serna (Elson Becerra 46) Goals : Serna 12, Salazar 66, Grisales 75 |
3 | - | 2 | Australia Michael Petkovic, Stephen Laybutt (Fausto De Amicis 46), Con Blatsis, Steve Horvat (Angelo Costanzo 74), Luke Casserly (Simon Colosimo 46), Scott Chipperfield, Kasey Wehrman (Archie Thompson 46), Aurelio Vidmar (c), Jacob Burns, Steve Corica, John Aloisi (Scott Miller 69) Goals : Corica 77pk, Chipperfield 90 |
| Referee : Henry Cervantes Linesmen : Oswaldo Diaz, Denver Perdomo (Colombia) Attendance : 2071 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Luis Augusto Garc�a (Colombia) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia Match Report by Alan Clark | |||
| Australia begins here the quadrennial quest to take that step to the world stage hoping to gain respect both abroad and at home. What better way to start than a match against Tonga. Oh but of course the real start to the campaign came in getting the players released for such games Feel free to read this tidbit to get a better idea. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : April 9 | Venue : International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Clint Bolton, Kevin Muscat (c), Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Tony Vidmar, Lindsay Wilson, Hayden Foxe, Steve Corica (Con Boutsianis 69), Scott Chipperfield, John Aloisi (Archie Thompson 73), Damian Mori (David Zdrilic 69) Goals : Chipperfield 3, 84, Mori 12, 22, 39, 57, Aloisi 14, 23, 36, 45, 51, 63, Muscat 17pk, 28pk, 54pk, 83, Popovic 65, T Vidmar 73, Zdrilic 77, 90, Thompson 79, Boutsianis 85 |
22 | - | 0 | Tonga Tuahiva Fincfeuiaki, Kilifi Uele, Toakai Toto (Timoate Moleni 63), Filisione Taufahema (Solomone Moa 63), Halapua Falepapalangi, Lokoua Taufahema (Unaloto-Ki-Atenoa Fe'ao 63), Siua Maamaloa, Akoli Mafi, Hateni Manu, Kaisani Uhatahi, Teu Fakava |
| Referee : Harry Atisson (Vanuatu) Crowd : 1500 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Gary Phillips (Tonga) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Alan Clark Match Report by Markian Jaworsky Match Report by Gavin Clarke Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Having set a world record in the previous match The Aussies broke it here, by some margin. Infact some reports claim 32 goals were scored, however the goal scored by Archie Thompson in the 75th minute was disallowed. Still Archie broke the individual goalscoring record which had stood for near 100 years, so I'm sure he's OK with it. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : April 11 | Venue : International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Michael Petkovic, Kevin Muscat (c), Craig Moore, Tony Popovic (Fausto deAmicis 46), Tony Vidmar (Scott Miller 46), Simon Colosimo, Aurelio Vidmar, Steve Horvat, Con Boutsianis, Archie Thompson, David Zdrilic Goals : Boutsianis 10, 50, 84, Thompson 12, 23, 27, 29, 32, 37, 42, 45, 56, 60, 65, 85, 88, Zdrilic 13, 21, 25, 33, 58, 66, 78, 89, A Vidmar 14, 80, Popovic 17, 19, Colosimo 51, 81, deAmicis 55 |
31 | - | 0 | American Samoa Nicky Salapu, Mexico Lisi Leututu (Richard D Mariko 50), Soe Falimaua, Levaula Fatu, Sulifou Faaloua, Travis Pita Sinapati, Baby Mulipola, Pati Feagiai, Ben Falaniko (Darrell Ione 84), Tiaoali'l Savea, Young Im Min |
| Referee : Ronan Leaustic (Tahiti) Crowd : 3500 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Tunoa Lui (American Samoa) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Michael Cockerill Match Report by Sarah Winterburn Match Report by Markian Jaworksy Match Report by Alan Clark Match Report by Peter Smith Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| The match against Fiji was basically for the group win and although Fijian coach Billy Singh had made some optimistic remarks about his teams chances the toughness of the match still provided some surprise. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : April 14 | Venue : International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Clint Bolton, Kevin Muscat, Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Tony Vidmar, Lindsay Wilson (Simon Colosimo 53), Hayden Foxe, Steve Corica, Con Boutsianis (Scott Chipperfield 65), John Aloisi, Damian Mori (Archie Thompson 70) Goals : Corica 22, Foxe 79 |
2 | - | 0 | Fiji Isikeli Sevanaia, Valerio Nasema, Emosi Baleinuku, Marika Namaqa, Esala Masi, Leone Vurukania (Abinesh Sailesh Samy 87), Jope Namawa Leka, Ulaiasi Radike Mateiwai (Shailemdra Lal 90), Ratu Apenisa Roluvenisoba, Viliame Dawai Toma (Malakai Kainihewe 84), Josaia Sauturaga |
| Referee : Derek Rugg (New Zealand) Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Billy Singh (Fiji) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia Match Report by Alan Clark | |||
| Australia wrapped up their final group match not having conceded a single goal and now await the identity of their opponents to be decided in early June. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : April 16 | Venue : International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Michael Petkovic, Kevin Muscat, Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Fausto de Amicis, Simon Colosimo, Hayden Foxe (Damian Mori 46), Aurelio Vidmar, Scott Chipperfield, David Zdrilic, Archie Thompson Goals : A Vidmar 5, 49, Zdrilic 28, 57, Foxe 44, Popovic 55, 89, Thompson 75, 78, Chipperfield 76, Bureta 81og |
11 | - | 0 | Samoa Molesi Tokuma, Faimasasa Falilu, Sale Sua-mili, Pualele Lemana, Philipo Bureta, Peko Victor (I Mapusua 81), Ambrose Asafo, Rudolph Lilomaiava, Richmond Faaisuaso (P Timo 76), Junior Michael, Ben Lemana (E Tyrell 60) |
| Referee : Brian Precious (New Zealand) Crowd : 1500 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), (Samoa) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Alan Clark Match Report by Soccer Australia General Report by Fred Legget General Report by Cameron Atfield General Report by Markian Jaworsky General Report by David Arnold | |||
| Having qualified for this tournament again, after disatrously missing out last time, Australia began with a match against Mexico. The other group contained Brazil, Japan, Cameroon and Canada. In the other group match France won 5-0 against the Koreans. This was a Confederations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : May 30 | Venue : Suwon, South Korea | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic, Shaun Murphy, Kevin Muscat, Stan Lazaridis (Archie Thompson 78), Josip Skoko (Hayden Foxe 69), Paul Okon (c), Steve Corica, Clayton Zane, David Zdrilic (Scott Chipperfield 66) Goals : Murphy 20, Skoko 55 |
2 | - | 0 | Mexico Oswaldo Sanchez, Claudio Suarez (c), David Oteo, Duilio Davino, Marco Antonio Ruiz (Daniel Osorno 46), Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Jose Manuel Abundis, Jared Borgetti, Pavel Pardo, Alberto Coyote (Cesareo Victorino 46), Victor Ruiz (Joaquin Reyes 66) |
| Referee : Felix Tangawarima (Zimbabwe) Crowd : 6232 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Enrique Meza Enriquez (Mexico) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia sprang an amazing upset as Clayton Zane tucked away the ball after Coupet managed to palm the ball onto the post from a free kick and then held on for the win, a close offside decision helping Australia as the French forced Mark Schwarzer to put the ball over the line while he scrambled to gather it. In the other match South Korea got a late, late winner for a 2-1 result. This was a Confederations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 1 | Venue : Daegu, Korea | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Stan Lazaridis, Josip Skoko (Marco Bresciano 78), Paul Okon (c), Steve Corica, Clayton Zane (John Aloisi 87), Brett Emerton Goal : Zane 59 |
1 | - | 0 | France Gregory Coupet, Nicolas Gillet, Youri Djorkaeff (Patrick Viera 87), Sylvan Wiltord, Frederic Nee (Nicholas Anelka 71), Jeremie Brechet, Olivier Dacourt (Robert Pires 74), Frank Leboeuf (c) (sent off 78), Christian Karembeu, Zoumana Tamara, Laurent Robert |
| Referee : Carlos Batres (Guatemala) Crowd : 44400 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Roger Lemerre (France) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Oh yes, and France beat Mexico 4-0 to win the group after all, on goal difference, to Australia and South Korea. This was a Confederations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 6 | Venue : Suwon World Cup Stadium, South Korea | |||
| South Korea Lee Woon Jae, Choi Sung Yong, Song Chong Gug, Kim Tae Young, Kim Do Hoon (Yong Soo Choi 64), Seol Ki Hyeon, Lee Min Sung, Hwang Sun Hong, Lee Young Pyo, Hong Myung Bo (c), Park Ji Sung Goal : Hwang 24 |
1 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Tony Vidmar, Shaun Murphy, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Marco Bresciano, Paul Okon (c) (Aurelio Vidmar 81), Hayden Foxe (Scott Chipperfield 46), Brett Emerton, Steve Corica (David Zdrilic 46), Clayton Zane (sent off 85) |
| Referee : Oscar Julian Ruiz (Colombia) Crowd : 42754 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Guus Hiddink (Korea) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| In monsoonal rain Japan managed to remain the only side not to concede a goal and a Nakata free kick after a Popovic foul was deflected into the net for the only goal. Australia now play Brazil for 3rd place while France awaits Japan. This was a Confederations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 8 | Venue : Yokohama, Japan | |||
| Japan Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Naoki Matsuda, Ryuzo Morioka (Kenichi Uemura 22), Junichi Inamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata (c), Akinori Nishizawa (Hiroaki Morishima 80), Koji Nakata, Kazuyuki Toda, Yasuhiro Hato, Shinji Ono (Toshihiro Hattori 55), Takayuki Suzuki (sent off 56) Goal : Nakata 43 |
1 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Kevin Muscat, Craig Moore (sent off 88), Paul Okon (c), Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic, Stan Lazaridis, David Zdrilic (Archie Thompson 71), Marco Bresciano (Mile Sterjovski 60), Steve Corica, Scott Chipperfield (John Aloisi 60) |
| Referee : Benito Archundia (Mexico) Crowd : 48699 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Philippe Troussiere (Japan) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia pulled off another amazing victory to cap off an insanely successful tournament and France, inevitably, won the final 1-0 over Japan. Incidentally Emerson Leao, the Brazilian coach, either resigned or was fired (depending on who you ask) when he returned to Brazil after this tournament. Australia can't claim all the credit though, 0-0 to Canada and Japan had to hurt equally badly. This was a Confederations Cup match. | ||||
| Played : June 11 | Venue : Ulsan, South Korea | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Tony Vidmar (c), Tony Popovic, Josip Skoko (Marco Bresciano 71), Stan Lazaridis, David Zdrilic, Shaun Murphy, Steve Horvat, Steve Corica (Mile Sterjovski 61), Scott Chipperfield, Clayton Zane Goal : Murphy 84 |
1 | - | 0 | Brazil Dida, Ze Maria, Edmilson, Vampeta (c), Carlos Miguel (Julio Batista 66), Claudio Cacapa, Leo, Fabio (Leandro 91), Ramon, Washinton, Magno Alves |
| Referee : Hellmut Krug (Germany) Crowd : 28520 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Emerson Leao (Brazil) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| New Zealand predictably won the other Oceania Group and lined up for the traditional trans tasman showdown. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 20 | Venue : Westpac Trust Stadium, Wellington | |||
| New Zealand Jason Batty, Ivan Vicelich, Ryan Nelsen, Chris Zoricich (c), Jonathan Perry (Gerard Davis 71), Simon Elliott, Mark Burton, Chris Jackson, Arran Lines (Noah Hickey 46), Chris Killen, Vaughan Coveny |
0 | - | 2 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic, Shaun Murphy, Kevin Muscat, Stan Lazaridis (Danny Tiatto 68 (sent off 85)), Josip Skoko, Paul Okon (c), Brett Emerton, Steve Corica (David Zdrilic 46), Clayton Zane (John Aloisi 75) Goals : Emerton 6, 82 |
| Referee : Masayoshi Okada (Japan) Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Ken Dugdale (New Zealand) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia Match Report by Various | |||
| The second leg was played in Sydney in a Stadium undergoing reconfiguration. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 24 | Venue : Stadium Australia, Sydney | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic (Shaun Murphy 37), Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Stan Lazaridis, Josip Skoko (Marco Bresciano 60), Paul Okon (c) (Steve Horvat 60), Brett Emerton, David Zdrilic, John Aloisi Goals : Zdrilic 6, 83, Emerton 37, Aloisi 56 |
4 | - | 1 | New Zealand Jason Batty, Ivan Vicelich, Ryan Nelsen, Chris Zoricich (c), Jonathan Perry (Gerard Davis 79), Simon Elliott, Mark Atkinson (Paul Urlovic 46), Chris Jackson, Noah Hickey, Chris Killen, Vaughan Coveny Goal : Coveny 44pk |
| Referee : Kwon Jung Chul (Korea) Crowd : 41976 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Ken Dugdale (New Zealand) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Soccer Australia Match Report by Various | |||
| Australia, in this rainsoaked match, was looking to build a regular series with this inaugural AFC-OFC Challenge Cup. Let's hope it's more regular than the regular challenge against South Africa. Compare the team sheets if you want to believe this was a useful warm up for the World Cup. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : August 15 | Venue : Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Japan | |||
| Japan Yoshikatsu Kamaguchi (c), Naoki Matsuda, Ryuzo Norioka, Koji Nakata, Toshohiro Hattori, Hiroaki Morishima (Daisuke Oko 77), Teruyoshi Ito, Kazuyuki Toda, Yasahiro Hato (Tonokazu Myojin 73), Atushi Yanagisawa (Mashashi Nakayama 62), Takayuki Suzuki Goals : Yanagisawa 19 Hattori 53 Nakayama 65pk |
3 | - | 0 | Australia Jason Petkovic, Luke Casserly, Steve Laybutt (Angelo Costanzo 61), Steve Horvat (c), Fausto De Amicis, Kasey Wehrman, Scott Chipperfield, Steve Corica, Mark Robertson (Con Boutsianis 46), John Aloisi (Saso Petrovski 69), David Zdrilic |
| Referee : Zhang Jianjun (China) Crowd : 60000 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Philippe Troussier (Japan) | ||||
| Squad listings | ||||
| After much protest from European clubs the match went ahead with the respective countries' top sides. The count at this stage between the two countries is 1win 1draw 1loss. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : November 11 | Venue : Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Shaun Murphy, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat (John Aloisi 58), Tony Vidmar, Brett Emerton, Josip Skoko (Marco Bresciano 73), Paul Okon, Stan Lazaridis, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka Goal : Moore 43 |
1 | - | 1 | France Fabien Barthez, Christian Karembeu, Franck Leboeuf, Marcel Desailly (Mikael Silvestre 83), Christophe Dugarry (Sylvain Wiltord 58), Vincent Candela , Claude Makalele (Eric Carriere 65), Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, David Trezeguet (Nicholas Anelka 65), Zinedine Zidane (Alain Boghossian 80) Goal : Trezeguet 49 |
| Referee : Simon Micallef (Australia) Crowd : 53173 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Roger Lemerre (France) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match comments from Various Everything but the match Report by Fred Legget Match Report by Alan Clark Match Report by Markian Jaworsky Match Report by Ivan Speck | |||
| Once again Australia find themselves at the final hurdle to get to the World Cup and found out only days before that it would be Uruguay and not Colombia or Brazil they would face. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : November 20 | Venue : Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Kevin Muscat, Shaun Murphy, Craig Moore, Tony Vidmar, Brett Emerton, Paul Okon (c), Josip Skoko, Stan Lazaridis (Paul Agostino 46), Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell Goal : Muscat 79pk |
1 | - | 0 | Uruguay Fabian Carini, Washington Tais, Alejandro Lembo, Paolo Montero (c), Dario Rodgriguez, Gonzalo de los Santos, Pablo Garcia, Gianni Guigou, Alvaro Recoba, Federico Magallanes (Guillermo Giacomazzi 72), Javier Chevanton (Mario Reguiero 77) |
| Referee : Graziano Cesare (Italy) Linesmen : Marco Ivaldi, Aniello Di Marco (both Italy) Crowd : 84656 Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Victor Pua (Uruguay) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Match Report by David Marshall Match Report by Fred Legget Match Report by Gavin Willacy Match Report by Warren Green Match Report by Chris Dunkerley Reports by Various | |||
| Ah, yet again Australia fail at the final hurdle and it remains to be seen whether the Socceroos will end up going into a hibernation period now. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : November 25 | Venue : Estadio Centenario, Montevideo | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Kevin Muscat (Paul Agostino 73), Shaun Murphy (John Aloisi 81), Craig Moore, Tony Vidmar, Brett Emerton, Paul Okon (c), Josip Skoko, Stan Lazaridis, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell |
0 | - | 3 | Uruguay Fabian Carini, Washington Tais, Alejandro Lembo, Paolo Montero (c), Dario Rodgriguez, Pablo Garcia, Gianni Guigou, Mario Reguiero (Gonzalo de los Santos 74), Alvaro Recoba, Federico Magallanes (Richard Morales 65), Dario Silva (Gonzalo Sorondo 82) Goals: Silva 14, Morales 70, 90 |
| Referee : Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates) Linesmen : Yaqqob Ahmed Mohammed, Abdulla Ali Majluf (both UAE) Crowd : unknown Coaches : Frank Farina (Australia), Victor Pua (Uruguay) | ||||
| Squad listings | Match Report by Thomas Esamie Reports by Various More Reports by Various Yet More Reports by Various Match Report by Khanh Tran Report by Tony D'Alfonso Pre Match Report by Chris Kunz | |||