Written by Thomas Esamie. For more details see credits.
| Because Australia is seeded they skip rounds 1 and 2 and move straight to 3 which is 5 groups of 4 teams. Australia has manged to get Qatar, Iraq and China in their group. Top two of each group qualify for round 4. Looks like Australia re-acquaint themselves with the coach of the 2005 Uruguay team they beat to get to the 2006 finals first up in the 2010 campaign. How fun. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : February 6 | Venue : Docklands (Telstra Dome) Stadium, Melbourne | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore (Brett Holman 77), Tim Cahill (Carl Valeri 67), Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Luke Wilkshire, Joshua Kennedy (John Aloisi 70), Scott McDonald, David Carney, Mark Bresciano Goals : Kennedy 10, Cahill 18, Bresciano 33 |
3 | - | 0 | Qatar Mohamed Ahmed, Marcone Junior, Ibrahim Al Ghanim, Majidi Siddiq (Wesam Abdulmajid 46), Abdulla Koni, Saad Al Shammari (Mesaad Al Hamad 46), Ali Yahya, Mustafa Abdulla, Khalfan Al Khalfan, Talal Al Bloushi (Waleed Abdulla 78), Fabio Montesin |
| Referee : Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia) Linesmen : Thanom Borikut (Thailand), Mohd Sabri Mat Daud (Malaysia) Attendance : 50969 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Jorge Fossati (Qatar) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| In preparation for what is expected to be a difficult away match to China Australia have arranged to play Singapore in preparation. An old familiar face showed up on the opposing team in Alex Duric and Harry got to be captain, at least for the first half. The conditions were mostly wet and hot.. an interesting mix, but I'm not convinced that suffices to explain the lack of goals. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : March 22 | Venue : National Stadium, Singapore | |||
| Singapore Lionel Lewis, Baihakki Khaizan, Noh Rahman, Precious Emuejeraye, Shi Jiayi (Ridhuan Muhammad 61), Aleksandar Duric (Fazrul Nawaz 46), Indra Sahdan (Juma'at Jantan 64), John Wilkinson (Hariss Harun 46), Fahrudin Mustafic (Isa Halim 71), Daniel Bennett, Shahril Ishak (Agu Casmir 46) |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Ante Covic, Adam Griffiths, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jade North (Leigh Broxham 71), Mile Jedinak, Michael Beauchamp (Adrian Leijer 63), Mark Bridge (Ryan Griffiths 80), Archie Thompson (Bruce Djite 46), Harry Kewell (Nathan Burns 46), James Troisi, James Holland |
| Referee : Veerapool Prayoon (Thailand) Linesmen : Rosli Omar, Haja Maldin (Singapore) Attendance : 6282 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Radojko Avramovic (Singapore) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Football Federation Australia Match Report by Syahrom Sulaiman Match Report by Paul Goodwin Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Interesting that China should try to use altitude in order to beat Australia and according to the SMH made the asking price for tickets to Australian fans 444 Yuan. They left no stone unturned in preparation and forgot to attack for about 75 minutes of the match. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : March 26 | Venue : Tuodong Stadium, Kunming | |||
| China Zong Lei, Zhang Shuai, Sun Xiang, Feng Xiaoting, Li Weifeng, Han Peng (Qu Bo 73), Zheng Zhi (Shao Jiayi 68), Zhu Ting, Jiang Ning, Sun Jihai, Zhou Haibin (Xiao Zhanbo 65) |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Jade North, Jason Culina, Michael Beauchamp, Carl Valeri, Luke Wilkshire, Archie Thompson (Brett Holman 10), David Carney, Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano |
| Referee : Mohamed Omar Al Saeedi (UAE) Linesmen : Nasser Bahrooz Saqer Ahmad, Mohamed Jasem Saif Hamad Aljalaf Al Mehairi (UAE) Attendance : 33000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Vladimir Petrovic (China) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Paul Goodwin Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Prior to the FIFA congress in Sydney and as preparation for the ensuing World Cup qualifier Ghana return to these shores after a long absence. It was a unique match in that the Ghanaian anthem was played at halftime because there was a 'technical difficulty' (read somebody lost the tape) at the start. The crowd seemed larger then 30thousand and cheered the eventual playing of the anthem almost as much as the Aussie one at the start. They were too busy doing the wave to notice the goalscorder get sent off for a second yellow card late in the game I think they were 2 of the 3 cards issued in the whole game. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : May 23 | Venue : Sydney Football Stadium | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Michael Beauchamp, Jade North, Jacob Burns (James Holland 79), Mile Jedinak, Joel Griffiths, Harry Kewell (Mark Bridge 72), David Carney (Nikolai Topor-Stanley 79), Adam Griffiths (Danny Allsopp 64), James Troisi (Matthew Spiranovic 64), Mile Sterjovski (sent off 87) Goal : Sterjovski 47 |
1 | - | 0 | Ghana William Amamoo (George Owu 50), John Panstil, John Mensah, Anthony Annan, Laryea Kingston, Manuel Agogo, Prince Buabeng (Derick Asamoah 64), Eric Addo, Badu Agyemang (David Addy 79), Afful Harrison, Draman Haminu |
| Referee : Hajime Matsuo (Japan) Linesmen : Nathan Gibson, Matthew Cream (Australia) Attendance : 29910 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Sellas Tetteh (Ghana) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Stephen Webb Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Everything was looking fine for a rematch against the Asian Champions until the Iraqi government disbanded the Olympic Committee and one of the organisations umbrella-d by them was the Iraqi FA. FIFA promptly suspended Iraq from competition but gave them a few days to change their minds. Iraq said they never disbanded the FA and it was all a horrible mistake. In the end the match went ahead and depite Australia's best efforts to let Iraq score one, captain Khalaf in particular looked like he'd score one or five, it seems nobody told Mark Schwarzer who saved everything the crossbar didn't stop. To be fair Australia could have run up a few also. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 1 | Venue : Lang Park, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Michael Beauchamp, Jade North, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Luke Wilkshire, Scott McDonald (Brett Holman 65), Harry Kewell (Bruce Djite 76), David Carney, Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano (Carl Valeri 62) Goal : Kewell 47 |
1 | - | 0 | Iraq Noor Sabri Abbas, Saad Hafidh, Basem Abbas Gatea, Nashat Akram Abid Ali, Emad Mohammed Ridha, Qusay Munir Aboudy, Younes Mahmood Khalaf, Hawar Mulla-Mohammed (Mostafa K Abdulla 84), Haidar Hussain, Ali Hussein Rhema, Mahdi K Ajeel (Salih Sader Salih 68) |
| Referee : Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) Linesmen : Bahadyr Kochkorov (Kyrgyzstan) and Abdukhamidullo Rashulov (Uzbekistan) Attendance : 48678 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Adnan Hamad (Iraq) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Sadly Iraq cannot play their home matches at home. This is terribly sad and while I want them to lose I also want Iraqis to be able to see their team play at home. Turns out the Iraqis tried the next best thing, trying to keep out the Aussie supporters. That is they charged over $100 for tickets to the match for Australian supporters and less than a tenth of that for the Iraq supporters. Sigh! This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 7 | Venue : Al Ahli Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates | |||
| Iraq Noor Sabri Abbas, Saad Hafidh, Basem Abbas Gatea, Nashat Akram Abid Ali (Haitham Tahir 78), Emad Mohammed Ridah, Qusay Munir Aboudy, Younes Mahmood Khalaf, Hawar M Taher (Muhammed Ali Karem 68), Haider A Hussain, Ali Hussein Rhema, Mahdi K Ajeel (Salih Sadwn 68) Goal : Emad Mohamed 27 |
1 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Chris Coyne (Joshua Kennedy 64), Michael Beauchamp, Jade North, Jason Culina, Carl Valeri, Brett Emerton, Luke Wilkshire, Harry Kewell (Scott McDonald 70), David Carney, Vince Grella (Brett Holman 46) |
| Referee : Kazuhiko Matsumura (Japan) Linesmen : Yasuhiko Yamazaki (Japan), Toshiyuki Nagi (Japan) Attendance : 8000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Adnan Hamad (Iraq) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Because Australia is seeded they skip rounds 1 and 2 and move straight to 3 which is 5 groups of 4 teams. Presumably each of the 5 seeded teams get their own group. Top two of each group qualify for round 4. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 14 | Venue : Jassim bin Hammad Stadium, Doha | |||
| Qatar Mohamed Saqr Ahmed, Marcone Amaral C Junior, Abdulla Obaid S Koni (Ibrahim Abdulla M A Al Ghanim 33), Yusef Ahmed M Ali (Magid Mohamaed I Hassan 46), Mesaad Ali A M Al Hamad, Fabio Cesar Montesin, Ibrahim Majed A Abdullmajed (Khalfan Ibrahim K H A Al Khafan 65), Talal Ali H Albloushi, Bilal Mohammed B Rajab, Wesam Rizik Abdulmajid, Andres Sebastian S Quintana Goal : Khalfan Ibrahim 89 |
1 | - | 3 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Luke Wilkshire, Michael Beauchamp, Jade North, David Carney, Carl Valeri, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Mark Bresciano, Brett Holman, Harry Kewell (Bruce Djite 85) Goals : Emerton 17, 56, Kewell 74 |
| Referee : Gi Young Lee (South Korea) Linesmen : Yong Su Kim, Byoung Eun Yang (South Korea) Attendance : 12000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Jorge Fossati (Qatar) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Michael Lynch | |||
| By this stage Australia had already qualified for the next round and gave many of their top 11 a rest and gave the younger players a go. China was already out but sent a strong team anyway, in the other match Qatar upset Iraq to take the other qualifying slot from this group second to Australia on goal difference. In this match China failed to score from a penalty after the initial success was ruled out for encroachment. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 22 | Venue : Sydney Olympic Stadium | |||
| Australia Michael Petkovic, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Matthew Spiranovic, Jade North, Ruben Zadkovich, Carl Valeri, Mile Jedinak (Neil Kilkenny 79), James Holland (David Williams 63), James Troisi (Kristian Sarkies 83), Bruce Djite, Harry Kewell |
0 | - | 1 | China Song Zhen Yu, Sun Xiang, Zhang Yaokun, Li Weifeng, Xiao Zhanbo (Zheng Zhi 73), Xu Yunglong (Wu Hao 69), Wang Dong, Du Zhenyu, Qu Bo, Liu Jian, Gao Lin (Han Peng 87) Goal : Sun Xiang 11 |
| Referee : Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Linesmen : Mohammed Hamad S Alghamdi, Khalid Ibrahim Al Zahrani (Saudi Arabia) Attendance : 70054 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Vladimir Petrovic (China) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| In preparation for the final phase of the Asian World Cup qualifiers Australia played this warmup match against the South Africans. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : August 19 | Venue : Loftus Road Stadium, London | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill (Mark Milligan 46), Scott Chipperfield (David Carney 46), Jason Culina, Scott McDonald (Brett Holman 46), Luke Wilkshire, Joshua Kennedy (Bruce Djite 73), Vince Grella (Carl Valeri 62), Chris Coyne, Mile Sterjovski (Richard Garcia 62), Mark Bresciano Goals : Sterjovski 25, Kennedy 38 |
2 | - | 2 | South Africa Itumeleng Khune, Bradley Carnell, Aaron Mokoena, Nassief Morris, Macbeth Sibaya, Siphiwe Tshabalala (Surprise Moriri 66), Teko Modise, Benedict McCarthy (Lefa Tsutsulupa 73), Siyabonga Nkosi (Sibusiso Zuma 65), Bryce Moon, Kagisho Dikgacoi (Lance Davids 78) Goals : Nkosi 21, Modise 58 |
| Referee : Howard Webb (England) Linesmen : Dave Richardson (England), Peter Kirkup (England) Attendance : Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Joel Santana (South Africa) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| While Uzbekistan was losing 3-0 away to Qatar Australia was putting together a useful performance against the Netherlands in their final warm up. The 10-man thing notwithstanding. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : September 6 | Venue : Philips Stadium, Eindhoven | |||
| Netherlands Maarten Stekelenberg (sent off 42), John Heitinga, Andre Ooijer, Joris Mathijsen, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Mark van Bommel, Robin van Persie, Nigel de Jong, Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Henk Timmer 42), Rafael van der Vaart (Ibrahim Afellay 70), Ryan Babel (Jan Vennegor of Hesselink 83) Goal : Huntelaar 6 |
1 | - | 2 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Jason Culina (Jacob Burns 78), Brett Emerton (Mark Bresciano 46), Luke Wilkshire, Joshua Kennedy (Richard Garcia 78), Harry Kewell (Mile Sterjovski 46), David Carney, Chris Coyne (Michael Beauchamp 70), Carl Valeri, Brett Holman (Bruce Djite 70), Goals : Kewell 42pk, Kennedy 76 |
| Referee : Martin Atkinson (England) Linesmen : Philip Sharp (England), Muhammed Matadar (England) Attendance : 22500 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Bert van Marwijk (Netherlands) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia made it to round 4. Here the remaining teams split into 2 groups of 5. Top two in each group get Tickets to South Africa, 3rd place getters playoff against one another to decide who faces the top Oceania qualifier to progress to the World Cup. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : September 10 | Venue : Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium, Tashkent | |||
| Uzbekistan Ignatiy Nesterov, Bahtiyor Ashurmatov, Ilhomjon Suyunov, Asror Alikulov, Islom Innomov, Server Djeparov, Odil Ahmedov, Ulugbek Bakaev (Zayntdin Tadjiyev 69), Vagiz Galiulin (Timur Kapadzea 43), Jasur Hasanov, Maksim Shatskikh |
0 | - | 1 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Scott Chipperfield, Jacob Burns, Brett Emerton, Luke Wilkshire, Harry Kewell (Bruce Djite 90), Chris Coyne, Carl Valeri, Brett Holman (Mile Sterjovski 77) , Mark Bresciano (David Carney 73) Goal : Chipperfield 26 |
| Referee : Saad K M Al-Faadhli (Kuwait) Linesmen : Yaser A M A A Marad, Sulaiman S S F Alshammari (Kuwait) Attendance : 34000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Rauf Inileev (Uzbekistan) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| While Australia can claim some credit in removing Jorge Fossati as coach of Uruguay his departure from Qatar was caused by illness. Also this match marks the return of Craig Moore who retired earlier in the year but decided he didn't like it much. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : October 15 | Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tim Cahill, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton (Jacob Burns 87), Luke Wilkshire, Josh Kennedy, David Carney, Scott Chipperfield (Mile Sterjovski 46), Scott McDonald (Brett Holman 69) Goals : Cahill 9, Emerton 17pk, 59, Kennedy 76 |
4 | - | 0 | Qatar Abdul Aziz Ali Abdulla, Ibrahim Majed Abdullmajed, Majdi Abdulla Siddiq, Abdullah Obaid Koni, Saad Sattam Al-Shammari (Hamid Ismaeil H Khaleefa 46), Fabio Cesar Montesin (Younes Ali Rahmati 83), Magid Mohamaed Hassan, Mustafa Mohammed Abdulla, Khalfan Ibrahim Al-Khalfan, Mohammed Gholam Al-Boloushi, Andres Sebastian Quintana (Yusef Ahmed M Ali 84) |
| Referee : Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Linesmen : Mohamed Hamad Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), Hamdi Al-Sheikh Al Kadri (Syria) Attendance : 34230 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Bruno Metsu (Qatar) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Australia didn't really deserve to win the match if you go by the direction of the play in general and the goal chances created by the sides. However it has been said that it takes a good team to win while playing badly. This win means Australia lead the table outright at this stage with maximum points from 3 games, Japan 2 behind and Qatar on 4 points having played 4 games. Uzbekistan and Bahrain on just one point each. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : November 19 | Venue : National Stadium, Manama | |||
| Bahrain Sayed Mohamed Jaafar Sabt Abbas, Mohamed Husain Mohamed Hasan, Salman Isa Ghuloom Ali, Sayed Mohamed Adnan Husain, Abdulla Baba Fatadi, Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Hubail, Faouzi Mubarak Aaish, Mohamed Noor Abdulrahman (Rashed Abdulrahman Saif Abdulla Aldoseri 79), Aala Ahmed Mohamed Hubail (Abdulla Adnan Saleh Salman Aldakeel 87), Jaycee John Okwunwanne, Husain Ali Ahmed Ahmed Abdulla (Jamal Rashed Abdulrahman Yusufyusuf 75) |
0 | - | 1 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Chris Coyne (Jade North 69), Tim Cahill (Mile Sterjovski 86), Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire, Carl Valeri, Mark Bresciano, Josh Kennedy, Harry Kewell (Brett Holman 71), David Carney Goal : Bresciano 90 |
| Referee : Masoud Moradi Hasanali (Iran) Linesmen : Hassan Kamranifar (Iran), Luay Subhi Adib (Iraq) Attendance : 10000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Milan Macala (Bahrain) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||