Written by Thomas Esamie. For more details see credits.
| For this match, to kick off qualifying for the Asian Cup, Pim Verbeek chose an entirely Australian-based squad of players. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : January 28 | Venue : Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta | |||
| Indonesia Markus Horison Rihihina, Charis Yulianto, Boas Solossa (Bambang Pamungkas 71), Abdul Mashafry Talaohu (Elie Aiboy 64), Ponaryo Astaman, Budi Sudarsono (Erol Iba 83), Firman Utina, Hariono, Isnan Ali, Richardo Salampessy, Maman Abdurahman |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Eugene Galekovic, Craig Moore, Archie Thompson, Danny Allsopp (Matt Simon 57), Matt McKay, Paul Reid, Rodrigo Vargas, Scott Jamieson, Dean Heffernan (Michael Zullo 79), Tom Pondeljak (Billy Celeski 68), Matt Thompson |
| Referee : Abdul Malik Abdul Bashir (Singapore) Linesmen : Gek Pheng Jeffrey Goh, Nazeer Hussain Mohamed Haniffa (both Singapore) Attendance : 88000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Benny Dollo (Indonesia) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia went to Japan with maximum points from their 3 games and Japan on 2 wins and a draw. The homeground advantage gave the Japanese the edge, but it was a doublesided one that almost cost Okada his job. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : February 11 | Venue : International Stadium, Yokohama | |||
| Japan Ryota Tsuzuki, Yuji Nakazawa, Tulio Tanaka, Atsuto Uchida, Yasuhito Endo, Daisuke Matsui (Yoshito Okubo 58), Tatsuya Tanaka (Shinji Okazaki 83), Shunsuke Nakamura, Keiji Tamada, Yuto Nagatomo, Makoto Hasebe |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tim Cahill (Josh Kennedy 85), Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire, Scott Chipperfield, Vince Grella, Brett Holman (Richard Garcia 64), Carl Valeri, Mark Bresciano (David Carney 90) |
| Referee : Mohsen Basma (Syria) Linesmen : Tamam Hamdoun, Mashhour Hamdan (both Syria) Attendance : 66000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Takeshi Okada (Japan) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Tony Tannous | |||
| Anyone who doubted Pim Verbeeks assessment of the standard of A-League players in general and the description of the performance of the players in the Indonesian game as "pathetic" should all be quiet now. Pim was serving a sideline ban and Graham Arnold was deputising... Kuwait on the other hand deserve a bit of credit for this away win. Also amusing was the use of cardboard sheets to signal substitutions of players with squad numbers greater than 100 because the electronic boards couldn't handle it. Though you might be excused for thinking otherwise this was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : March 5 | Venue : Canberra Stadium | |||
| Australia Eugene Galekovic, Craig Moore (Robert Cornthwaite 85), Archie Thompson, Matthew McKay, Paul Reid (Mitchell Nichols 62), Matthew Simon, Rodrigo Vargas, Tomislav Pondeljak, Matthew Thompson, Michael Zullo (Fabian Barbiero 67), Daniel Mullen |
0 | - | 1 | Kuwait Nawaf KH S M Alkhaldi, Yaqoub N A Y T Abdullah, Hussain F Ali, Fahad Alebrahim (Mohammad A A H Jarragh 77), Mesaed N Alenzi, Walied A H R Jumah (Saleh H SH Alhendi 85), Hamad N M F A Alenezi (Khaled A K H F Matar 65), Bader A B A A Almotawa, Jarah M H M H Alateeqi, Talal A A S Alamer, Fahad A A Shaheen Goal : Mesaed 36 |
| Referee : Moradi Masoud (Iran) Linesmen : Attendance : 20032 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Goran Tufegdzic (Kuwait) | ||||
| Squad Listing |
Match Report by Nick Guoth | |||
| Australia didn't get the draw between Bahrain and Qatar that would have confirmed qualification, but are on the brink with this win. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : April 1 | Venue : Sydney Olympic Stadium | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Jason Culina, Michael Beauchamp, Luke Wilkshire, Harry Kewell (Brett Holman 74), Scott Chipperfield, Richard Garcia, Carl Valeri (Mile Jedinak 80), Scott McDonald (Joshua Kennedy 59), Mark Bresciano Goals : Kennedy 66, Kewell 73pk |
2 | - | 0 | Uzbekistan Ignatiy Nesterov, Anvar Gafurov, Hayrulla Karimov (Islom Tuhtahujaev 75), Anzur Ismailov, Sakhob Jurayev, Aziz Ibragimov (Azizbek Haydarov 64), Jasur Hasanov, Server Djeparov, Odil Ahmedov, Farhod Tadjiyev (Anvarjon Soliev 57), Timur Kapadze |
| Referee : Ali Hamad Madhad Saif Albadwawi (UAE) Linesmen : Almehairi Mohamed Jasem Saif Hamad Aljalaf, Ahmad Nasser Bahrooz Saqer (both UAE) Attendance : 57292 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Mirdjalal Kasimov (Uzbekistan) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| With this draw Australia made qualification for the South African finals a mathematical certainty. Perhaps a bit of an anti-climax to qualify around 4am local time as opposed to the events of 2005 but much better for the heart. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 6 | Venue : Al Sadd Club, Doha, Qatar | |||
| Qatar Qasem Abdullhamed Burhan, Hamed Shami Zaher, Bilal Mohammed B Rajab, Mesaad Ali A M Alhamad, Ibrahim Majed A Abdullmajed, Mohammed Abdulraab A A Al Yazidi, Talal Ali H Albloushi, Ali Hassan A Yahya (Hasan Khalid H Alhaydos 77), Magid Mohamaed I Hassan (Yusef Ahmed M Ali 83), Ahmed Ali F A Al-Binali (Majdi Abdulla Siddiq 62), Andres Sebastian S Quintana |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill (Richard Garcia 93), Jason Culina, Chris Coyne, Josh Kennedy, Harry Kewell, Scott Chipperfield, Vince Grella (Jade North 73), Carl Valeri, Mark Bresciano (Brett Holman 77) |
| Referee : Abdul Malik Bin Abdul Bashir (Singapore) Linesmen : Goh Gek Pheng Jeffrey, Lutfi Emir (Singapore) Attendance : 7000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Bruno Metsu (Qatar) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia, having qualified played out their last two games, this one Bahrain needed to win to stay in the hunt for the 3rd place in the group to make the playoffs. It didn't really look like that would happen. Also quite a contrast in playing conditions from a few days ago in the hot and humid 38C heat to a chilly 8C here. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 10 | Venue : Sydney Olympic Stadium | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Mark Milligan, Chris Coyne (Jade North 73), Jason Culina, Mile Jedinak (Vince Grella 63), Luke Wilkshire, Mile Sterjovski, David Carney, Harry Kewell, Brett Holman (Nick Carle 84), Scott McDonald Goals : Sterjovski 55, Carney 88 |
2 | - | 0 | Bahrain Sayed Mohamed Jaafar Sabt Abbas, Abdulla Abdulrahman Mohamed Marzooq, Salman Isa Ghuloom Ali (Abdulwahab Ali Abdulwahab Husain Alsafi 90), Husain Ali Hasan Ali Mohamed, Abdulla Abdi Omar Yaser (Ahmed Hassan Taleb Mohamed Rashed 87), Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Hubail, Mohamed Ahmed Yusuf Salmeen, Faouzi Mubarak Aaish (Ismaeel Abdulatif Ismaeel Hasan 76), Mahmood Abdulrahman Mohamed Noor Abdulrahman, Abdulla Ismaeel Omar, Jaycee John Okwunwanne |
| Referee : Abdullah Mohamed Masoud Al Hilali (Oman) Linesmen : Salim Gharib Akaba Al Rashdi (Oman), Saleh Mohamed Abdulla Hasan Al Marzouqi (UAE) Attendance : 39540 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Milan Macala (Bahrain) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| A purely academic exercise in which anything but a Japanese win would see Australia top the group. I guess if Aloisi had been playing the score might have finished 3-1.. On a side note the attendance was originally pegged at 69238 but was 2 weeks later revised due to "technical and human error" to 74100. This was a World Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : June 17 | Venue : Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Shane Steffanuto, Jade North, Tim Cahill (Dario Vidosic 84), Jason Culina, Nick Carle (Scott McDonald 77), Vince Grella, Rhys Williams (Jacob Burns 77), Mile Sterjovski, Josh Kennedy Goals : Cahill 59, 77 |
2 | - | 1 | Japan Seigo Narazaki, Marcus Tulio Lyuji Murzani Tanaka, Atsuto Uchida, Yuto Nagatomo, Yuki Abe, Hashimoto Hideo (Shinzoh Kohrogi 84), Yasoyuki Konno, Daisuke Matsui (Kisho Yano 67), Kengo Nakamura, Shinji Okazaki, Keiji Tamada Goal : Tanaka 39 |
| Referee : Alghamdi Khalil Ibrahim M (Saudi Arabia) Linesmen : Alghamdi Mohammed Hamad S (Saudi Arabia), Hamdi Alchikh Alkadri (Syria) Attendance : 74100 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Takeshi Okada (Japan) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : August 12 | Venue : Thomond Park, Limerick | |||
| Ireland Shay Given (Keiren Westwood 67), John O'Shea, Kevin Kilbane (Eddie Nolan 63), Sean St Ledger, Richard Dunne, Glenn Whelan, Aiden McGeady (Shane Long 82), Darren Gibson (Keith Andrews 63), Kevin Doyle (Stephen Hunt 46), Robbie Keane, Damian Duff (Caleb Folan 46) |
0 | - | 3 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, David Carney, Tim Cahill (Brett Holman 46), Jade North (Matt Spiranovic 70), Mile Jedinak (James Holland 88), Scott McDonald (Nikita Rukavytsya 46), Luke Wilkshire, Harry Kewell, Patrick Kisnorbo (Adrian Madaschi 46), Rhys Williams, Mark Bresciano (Nick Carle 78) Goals : Cahill 39, 44, Carney 90 |
| Referee : Hiroshi Tezuka Linesmen : Attendance : Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Giovanni Trappatoni (Ireland) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Having recently been el(ev)ated to be 14th ranked in the FIFA ratings Australia were defeated in this friendly match to remind them of the work that remains to impress at South Africa in the following year. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : September 5 | Venue : World Cup Stadium, Seoul | |||
| South Korea Woon Jae Lee, Yong-Hyung Cho, Ji-Sung Park, Jin Kyu Kim (Won-Hee Cho 62 (Ho Lee 90)), Chu-Young Park (Keun Ho Lee 80), Young-Pyo Lee, Jung-Soo Lee, Do Heon Kim, Sung-Yueng Ki (Ki-Hyun Seol 56), Chun Soo Lee (Nam Il Kim 71), Dong Gook Lee (Ki Hun Yeom 56) Goals : CY Park 4, JS Lee 20, KH Seol 87 |
3 | - | 1 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Shane Stefanutto, Jade North, Jason Culina, Scott McDonald, Joshua Kennedy, Vince Grella, Brett Holman (Nick Carle 61), Mark Milligan (Matt Spiranovic 81), Patrick Kisnorbo, Mark Bresciano Goal : Kisnorbo 33 |
| Referee : Linesmen : Attendance : 30000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Jung-Moo Huh (South Korea) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Despite being outplayed Australia gave a good account of themselves and maintained a winning record against the Dutch. The lack of a cutting edge for Australia was seen as a cause for concern. This was a Friendly match. | ||||
| Played : October 10 | Venue : Sydney Football Stadium | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore (Patrick Kisnorbo 47), Tim Cahill (Brett Emerton 48), Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire, Joshua Kennedy (Dario Vidosic 47), Harry Kewell, Vince Grella (Carl Valeri 14 (Mile Jedinak 72)), Brett Holman, David Carney |
0 | - | 0 | Netherlands Maarten Stekelenburg, Khalid Boulahrouz, John Heitinga, Joris Mathijsen, Antun Kovacic (Edson Braafheid 78), Damy de Zeeuw (David Mendes da Silva 80), Dirk Kuyt (Ryan Babel 47), Stijn Schaars (Orlando Engelaar 62), Klass Jan Huntelaar, Wesley Sneijder (Rafael van der Vaart 67), Eljero Elia |
| Referee : Tojo Minoru (Japan) Linesmen : Attendance : 40537 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Bert van Marwijk (Netherlands) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| The cutting edge is, of course, called Tim Cahill and he delivered in what was essentially a must win match which was marked by the Oman coach accusing FFA officials of disrespecting him and complaining that Oman had to play Australia on official FIFA match days (and hence a full strength squad) and Kuwait and Indonesia not. Perhaps he has a point. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : October 14 | Venue : Docklands (Etihad) Stadium, Melbourne | |||
| Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tim Cahill (Mile Jedinak 90), Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Luke Wilkshire, Joshua Kennedy, Harry Kewell (David Carney 79), Scott Chipperfield, Carl Valeri (Dario Vidosic 74) Goal : Cahill 73 |
1 | - | 0 | Oman Al Habsi Ali Abdullah Harib, Khalifa Ayil Salim Al Naufli, Al Gheilani Hassan Yousuf Madhafar, Al Balushi Mohammed Abdullah Mubarak, Mohamed Rabia Jamaan Al Noobi, Bait Doorbeen Fawzi Bashir Rajab, Al Mahajiri Ahmed Mubarak Obaid (Badar Mubarak Saleh Al-Maimani 86), Ismail Sulaiman Ashoor Al-Ajmi (Hashim Saleh Mohammed 83), Al Mukhaini Ahmed Hadid Thuwaini, Amad Ali Sulaiman Al Hosni, Al-Housni Hassan Rabia Suwaidan |
| Referee : Toma Maasaki (Japan) Linesmen : Nagi Toshiyuki, Otsuka Haruhiro (Japan) Attendance : 20595 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Claude Le Roy (Oman) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia retook the lead of the group with a determined (ie hard fought and somewhat lucky) win over Oman who took the lead from a followed up penalty and from thereon faced only 10 men. In the second half Oman had many chances to score but found Schwarzer in fine form while at the other end Australia were eventually successful. This was an Asian Cup Qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : November 18 | Venue : Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat | |||
| Oman Al Habsi Ali Abdullah Harib, Mohamed Rabia Jamaan Al Noobi, Al Balushi Mohammed Abdullah Mubarak, Al Gheilani Hassan Yousuf Madhafar, Khalifa Ayil Salim Al Naufli, Bait Doorbeen Fawzi Bashir Rajab, Ismail Sulaiman Ashoor Al-Ajmi, Al Mukhaini Ahmed Hadid Thuwaini, Al-Housni Hassan Rabia Suwaidan (Hashim Saleh Mohammed 69), Amad Ali Sulaiman Al Hosni, Qasim Said Sanjoor Hardan (Yaqoob Abdul Karim Salim Al-Qasmi 87) Goal : Khalifa Ayil Salim Al Naufli 16 |
1 | - | 2 | Australia Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Scott Chipperfield, Rhys Williams (sent off 15), Tim Cahill (Brett Holman 67), Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Harry Kewell (Patrick Kisnorbo 89), Mark Bresciano (David Carney 67), Luke WIlkshire Goals : Wilkshire 43, Emerton 83 |
| Referee : Sun Baojie (China) Linesmen : Han Wei (China), Liu Qingwei (China) Attendance : 12000 Coaches : Pim Verbeek (Australia), Claude Le Roy (Oman) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||