Australia face Germany in the 2005 Confederations Cup

Australia vs Uruguay World cup qualifer 2nd leg, Telstra Stadium, Sydney, 16 November 2005.

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The Australian national football (soccer) team represents Australia in international football competitions. more...

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The team is organised by Football Federation Australia, the sport's national governing body, and its official nickname is \"the Socceroos\" or the \"Qantas Socceroos\" for sponsorship reasons. Australia is a four time Oceania Champion and has been represented at two World Cup finals tournaments, in 1974 and 2006. Their best result was in the 2006 FIFA World Cup where they won against Japan, lost to Brazil, and then drew with Croatia to reach the second round, where they lost 0-1 to eventual winners Italy. The 2006 event produced Australia's first ever World Cup finals goal during their match against Japan. As of October 2006, they are ranked 37th in the FIFA World Rankings and 26th in the World Football Elo Ratings.

History

The first Australian national team was constituted in 1922 for a tour of New Zealand. During that tour, Australia suffered two defeats and scraped together a draw. Australia, New Zealand, China and South Africa would become regular opponents in \"Test\" or \"Friendly\" matches for the next 25 years. With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia would diversify its range of opponents. However, its geographical isolation continued to play a role in its destiny for the next 80 years.

Early World Cup campaigns

The Australian national team first played at the World Cup finals in West Germany in 1974, after many failed qualification attempts. It would prove to be their only appearance until 2006.

The road to the 1974 world cup began with a series of home and away matches against Iraq, New Zealand, and Indonesia. The Socceroos, having won this tournament, then played and won a two-legged fixure against one of the Socceroo's biggest rivals Iran, managing to hold on to a slim overall lead in front of 120,000 Iranian fans in the Azadi stadium, Tehran, during the second leg. South Korea, having itself knocked out Israel at the equivalent stage, was then drawn as Australia's final hurdle. Over the course of another two-legged playoff the scores remained even, and so a deciding match was played in Hong Kong, where Jimmy Mackay scored the only goal for Australia from a free kick.

The team performed with honour at the 1974 world cup, and although unable to overcome the professional teams from host nations East and West Germany, the Socceroos, captained by local amatuer Peter Wilson, did manage a scoreless draw against Chile. It was to be the last appearance for the Australian team until the World Cup tournament returned to Germany more than three decades later. Over that 32 year time span, the Australian team was known for its near misses in its attempts to qualify for the World Cup, most notably the 1998 and 2002 events.