Australia Soccer Team - Australia Soccer

General Information
Country - Australia
Capital City - Canberra
Continent - Oceania
Manager - Guus Hiddink
Captain - Mark Viduka
Star Man - Tony Vidmar

Team History
Founded 1961
Affiliated 1963

WC participations 1(1974)
WC honours NONE
Continental Titles Oceania Champions on three
occasions (1980, 1996, 2000)
World Cup Record:
Year Host Performance
1930 Uruguay -
1934 Italy -
1938 France -
1950 Brazil -
1954 Switzerland -
1958 Sweden -
1962 Chile -
1966 England -
1970 Mexico -
1974 West Germany Fourth, Group One
1978 Argentina -
1982 Spain -
1986 Mexico -
1990 Italy -
1994 U.S.A. -
1998 France -
2002 S.Korea/Japan -
2006 Germany in Group F with Brazil, Croatia, Japan
AUSTRALIA Football Team for 2006 FIFA World Cup

Coach:
Guus Hiddink.

Captain
Mark Viduka.

Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer, Zeljko Kalac, Ante Covic.

Defenders:
Michael Beauchamp, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Tony Popovic, Mark Milligan.

Midfielders:
Marco Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Scott Chipperfield, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Vince Grella, Stan Lazaridis, Josip Skoko, Mile Sterjovski, Luke Wilkshire.

Forwards:
John Aloisi, Harry Kewell, Archie Thompson, Joshua Kennedy.

Australia statistics in Group F with Brazil, Croatia, Japan
The team is known as 'Socceroos'
Jersey No. Name of the Player
1 Mark Schwarzer
2 Lucas Neill
3 Craig Moore
4 Tim Cahill
5 Jason Culina
6 Tony Popovic
7 Brett Emerton
8 Josip Skoko
9 Mark Viduka
10 Harry Kewell
11 Stan Lazaridis
12 Ante Covic
13 Vince Grella
14 Scott Chipperfield
15 John Aloisi
16 Michael Beauchamp
17 Archie Thompson
18 Zeljko Kalac
19 Joshua Kennedy
20 Luke Wilkshire
21 Mile Sterjovski
22 Mark Milligan
23 Marco Bresciano

The Australians secured qualification to play in FIFA Word Cup 2006 in Germany with a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Uruguay in Sydney's Telstra Stadium. Australia will be playing in Group F and has tough competition to face from Brazil, Croatia and Japan.

The Socceroos have reached the finals after a span of 32 years. In 1974, Australia played with Chile, German DR and German FR in the group stages. Unfortunately they failed to secure a single goal. Bad luck followed them in the FIFA Confederations Cup of Germany 2005 where they could not win a single match. Australia's Dutch Coach Guus Hiddink guided the team successfully after the play-off defeats in 1985, 1993, 1997 and 2001.

In the preliminary rounds the Socceroos performed really well. In Oceania's group stage they won four out of five and drew one. Australia defeated Solomon Islands 9-1 over two legs and this landed them up in the play-off match with Uruguay.

The star players to look for in the team this time include midfielders Nick Ward and Tim Cahill. Nick Ward is considered a strong contender for the FIFA World Cup Young Player of the Tournament. Tim Cahill too is a fabulous performer. He led the Australian scorers with seven goals in the Oceania Qualifying section. Defender Tony Vidmar and the captain Mark Viduka are other players to watch.

This is Australia's second appearance in the World Cup finals. The Socceroos team wants to make the most of this opportunity and plan to storm through the finals. They are quite hopeful and are banking on the able guidance of coach Hiddink.