Australia national football team

The early years

The first Australian team was assembled in 1922 as part of a tour of New Zealand ^[2] . During the tour, Australia in three games suffered two defeats and tied ^[2] . Over the next 36 years, the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became participants in regular tours and exhibition games ^[3] . Australia also played against the teams of Canada and India in 1924 and 1928, respectively, at the height of their tour ^{[4] [5]} . The first experience of playing at major tournaments was the 1956 Olympic football tournament , but Australia played only two matches: in the first, Japan was defeated 2-0, in the second the Australians lost to India 2-4 ^[6] . The development of air links with Australia allowed the islanders to fly to Asia, America and Europe to play with stronger opponents ^[3] , but the geographical location significantly affected the development of football in the country, which put the Australians in some kind of isolation ^[3] .

Twice the team tried to get to the World Cup in 1966 and 1970, but in both cases, Asian teams ( DPRK in 1966 and Israel in 1970) blocked its path there. In 1974, however, the Australians entered the world championships in Germany for the first time ^[7] . However, the team performed there unsuccessfully, having played a zero draw with Chile and losing to the GDR and the FRG . The basis of the team consisted only of amateurs, and Australia itself did not score a single goal. The next entry to the tournament took place only 32 years later, and again to Germany ^[7] . During this time, Australia managed to suffer a number of setbacks in decisive meetings: in 1986, Scotland blocked its path to the world championship, in 1994 - Argentina , in 1998 - Iran , in 2002 - Uruguay ^[7] .

The team’s paradox was that it played in tournaments not related to the World Cup, an order of magnitude better. In 1988, at the Bicentennial Cup of Australia, the Australians defeated the Argentines with a score of 4: 1 (they were the reigning world champions) ^[8] , in 1997 at the Confederations Cup tied with Brazil 0-0 in the group stage, and beat Uruguayans 1 in the semifinals: 0 ^[9] . In 2001, at the Confederations Cup, the Australians defeated the current French and European champions in the group stage, and in the fight for third place they defeated Brazil with a score of 1: 0 ^[10] .

The Golden Generation

In early 2005, Australia decided to leave the zone of Oceania and leave for the Asian zone of FIFA ^[11] . Commentators, football experts and ordinary fans thought that this was the only way to get rid of the strip of unsuccessful campaigns for access to the World Cup (former team captain was on the side of the exit ^[12] . March 13 Asian Football Confederation in secret ballot decided to invite Australia to its zone ^[13] , and this decision was supported in Oceania. FIFA approved the decision on June 30, 2005, but it entered into force only on January 1, 2006: Australia needed to play the qualifying tournament as a team from Ocean and ^[13] .

Before the decisive matches for entering the World Cup, Frank Farina was fired, who failed with the team the Confederations Cup 2005 in Germany ^[14] , and Guus Hiddink took his place ^[14] . Australia, the 49th national team in the FIFA ranking, had the fate to play against Uruguay from 18th place, which four years ago did not let the Australians into the World Cup. Before that, the Australians played a friendly match against Jamaica , beating it 5-0 ^[15] . The first match against Uruguay, the Australians lost 0: 1, the return match on November 16, 2005 they held in Sydney ^[16] .

The match was attended by 82,698 people ^[17] . The Australians had to win with a difference of 2 goals in order to be guaranteed to get to the mundial or to transfer the game to overtime, but only with a score of 1: 0. In the first half of the meeting, Mark Bresiano distinguished himself, and with this score, 90 minutes of playing time ended. In overtime, the winner did not appear, but in the penalty shootout the Australians finally broke a bad tradition and won 4-2, qualifying for the first time in the World Cup since 1974 (by the way, they became the first team to reach the championship through a penalty shootout) ^{[18 ]} . The hero of the match was Mark Schwarzer , who took two shots, and John Aloisi scored a winning 11-meter penalty ^[16]

Australia was the 31st team in the ranking of participants, but it tied with the Netherlands 1: 1 and defeated the Greeks 1: 0 in preparation for the tournament ^[19] . In the final bullet Australians were waiting for Japan , Brazil and Croatia . In the first match, the Australians defeated the Japanese 3: 1, scoring all three goals after the 84th minute ( Tim Cahill scored twice, another goal was scored by John Aloisi). These three goals were the first for the Australians at the World Cup and brought her the first victory ^[20] . In the second match, the Australians expectedly lost 0: 2 Brazil, and in the third match after a draw with Croatia 2: 2 reached the playoffs. In the first playoff match against Italy, a controversial penalty in the last minutes brought the Italians a victory.

At the end of the tournament, Guus Hiddink left the team ^[21] , and the performance itself allowed the Australian team to become the best Asian team in 2006 ^[22] . The participants of the World Cup went down in history as the "golden generation" ^[23] .

Our days

In the rank of a participant in the Asian Cup in 2007, Australia, under the leadership of Graham Arnold, made her debut at the Asian Championships, sending 15 participants to the World Cup in their composition. In group A, the Australians tied with Oman 1: 1, beat Thailand 4: 0 and lost to Iraq 1: 3. In the quarterfinal on a penalty, the Australians lost to the Japanese, and on September 11, 2007, a 0-1 defeat from Argentina forced Arnold to resign. The trainer of the Australians after him was Pim Verbek on December 6, 2007 ^[24] . Australia began the selection for the 2010 World Cup with the third round of qualification, beating the teams of Qatar , Iraq and China . For two rounds before the end of the qualifying games, the Australians reached the final part, taking 1st place and ahead of the qualifying Japanese by 5 points ^[25] .

In the final part, the Australians fell into a group of Germans, Ghanaians and Serbs. On June 14, 2010, in the first match against Germany, Verbek chose to play tactics without a pronounced striker, and this ruined the islanders: the Germans defeated them 4-0, and Verbek was heavily criticized for tactics ^[26] . expert on even demanded that Verbek immediately resign. ^[27] The second match against Ghana ended in a draw 1: 1, and in the third match Australia won 2: 1, but even this did not allow the Australians to rise above 3rd place in the group. Verbek after the championship was immediately dismissed, his place was taken by Holger Osijek ^[28] .

In 2010, the Australians qualified for the Asian Cup in 2011, in which they became silver medalists, losing in the final to the Japanese in extra time 0: 1 ^[29] . In 2012, Australia received an invitation to play in the East Asia Championship , where it qualified successfully after the tournament in Hong Kong. However, in the final part the team took last place behind Japan, the Republic of Korea and China ^{[30] [31]} .

Australia began the qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup, having spent a number of friendly matches before it: a zero draw against the teams of the UAE and Serbia, as well as a victory over Germany (2: 1), New Zealand (3: 0) and Wales (2: 1) ^{[ 32]} . In the third round in group D, Australia confidently took the first place, and in the final part in group B from the second place it reached the final round on June 18, 2013 ^[33] . After qualifying, Australia had a number of friendly matches, playing against Brazil and France and having suffered two defeats with a total score of 0: 6. This forced the Australians to demand Osijek resignation, breaking his contract ahead of schedule ^[34] . Two weeks later, Anga Postekoglu was appointed coach ^[35] , making his debut with a victory over Costa Rica with a score of 1-0 (the goal was scored by Joshua Kennedy ^[36] ). In the final part, the team played with Spain, the Netherlands and Chile. In the first match, Australia lost Chile 1: 3, in the second Netherlands 2: 3 and because of this lost the chances of reaching the playoffs. In the last match, Australia lost to Spain (0: 3).

The 16th Asian Cup 2015 was held in Australia from January 9 to January 31. According to numerous reviews, the organization of the tournament was at the highest level. In the final, with 76,385 spectators, Australia won a 2-1 win over South Korea in extra time. The Australian national team became the only national team in the world, the champion of two confederations.

At the 2018 World Cup, the Australians lost to the future champion of France (1: 2), tied with the Danes (1: 1), but lost in the decisive match to Peru (0: 2). Thus, they took last place in the group, gaining one point.

The following players were called to the team by head coach Graham Arnold to participate in the 2019 Asian Cup matches, which took place in the UAE from January 5 to February 1, 2019 .

The games and goals are as of January 25, 2019:

As of June 26, 2018.

Most goals per team

• 1930 to 1962 - did not participate
• 1966 to 1970 - did not qualify
• 1974 - group stage
• 1978 to 2002 - did not qualify
• 2006 - 1/8 finals
• 2010 - group stage
• 2014 - group stage
• 2018 - group stage

According to a common urban legend, Australia was haunted by a football “curse” from 1970 to 2006. The reason for this was two butt games against the national team of Rhodesia , held in 1969 in Mozambique, which ended in a draw. On the eve of the third game, the Australians turned for help to a certain sorcerer who “helped” them win 3: 1, but the Australians refused to pay the sorcerer a fee - a thousand pounds, which they did not find. The indignant sorcerer cursed the Australians, and until 2006 they only got to the World Cup (in 1974 they lost two matches and tied without scoring a single goal). The sorcerer soon passed away. In 2002, the former footballer of that 1969 team, Johnny Warren, who worked as a commentator, released an autobiography in which he spoke about the case of the sorcerer, and comedian and TV host John Safran became interested in this book. In 2004, Safran arrived in Mozambique, where he managed to negotiate a ritual with one of the local sorcerers: Safran was forced to apologize for the deception committed by the Australians in 1969. Coincidentally, two years later, Australia for the first time since 1974 took part in the World Cup ^[37] .

• Official site of the Australian national team in football (Eng.)
• All Australia matches since 1922