History of the Socceroos Part 1 (Australian National Football Team)

The Australian National Football Team, which is predominately called the ‘Socceroos’ didn’t emerge till 1922 when they went on a tour to New Zealand. Ever since the first ever match, the national team has grown, making the 1974 World Cup in West Germany lead by Australian legend Peter Wilson and which also had the late Johnny Warren in the side.

Since the 1974 World Cup, Australia came Runners up in the Confederations Cup in 1997 and third place in the 2001 Confederations Cup. They also won the OFC Nations Cup four times and runner-up twice in 6 attempts. Australia’s highest ranking was 14th in the World which came after some good results against Japan and Oman and also a dominant performance against Ireland in Limerick, which ended in a 3-0 win and also a 0-0 draw against Netherlands in Sydney. Australia’s current ranking is 23rd in the world.

A date that will always stick in the mind of Australians all over the country; the 16th of November 2005 at Olympic Stadium in Sydney in front of 80,000 fans. The night the Socceroos made the World Cup in a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Uruguay. Scores were level after two legs and 210 minutes of football, it was left to penalties to decide who would be heading to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, made two brilliant saves which came down to John Aloisi to score the winning penalty and send Australia to the World Cup, which he successfully converted to send the Socceroos to a World Cup for the first time in 32 years.

During the World Cup qualifiers, Australia looked to join the Asian Football Confederation to improve the quality of Australian football and to have tougher opponents. It will also prevent score lines of 31-0 which was a result of a match against America Samoa in 2001. On the 23rd of March 2005, Australia entered the AFC.

Australia shocked everyone in the 2006 World Cup by making it to the Round of 16 after beating Japan and drawing with Croatia, although they lost to Italy in the Round of 16, it was a great step for football in Australia and helped with the overall growth of the game in Australia. With Australia having a very successful World Cup under the guidance of Guus Hiddink and the A-League beginning to kick off with the joining of the AFC, Australian Football was looking very bright.

Part 2 of the ‘Socceroos’ Australian National Football Team will be out soon which will showcase post -2006 World Cup.

Written by Tom Moxey

Follow him on Twitter @moxey25

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