2006 Australia national soccer team season

Last updated

This page summarises the Australia national soccer team fixtures and results in 2006.

Contents

Australia
2006 season
Manager Guus Hiddink
Graham Arnold
  2005
2007  

Summary

2006 was a historic year for the Men's National Team for a number of reasons. Football Federation Australia had been accepted into the Asian Football Confederation effective from 1 January [1] and played their first fixture as an Asian member on 22 February when they travelled to Manama and defeated Bahrain 3-1 in a 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification match.

However the major event of the year was the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Australia had qualified for the first time since 1974. Prior to the tournament Australia defeated Greece in a 'farewell' game in front of 95,000 spectators in Melbourne. This was followed by two warm-up games drawing 1-1 with Netherlands and defeating Liechtenstein 3-1.

On 12 June, Australia defeated Japan 3–1 in their opening game in Kaiserslautern, with Tim Cahill scoring two goals and John Aloisi scoring one in the last eight minutes to claim their first World Cup finals victory. Their goals were the first ever scored by Australia in the World Cup Finals.

Australia met Brazil in their second Group F game in Munich on 18 June. The Australians held Brazil to a 0–0 half time scoreline before Adriano put Brazil in front and substitute Fred scored to give Brazil a 2–0 win.

On 22 June, Australia faced Croatia in Stuttgart. The final score was 2–2. A goal from Darijo Srna in the second minute put Australia on the back foot. Australia equalised with a penalty goal from Craig Moore in the 38th minute after Croatian defender Stjepan Tomas handballed near the Croatian goal. Niko Kovac gave Croatia a 2–1 lead after halftime before Australia equalised again through Harry Kewell in the 79th minute. Towards the end of the match, referee Graham Poll blew the final whistle at the moment that John Aloisi scored what would have been a winning goal. As Brazil beat Japan 4–1, Australia proceeded to the next round to face Italy.

On 26 June, Australia met Italy in Kaiserslautern. Italy went down to 10 men due to the red card (51') given to Marco Materazzi for a two-footed tackle on Mark Bresciano. Almost three minutes into stoppage time, with the score still at 0–0 a penalty was awarded to Italy when Fabio Grosso fell under a Lucas Neill challenge in the final seconds of the match. Francesco Totti scored from the spot and the game ended immediately with Australia eliminated. The success achieved at the 2006 World Cup later saw the team named AFC National Team of the Year.

Australia ended the year with their remaining Asian Cup qualifications matches against Bahrain and Kuwait and qualified for the tournament by topping the group.

Record

TypeGPWDLGFGA
Friendly matches 523074
World Cup 411256
Asian Cup qualifiers 430173
Total136431913


Match results

Friendlies

25 May Friendly Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg1–0Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Melbourne, Australia
Skoko Soccerball shade.svg16' (Report) Stadium: MCG
Attendance: 95,103
Referee: Mike Riley (England)
4 June Friendly Netherlands  Flag of the Netherlands.svg1–1Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Rotterdam, Netherlands
van Nistelrooy Soccerball shade.svg9' (Report) Soccerball shade.svg54' Cahill Stadium: De Kuip
Attendance: 49,000
Referee: Mike Dean (England)
8 June Friendly Liechtenstein  Flag of Liechtenstein.svg1–3Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Ulm, Germany
Neill Soccerball shade.svg8' (o.g.) (Report) Soccerball shade.svg20' Sterjovski
Soccerball shade.svg75' Kennedy
Soccerball shade.svg83' Aloisi
Stadium: Donaustadion
Attendance: 5,872
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)
7 October Friendly Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg1–1Flag of Paraguay (1990-2013).svg  Paraguay Brisbane, Australia
Popovic Soccerball shade.svg88' (Report) Soccerball shade.svg90+2' (o.g.) Beauchamp Stadium: Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 47,609
Referee: Joji Kashihara (Japan)
14 November Friendly Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg1–1Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana London, England
Aloisi Soccerball shade.svg25' (pen.) (Report) Soccerball shade.svg75' Agogo Stadium: Loftus Road
Attendance: 14,379
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)

World Cup

12 June Group Stage Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg3–1Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Kaiserslautern, Germany
15:00 CEST Cahill Soccerball shade.svg84', 89'
Aloisi Soccerball shade.svg90+2'
(Report) Soccerball shade.svg26' Nakamura Stadium: Fritz Walter Stadion
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Essam Abd El Fatah (Egypt)
18 June Group Stage Brazil  Flag of Brazil.svg2–0Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Munich, Germany
18:00 CEST Adriano Soccerball shade.svg49'
Fred Soccerball shade.svg90'
(Report) Stadium: Allianz Arena
Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
22 June Group Stage Croatia  Flag of Croatia.svg2–2Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Stuttgart, Germany
21:00 CEST Srna Soccerball shade.svg2'
N. Kovač Soccerball shade.svg56'
Šimić Yellow card.svg 32' Yellow-red card.svg 85'
Šimunić Yellow card.svg 61'Yellow card.svg 90' Yellow-red card.svg 90+3' (Note1)
(Report) Soccerball shade.svg38' (pen.) Moore
Soccerball shade.svg79' Kewell
Emerton Yellow card.svg 81' Yellow-red card.svg 87'
Stadium: Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Graham Poll (England)
26 June Round of 16 Italy  Flag of Italy.svg1–0Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Kaiserslautern, Germany
17:00 CEST Totti Soccerball shade.svg90+5' (pen.)
Materazzi Red card.svg 50'
(Report) Stadium: Fritz Walter Stadion
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

Note 1: Šimunić was given three yellow cards in the match: the referee (Graham Poll) failed to send him off the pitch after the second yellow, and was only red carded after the third yellow.

Asian Cup qualifiers

22 February Group Stage Bahrain  Flag of Bahrain.svg1–3Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Manama, Bahrain
Ali Soccerball shade.svg35'[ (Report)]Soccerball shade.svg54' Thompson
Soccerball shade.svg79' Skoko
Soccerball shade.svg88' (pen.) Elrich
Stadium: National Stadium
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
16 August Group Stage Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg2–0Flag of Kuwait.svg  Kuwait Sydney, Australia
Dodd Soccerball shade.svg75'
Petrovski Soccerball shade.svg86'
[ (Report)]Stadium: Sydney Football Stadium
Attendance: 32,622
Referee: Junjie Huang (China)
6 September Group Stage Kuwait  Flag of Kuwait.svg2–0Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Kuwait City, Kuwait
Al Mutairi Soccerball shade.svg55'
Al-Mutwa Soccerball shade.svg60'
[ (Report)]Stadium: National Stadium
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

Goal scorers

PlayerFriendliesFIFA World CupAFC Asian Cup qual.Total goals
Aloisi 2114
Cahill 12-3
Skoko 1-12
Bresciano --11
Dodd --11
Elrich --11
Kennedy 1--1
Kewell -1-1
Moore -1-1
Popovic 1--1
Petrovski --11
Sterjovski 1--1
Thompson --11

References

  1. "Australia get all clear to join Asian group". 24 March 2005.