While today is the 10th anniversary of Australia’s 2006 World Cup qualification, this month also marks 50 years since our participation in the journey towards football’s biggest tournament commenced.
2006 Campaign
Yet another ‘could not make it up’ episode where FIFA, in all its wisdom decided to give Oceania a direct qualifying spot, only to take it away nearly as quick. At the same time, a revolution had taken place on our shores. The NSL was on its deathbed and with it, the governing body of the sport. The Crawford Report revealed what everyone had known anyway – that football in Australia was held back by its own inept and insolent management. The governing body was rechristened the Football Federation of Australia under the chairmanship of Frank Lowy and plans were underway for a new domestic competition to replace the NSL.
But there was still one obstacle to be cleared. There was still the task of ending a 32-year drought and qualification for Germany in 2006. The Socceroos, dispersed through European football, were still under the management of Frank Farina. In less meaningful games, the Socceroos tended to do rather well. But this did not apply to the ones that really mattered to date.
The Oceania qualifiers, Australia’s last in the zone, was organised in a group stage but this time the shortcomings were more exposed, particularly in an embarrassing 2-2 draw with the Solomon Islands, but the team nevertheless topped the group. More than one-year passed before the real business got underway and this time, decisive action was taken on that front.
READ MORE: Looking at the 50-year history of Australia’s World Cup qualification [PART 2]
Frank Farina, after a poor Confederations Cup performance, left his job in June 2005. His replacement would be Guus Hiddink, just the sort of coach needed in these situations. The transformation of a group of players that included Mark Schwarzer, Tony Popovic, Lucas Neill, John Aloisi, Mark Bresciano, Jason Culina, Vince Grella, Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka, Stan Lazaridis and Scott Chipperfield, was obvious to see. Since New Zealand had an off-year (they would be back four years later), it was the Solomon Islands that provided Australia’s first playoff opponents and were brushed aside.
The final playoff provided a sense of déjà vu, as Uruguay were yet again the last hurdle in the way of qualification. This time, an Australian side better prepared and better coached, and with the added motivation helpfully supplied by Alvaro Recoba in the media, would not disappoint. The first-leg was away in Montevideo and although Uruguay won 1-0, Australia put in an encouraging display that all but ensured the return leg in Sydney, to be played in front of a never before and never again crowd not in numbers but in terms of the atmosphere created, would be the day of destiny.
No fan who was there that day has ever forgotten the night. There was a certain inevitability about it all, especially after Bresciano scored the first-half goal that levelled the tie. It was a game that may have gone either way, but fortune was on Australia’s side, as was the momentum generated by the more than 82,000 crowd. The game dragged on into extra time and the tension for every single spectator at the ground, and every single viewer in the country, was beyond unbearable. It was an emotion and experience that defied description, precisely because it is unlikely to be ever experienced again.
The penalty shootout arrived. This was, if clichéd to say so, the tensest and most exhilarating part of the road to Germany. Every penalty scored or missed felt like agony, waiting for it to end come what may. It was left to John Aloisi to deliver the coup de grace, which he did to ensure his place in football’s Hall of Fame. Australia had ended a 32-year curse to qualify for it’s second World Cup. It changed the game in this country forever and the public’s views with it.
The task of qualifying had been completed. That seemed the hardest part even before learning the draw. When Australia were put in a group with Japan, Brazil and Croatia, the consensus was that a second round place was well within reach. The public was abuzz with football fever like never before. Australia’s qualification was also widely popular in the wider world – few tears were shed outside of Uruguay, although their fans will concede that their defeat was a blessing in disguise, as their subsequent World Cup performances would demonstrate.
The opening game against Japan was seemingly destined for anticlimax when the opposition went a goal ahead. But with six-minutes left, Tim Cahill popped up to equalise and thus a legend was born. Further delirium ensued when he scored a second and Aloisi sealed the deal to give Australia its first ever World Cup goals and first win in the tournament.
Next up was Brazil, against whom the Socceroos battled valiantly before going down 2-0. It was left to the final game against Croatia, where a draw would suffice in an otherwise winner-takes-all game. Croatia opened the scoring through Dario Srna and the Socceroos equalised through Craig Moore to make it 1-1 at half time. Nico Kovac put the Vatreni ahead, but Harry Kewell struck 11 minutes from the end to make history: Australia were now in the final 16 and their opponents were Italy.
A lot could be written about that game. Italy were a side who were typically brimming with talent but dull to watch, yet could get the job done at the right time. A brave Australian side, missing Kewell, more than matched the Azzurri throughout, until Fabio Grosso won a dubious penalty that allowed Francesco Totti to score in the last minute. A nation was heartbroken and crestfallen, a bitter end to a glorious journey. From then on, the rest had to follow.
2010 Campaign
As Australian football rebuilt itself at club level in the A-League, a harsh reality dawned on the Socceroos. Graham Arnold took over the national team job, guiding the team through an ultimately disappointing 2007 Asian Cup, before Pim Verbeek was appointed prior to the commencement of the 2010 World Cup campaign.
A generation of players had been caught in the dying years of the NSL and the birth of the A-League, a difficult transition that is unlikely to be experienced anywhere else due to the unique set of circumstances. Australia’s performances in the 2010 and 2014 tournaments, both qualifiers and finals, were ultimately to be informed by this development and the state of both the A-League and Australian players abroad. For much of both campaigns, there was a seeming reliance on what was left of the “Golden Generation”. Understandable, but a need for regeneration should have been recognised sooner, despite the difficulties brought by the above factors.
Australia’s first Asian World Cup qualifiers since the 1982 series commenced in 2008. The first group stage saw Australia play Qatar, Iraq and China. Without ever being convincing, Pim Verbeek’s team topped the group with wins over Qatar and Iraq, while there were losses away to Iraq and at home to China.
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Next came the second group stage where Qatar, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Japan were the opposition. Once more, neither convincing or seriously threatened, Australia came out on top undefeated and conceded just one goal in eight games. This is what they had wanted all along – a painless qualifying path without the hassles of a playoff. Qualification from Asia, by no means a strong region overall, was now to be taken for granted.
Questions were asked about a team that had not changed radically from the previous four-years and about the tactics and style of football played by Verbeek. It was unrealistic to expect a repeat of the heroics of 2006 in South Africa. In retrospect, Australia’s 2010 showing was not so bad. They were beaten 4-0 by a Germany side who later demolished England and Argentina and already had the nucleaus of a team that won the World Cup in majestic style four years later. A 1-1 draw with Ghana and 2-1 win over Serbia followed, with goals from Brett Holman and Tim Cahill doing the job, and the last 16 was missed only by virtue of goal difference.
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