History of the Australia men's national soccer team

[13] It was ultimately the squad's lack of experience that proved to be reason for the team's disappointing performance in the tournament, with Laurie Schwab from The Age commenting, "Australian soccer has lost a wonderful chance to gain world prominence and the game has suffered a body blow".

Australia, having topped the group, then advanced to the next stage where they played and won a two-legged fixture against Iran, managing to hold on to a slim overall lead in front of 120,000 Iranian fans in the Azadi Stadium, Tehran, during the second leg.

12,000 spectators in Seoul saw Frank Farina fire past Yugoslavian keeper Dragoje Leković on 48 minutes to claim a 1–0 victory in their opening group stage clash.

After some initial training sessions with the Australian team in the Netherlands, his first campaign as national coach resulted in an 11–1 aggregate win over the Solomon Islands in the OFC Qualifying Tournament Final.

When Uruguay asked to move the kickoff back, Australia, which by that time had arranged, with their sponsor Qantas, a specially fitted out 767 (which included massage tables, and much room and space) for immediately after the game, refused.

In Sydney, on 16 November for the second leg of the qualifying series and in front of 82,698 fans at Telstra Stadium, [citation needed] Australia led Uruguay 1–0 after 90 minutes following a goal by Mark Bresciano in the first half.

As part of a national support effort, the television network SBS ran a competition, "Song for the Socceroos", in order to select a World Cup anthem for Australia.

[38] On 18 June, hours before Australia's second game against world champions Brazil, a British newspaper claimed that several Australian players had placed bets amongst themselves, which was said to be against FIFA regulations.

[42] The referee Graham Poll dismissed calls for a penalty in the 5th minute when Croatia's Josip Šimunić appeared to wrestle striker Mark Viduka to the ground near goal.

Almost three minutes into stoppage time, with the score still at 0–0 and Australia being pushed into their own half, a controversial penalty was awarded to Italy when Fabio Grosso fell under a Lucas Neill challenge in the final seconds of the match.

The first two Australian penalty kicks were both unsuccessful by Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill with Australia eventually bowing out 4–3 to end their inaugural participation in Asia's most prestigious soccer tournament.

Australia was drawn alongside Japan, Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan in the fourth round of World Cup qualification, which commenced on 10 September 2008, with a 1–0 victory over the Uzbeks in Tashkent.

Australia played poorly with Vince Grella and Tim Cahill both performing dangerous tackles on Leo Bertos which could have earned red cards in competitive fixtures.

In South Africa, Australia played another warm up game against Denmark in Johannesburg and won 1–0, a single goal from towering striker Joshua Kennedy proving to be decisive.

Australia shot its only goal early in the first half by Brett Holman after Ghana's goalkeeper Richard Kingson fumbled the ball following a Mark Bresciano free kick.

On 16 October, days after the loss against France, in Vidmar's only game as manager, Australia prevailed 3–0 against Canada, with goals from Joshua Kennedy, Dario Vidošić and Mathew Leckie.

[64] Postecoglou was tasked with regenerating the Australian national team, which was deemed to have been too reliant on members of their Golden Generation of 2006, subsequently leading to a stagnation of results, culminating in successive 6-0 defeats to Brazil and France.

In the opening match at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain they suffered a 1–0 defeat to Jordan with the only goal scored in the first half by Anas Bani Yaseen.

In the 68th minute, Ali Mabkhout put the UAE ahead when the forward stepped in to intercept Milos Degenek's backpass before rounding Ryan to score and eliminating the defending champions from the tournament.

Conversely, the Samurai Blue were under immense pressure, as a loss would likely place them on the trajectory for the intercontinental playoffs following defeats to Oman and Saudi Arabia, and unconvincing wins against China and Vietnam.

The match saw Australia placed under heavy pressure from the Japanese attack, with a defensive error from Trent Sainsbury and Aziz Behich leading to the opening goal from Ao Tanaka.

Despite a well-placed free kick from Ajdin Hrustic to equalise the match, Japan sealed a crucial victory in the final minutes of play from a deflection rebounded into the net by Aziz Behich.

Australia opened the scoring in the first 30 seconds of the match, however, the goal was disallowed following a VAR check that confirmed Jackson Irvine had obstructed goalkeeper Đặng Văn Lâm's view.

With the match seemingly destined for extra time, a corner kick was volleyed by Australia's Ajdin Hrustic on the edge of the 18 yard box, taking a deflection and ultimately reaching the back of the net in the 84 minute.

With few chances created in the first-half, Australia appeared the better side, having controlled possession through Aaron Mooy which kept Peru's most potent attackers André Carrillo and Christian Cueva relatively quiet.

As the match drew closer to extra-time, the Socceroos almost scored as Aziz Behich dribbled past two Peruvian defenders, with his right footed effort narrowly wide of the post.

Australia's fifth penalty was taken by Jamie Maclaren, who in a wall of noise from the Peruvian supporters confidently struck the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, once again sending Gallese the wrong way after the goalkeeper's notes and water bottle went missing.

Redmayne took advantage of the fact he too was not cautioned by Vinčić, as he left the goal to simulate a series of coughs before a nervous Alex Valera, Peru's sixth penalty taker.

With Football Australia pleased with the team's efforts at the tournament, CEO James Johnson announced on 30 January 2023 that Graham Arnold's Socceroos contract would be extended as speculated to the end of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

[127] Australia then put up its most decent performance in the tournament, demolishing neighbour Indonesia 4–0 at the round of sixteen to set up a titanic clash against fellow heavyweights South Korea in the quarter-finals.