Pim Verbeek: Australia coach at World Cup 2010

PIM VERBEEK
AGE: 54.
NATIONALITY: Dutch.
WORLD CUP EXPERIENCE: 2002 Assistant, South Korea.
PREVIOUS COACHING EXPERIENCE: 1981–84 Sparta Rotterdam, 1987–89 De Graafschap, 1989–91 Feyenoord, 1991–92 FC Wageningen, 1992–19 FC Groningen, 1994–97 Fortuna Sittard, 1998–2000 Omiya Ardija, 2000–02 Assistant, South Korea, 2002–03 PSV Eindhoven reserves, 2003 Kyoto Purple Sanga, 2004 Dutch Antilles, 2004 Borussia Monchengladbach, assistant, 2005 UAE assistant, 2005–2006 Assitant, South Korea, 2006–2007 South Korea, 2007– Australia.

He was linked to coaching Australia after he said he would welcome another job in Asia and had previously been linked with the Socceroos coaching role in 2005.

Verbeek has brought a pragmatic approach to the team, built on a solid defence, but also with capabilities going forward on the flanks.

Highly respected by the players, Verbeek has instilled a strong sense of team in what is a highly motivated and focused unit.

During a post match interview which followed the 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Qatar, Verbeek promised to sing the Australian national anthem Advance Australia Fair live on television, on the condition that the Socceroos qualify for the World Cup.

This was in response to a query from a commentator about Verbeek’s knowledge of the words to the anthem, in reference to former assistant Johan Neeskens, a Dutchman who sang the Australian national anthem before each match of the 2006 World Cup.

Verbeek will move on after the World Cup in South Africa 2010, as manager of the Moroccan Olympic, U20 and the U17 teams.

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World Cup 2010: Australia The First Team To Arrive In South Africa

The World Cup Organising Committee have welcomed Australia's Socceroos as the first participating team to arrive in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Australia landed at 18:35 local time yesterday evening (Wednesday) at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

“We are pleased to welcome Australia as the first team to arrive in our country,” said Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan in a statement. "We all know that the stadiums are all ready, everything is in place and now the teams are finally here. More importantly though, our people are ready. From now, we have to concentrate on the kick-off match in a few days' time."

SAFA president, Kirsten Nematandani, was there to welcome the team as the representative of the host team. “As the host association, we feel excited to welcome all the teams to our country. It’s important that all the teams should feel at home and enjoy the best that our country has to

Australia coach, Pim Verbeek, said his team was excited to be in South Africa.

“First of all I want to say that we are very excited to be here in South Africa. I have been to this country about eight or nine times already and I have always enjoyed my stay here. It’s a great country and they have some of the best hotels. However, now we are here for a different reason, we are here to compete. But, I know it’s not going to be easy. We have a tough group with some quality teams.

“The most important thing for us is to win our first game. We have given ourselves plenty of time to prepare and acclimatise to the local conditions. The players will have to get used to the altitude and the few warm-up matches will help us a lot in achieving this. When playing in the World Cup, you have to prepare yourself and make sure the team is in good condition,” said Verbeek in a press statement.

Australia will open their 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign against Germany in Durban on June 13, moving to Rustenburg to play Ghana on June 19 and ending their group matches against Serbia in Nelspruit on June 23.

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Young Socceroo and Bolton midfielder Aaron Mooy

While playing for the Bolton Wanderers Reserve side, Aaron Mooy may not get the plaudits he deserves. Many Australians wouldn’t know his name, he doesn’t get to play every week in televised games, and he has to take on other reserves teams on freezing Monday nights. But Mooy is one of the future Socceroos developing his game in a top European League, honing his game in an effort to eventually play for the Bolton first team, and hopefully one day for the Socceroos in a World Cup.

Mooy joined Bolton Wanderers ahead of the 2007/08 season from Westfield Sports High School, a school which also produced ex-Bolton, current Adelaide United defender, Scott Jamieson. As Mooy puts his story, “I was spotted playing in Australia by a Bolton Scout and was asked to come on trial, and from there I signed.”

Bolton Academy boss Peter Farrell last year told the media that “He came over here when he was 14 years of age after being spotted in Australia. He got his education here at Bolton School, but he is a tremendous footballer.”

He continued to heap praise on Mooy, saying that while “…He still needs to work on his game, like the times when he hasn’t got the ball, ability-wise, he oozes class. It doesn’t surprise me that he has been selected for his country.”

This selection for Australia has come both in the form of Youth team selection, and more recently a senior squad call up. Mooy was selected for the Young Socceroo World Cup squad, and despite a strong build up, the team failed to excite at the FIFA U20 World Cup, losing all three games.

While Mooy was disappointed with the result, he still felt there were positives. “I was disappointed (not to progress) as I thought we had a good enough squad to go past the group stage, but we just didn’t perform at our best and it cost us. However it was good to see that we were trying to play the right way, keeping the ball on the ground and moving it around, so that was a positive.”

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Socceroo bits and bobs

Since things have been a bit quiet on the Socceroo stage, I thought I’d update everyone on some of the issues effecting our Socceroos.

Socceroos captain Lucas Neill joins Galatasaray
Socceroo skipper Lucas Neill has joined Australian team-mate Harry Kewell at Turkish club Galatasaray on a one and a half year deal. He moves to Turkey after spending less then six months at Premier League side Everton.

Heffernan to Huddersfield
Central Coast have allowed defender Dean Heffernan to join English League One side Huddersfield for the rest of the season. With the Mariners set to miss out on the finals the club felt they could allow Heffernan to leave on loan. While the move will please Pim Verbeek, as it will give him another option in defence playing regular European football, I don’t think that Heffernan has a realistic chance of making the World Cup squad.

Macca to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough have signed Socceroo Scott McDonald from Celtic, in a move that will see him reunited with former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan. It will also see McDonald join fellow Aussies Rhys Williams and Brad Jones at the Riverside.

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Some Achievements

Australia currently hold the world record for the largest win and the most goals scored by a player in an international match. Both records were recorded during the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification match against American Samoa on 11 April 2001. Australia won 31–0 with Archie Thompson scoring 13 goals and David Zdrilic scoring 8 goals. Two days before the 31–0 win, Australia broke the record for largest win with a 22–0 win over Tonga. Both wins surpassed the previous record held by Kuwait who beat Bhutan 20–0 on 14 February 2000.

With 13 and 8 goals respectively, both Thompson and Zdrilic broke the previous record jointly held by another Australian, Gary Cole, who scored seven goals against Fiji in 1981, and Iranian Karim Bagheri, who also scored seven goals against Maldives in 1997. Some sources mentioned that the previous record was 10 goals, which was achieved by Denmark's Sophus Nielsen at the 1908 Olympics and Germany's Gottfried Fuchs an the 1912 Olympics. These matches, although fully recognized by FIFA, were played by amateur players. fa cup final tickets for South Africa 2010 and Champions League final tickets and Inter Milan Vs Bayern Munich Tickets are available now a days.

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Socceroos Home Jersey Revealed

Several weeks back I discussed the Socceroos away strip, and speculated that if it was anything to go by the home strip would be a great disappointment.

Well, today the home strip was revealed and, yes, they’re as ugly as we expected…

While not as ugly as some of their strips from years ago, it is damn ugly. At least it’s environmentally friendly, being made from recycled plastic bottles… rubbish rebirthed as rubbish. I’m thinking I might have to get myself one of the old tops while I still can.

One positive of the new home strip, the away strip doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did a month ago.

But then that’s just my opinion… what do the rest of you think?

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Asian Cup 2011

The Socceroos were drawn in Group B for the Asian Cup 2011 qualifying stage along with Oman, Kuwait and Indonesia. The top two teams from the group will progress to the finals in Qatar. Australia progressed through to the 2011 finals in Qatar, topping Group B with 11 points with Kuwait coming in second with 8 points.

Australia drew 0–0 away to Indonesia on 28 January 2009 and then suffered a surprise 0–1 home defeat against lower ranked Kuwait on 5 March 2009. On 14 October, Australia defeated Oman 1–0 at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne to move to equal first in their qualifying group with Tim Cahill scoring the winner in the 74th minute.

On 15 November, Australia reduced to 10 men for over 70 minutes of the match as a penalty was given in the box, won the match two goals to one despite an epic performance of attack from the Omanis in Muscat, Oman.

On 6 January, Australia blew a 2 goal lead to draw 2–2 against Kuwait. Australia went up 2 goals after 5 minutes.

On 3 March, Australia comfortably wrapped up qualification with a 1–0 victory over Indonesia.

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Asian Cup 2007

Australia, led by Graham Arnold, went to their first Asian Cup sending a strong squad which included 15 players from the World Cup team. Australia was drawn in Group A alongside (co-host) Thailand, Oman and Iraq.

In their first match, Australia were only able to earn a 1–1 draw against a lower-ranked Oman team. Australia played poorly, with Oman leading for most of the match after Badar Al-Maimani scored in the 32nd minute, but were once again saved by Tim Cahill who scored a late equaliser in the 92nd minute after coming on as a substitute in the second half.

Australia lost their second group match 3–1 to eventual Asian Cup winners Iraq, with Lucas Neill receiving a red card (90'), following two yellow cards. Mark Viduka scored the lone goal for the Australians in the 47th minute of the match which at that point in the game was the equaliser but Iraq scored another two goals to win.

In the third match of the group stage, Australia defeated Thailand 4–0 with Mark Viduka scoring two goals, with Michael Beauchamp and Harry Kewell scoring one goal each. The victory assured Australia's progression to the quarter final stage of the tournament.

After drawing 1–1 with Japan after extra time, Australia exited the tournament on penalties at the quarter final stage. 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 football tournament.

In a friendly international at the MCG on 11 September 2007, the Socceroos were defeated by Argentina one goal to nil. The friendly was Graham Arnold's last game as head coach. It had been widely speculated that Dutchman Dick Advocaat would take over as Head Coach for the Socceroos 2010 World Cup Qualifiers by the end of 2007 but he backed out of a contract with the FFA to continue coaching Zenit Petersburg. It has been reported that FFA is considering legal action against both person and club. As a result the Socceroo's head coach position was left open, with technical director Rob Baan the caretaker for a match against Nigeria at Loftus Road, London (Australia winning 1–0.) The position was filled on 6 December 2007 when the FFA announced Pim Verbeek as the new head coach.

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Socceroos drop early lead to draw two all in Kuwait

Early goals from Luke Wilkshire and Dean Heffernan weren’t enough to see Australia over the line against Kuwait, and the draw leaves them in a precarious position heading into the last round of Asia Cup Qualifiers.

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Things started rosily for the Socceroos, with a Dean Heffernan long throw in only the third minute finding its way to Mile Jedinak, and was then headed the ball back to Russian based Wilkshire, who promptly drove the ball into the net with a rising volley. Only two minutes later Nicky Carle was fouled, and the resulting free-kick (taken by Carle) found Heffernan, and then the goal.

The game was then reduced to little more than long balls up and down the bumpy pitch, but this approach eventually saw the Kuwaitis claw one back, when in the fortieth minute Simon Colosimo failed to clear a clearance, and Hamad Enezi pounced. Only four minutes later another ball over the top saw Youssef Nasser draw Kuwait level, and the teams went into the half time break level.

The result leaves Australia in a precarious position heading into their final Asian Cup Qualifier against Indonesia (in Brisbane on the 3rd of March). The point against leaves Australia sitting second in their group on 8 points, with Kuwait sitting ahead on goal difference, and Oman one point back. As the other game in the group will be Oman v Kuwait, Australia only needs a point to ensure qualification, but even that might be a task.

While recently club-less Craig Moore might have said after the game “if we can’t get a result at home to Indonesia, we don’t deserve to be at the Asian Cup,” Indonesia did manage to hold us to a bore draw in our previous encounter, and the Socceroos will need to be on their game to see off Indonesia at Suncorp Stadium.

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Australia met Italy in Kaiserslautern

Australia met Italy in Kaiserslautern. Kewell was unavailable for the game, entering the stadium on crutches reportedly suffering from an attack of gout and infected blisters (later diagnosed as septic arthritis). The score at half-time was 0-0. Italy went down to 10 men due to the red card (51') given to Marco Materazzi for a two-footed tackle on Mark Bresciano. Otherwise, six yellow cards were issued in total. 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. Francesco Totti scored from the spot (95') and the game ended immediately with Australia eliminated.

Coach Guus Hiddink officially ended his reign as the coach of the Socceroos following the 1-0 loss to Italy and took the managerial job with Russia. Australian assistant coach Graham Arnold branded the penalty a "joke", to the agreement of several Australian players, including Tim Cahill, who believed Grosso should have been cautioned for diving. Further analysis of the incident in slow motion clearly shows that Fabio Grosso moves his foot into Neill, and still had time to get around him. Australia became the team to go out of a World Cup with the last kick of the ball (in regular time).

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Sydney FC's Karol Kisel

He previously played for Lokomotíva Košice, Ozeta Dukla Trenčín, Bohemians Praha, AC Sparta Praha and FC Slovan Liberec.

In early 2009 he was linked with Australian A-League club Sydney FC for the 2009/10 season, where he would be reunited with former manager Vítězslav Lavička. On April 3 2009, it was announced that Kisel had signed a one-year deal with the club.

He scored his first goal for the Sky Blues at home against the Brisbane Roar, which Sydney won 2-1.

Kisel has been in and out of the Slovakian national squad ever since he made his debut in 2002. He has also played several games for the Slovakian U-21 squad. He played several games in Slovakia's attempt to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and he scored his first goal in qualifying Slovakia's 4-0 thumping of Luxembourg.

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Acceptance into the AFC

Many commentators and fans felt that the only way for Australia to progress was to abandon the Oceania Football Confederation. Football had developed over time to place increasing importance on tournaments rather than friendly matches. This established the Continental championships and their qualifiers as the major source of competitive matches for national teams. This served to starve Australia of potential opponents and resulted in long gaps between fixtures for the national team.

One respected football (soccer) broadcaster and former Socceroos captain (Johnny Warren), expressed his desire for Australia to join Asia. Despite previous attempts to do so, each notoriously ending in failure, a story was leaked from Tokyo in March 2005 suggesting that FIFA had entered into secret discussions with the AFC on this very issue. On 23 March, the AFC Executive Committee made a unanimous decision to invite Australia to join the AFC.

On 17 April, the OFC executive committee unanimously endorsed Australia's proposed move. FIFA approved the move on 30 June, and it took effect on 1 January 2006. Earlier, on 1 December, the AFC Executive Committee announced that Australia will be put into the ASEAN zone. Currently, Australia is an invitee member of ASEAN Football Federation.

Australia was duly entered into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification. On 4 January, Australia was drawn into group D, alongside Bahrain, Lebanon and Kuwait. Lebanon later withdrew due to recent military conflict in the area. Australia's first game as a member of the AFC was on 22 February, a 3-1 win away to Bahrain in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification. They subsequently qualified for the finals on 16 August after defeating Kuwait 2-0.

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Outside qualification campaigns

The team's previously miserable record in World Cup competition was not reflected in their reasonable performances against strong European and South American sides, with victories in the 2001 Confederations Cup against France and Brazil. Australia finished the competition in 3rd place after a 3rd place play-off win against Brazil.

Australia also drew with France 1-1 in Melbourne in November 2001. A particular highlight for Australian football, and the one that attracted most public attention, was the 3-1 victory over traditional sporting rivals England in a friendly in London in 2003. The importance of the result within the wider football fraternity led to the match being remembered as the most meaningless friendly in the history of the game.

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Australia in 2002 qualifying campaign

In 2001 Australia again won the Oceania Confederation qualifying tournament for 2002 FIFA World Cup. Second and third-string lineups thrashed a number of tiny island nations in a competition that made a mockery of the Confederation, including a world-record 22–0 win against Tonga, then smashed that record with a 31–0 win over American Samoa only two days later. Still missing Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Australia comfortably beat New Zealand, their only real threat in the Oceania confederation. Australia then once again had to win a two leg playoff in November, in order to advance to the World Cup finals to be held in South Korea and Japan.

On this occasion the opposition was the 5th placed South American team, Uruguay. In the preceding four months Uruguay's preparation had been six World Cup qualifying matches, as follows: beat #2 ranked Brazil 1:0; drew 1:1 with #8 ranked Colombia; drew 1:1 with #2 ranked Argentina. In contrast, Australia's preparation had included no qualifying games since two matches in 4 days in June, against #81 ranked New Zealand, although had played two friendly matches - a loss to Japan in August and a 1:1 draw with France in November.

In the first leg in Melbourne, Australia won 1-0 after Kevin Muscat scored from a penalty kick; however, Australia's qualification campaign ended unsuccessfully as they lost 3-0 in the away leg in Montevideo just five days later with the South Americans proving too strong.

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Australia in Asian Cup 2007

Australia, led by Graham Arnold, went to their first Asian Cup sending a strong squad which included 15 players from the World Cup team. Australia was drawn in Group A alongside (co-host) Thailand, Oman and Iraq.

In their first match, Australia were only able to earn a 1-1 draw against a lower-ranked Oman team. Australia played poorly, with Oman leading for most of the match after Badar Al-Maimani scored in the 32nd minute, but were once again saved by Tim Cahill who scored a late equaliser in the 92nd minute after coming on as a substitute in the second half.

Australia lost their second group match 3-1 to eventual Asian Cup winners Iraq, with Lucas Neill receiving a red card (90'), following two yellow cards. Mark Viduka scored the lone goal for the Australians in the 47th minute of the match which at that point in the game was the equaliser but Iraq scored another two goals to win.

In the third match of the group stage, Australia defeated Thailand 4-0 with Mark Viduka scoring two goals, with Michael Beauchamp and Harry Kewell scoring one goal each. The victory assured Australia's progression to the quarter final stage of the tournament.

After drawing 1-1 with Japan after extra time, Australia exited the tournament on penalties at the quarter final stage. 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 football tournament.

In a friendly international at the MCG on the 11th of September, 2007, the Socceroos were defeated by Argentina one goal to nil. The friendly was Graham Arnold's last game as head coach. It had been widely speculated that Dutchman Dick Advocaat would take over as Head Coach for the Socceroos 2010 World Cup Qualifiers by the end of 2007 but he backed out of a contract with the FFA to continue coaching Zenit Petersburg. It has been reported that FFA is considering legal action against both person and club. As a result the Socceroo's head coach position was left open, with technical director Rob Baan the caretaker for a match against Nigeria at Loftus Road, London (Australia winning 1-0.) The position was filled on the 6th of December 2007 when the FFA announced Pim Verbeek as the new head coach.

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Germany 2006 qualifying campaign

In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the Oceania Football Confederation World Cup qualification tournament. The team drew 2-2 with the Solomon Islands, which combined with other results put that team ahead of New Zealand in the standings and meaning that the Solomon Islands qualified for the final playoff rather than the expected New Zealand.

However, this plan backfired on the Uruguayans. Their plans to charter a plane for a direct flight to Sydney fell through (they ended up flying over in "economy" class seating on a regular commercial flight). 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. Eventually, FIFA stepped in and ordered the kickoff moved back to 6:00 p.m. local time.

The resulting win led to scenes of wild jubilation across the country, as fans rejoiced at the Socceroos qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, their first qualification in 32 years.

Germany were also the hosts the last time Australia qualified for the World Cup back in 1974.

Immediately after that qualification, Australia went into the 2006 World Cup as the second lowest-ranked side. Their ranking on the FIFA World Rankings improved in subsequent months, leapfrogging other qualified countries.

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AFL Clubs Summary

The AFL operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.

Many of the current AFL teams date back to the beginnings of the sport of Australian rules football, including the very first club, Melbourne Football Club (1859), a foundation VFL/AFL club whose founders also first codified the sport in 1859. The Victorian Football League, commonly known as the VFL, started in 1897 with eight teams from the Victorian Football Association (VFA): Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne, and St Kilda. Richmond and University entered in 1908, but University disbanded in 1915. In 1925, Footscray (later known as the Western Bulldogs), Hawthorn and North Melbourne entered the competition. It remained in this 12-team single-state configuration until 1982 when South Melbourne relocated to Sydney, New South Wales to become the Sydney Swans.

The next phase of national expansion occurred in 1987, with the introduction of the West Coast Eagles from Western Australia and the Brisbane Bears from Queensland.

The league was renamed the Australian Football League in 1990 to reflect the expanded nature of the competition.

South Australia was first represented in 1991 when the Adelaide Crows joined the league. The Fremantle Football Club joined as the second WA team in 1995. After the 1996 season the Brisbane Bears merged with Fitzroy, creating the Brisbane Lions in 1996 and the Port Adelaide Football Club joined to maintain the league at 16 teams.

The Australian national football team mostly is composed of the first three clubs, in which the International recruitments from the Republic of Ireland and other countaries have strengthens the Clubs. The World Cup tickets of all matches are now available for sale. Football tickets of all the matches of World Cup are for sale at ticket4football.com, you can buy the Australia World Cup Tickets for its the upcoming matches and World Cup Football tickets of other teams on this website.

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the major professional Australian national competition in the sport of Australian football and is arguably Australia's biggest sporting competition in terms of membership, corporate sponsorship and attendances (ranked 4th in the world for average attendances).

The league comprises 16 teams which play 22 home and away rounds between late March and late August or early September. This is followed by a four-week finals series which culminates in two teams playing off for the Premiership, in the Grand Final.

The league was officially renamed the Australian Football League in 1990 to reflect the new national perspective, and is more commonly referred to by the acronym AFL. The VFA took over the Victorian Football League name in 1996.

The AFL is the most attended sporting league in Australia . The AFL is currently the fourth-most attended professional sports league in the world in terms of attendance per match, with an average attendance of over 38,000.

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Australian Football Coaches Association

The Australian Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is operational in all states and territories of Australia, managed by the State Coaching Managers in each state.

Each branch operates independently and generally conducts an annual coaching conference, regular updating seminars and an annual awards dinner for their coaches. Most State branches are organised into regions which also conduct local activities.

There are approximately 9,000 current members (4000 in Victoria, 2000 in SA, 1000 in WA and 2000 in other states). Coaching Update, the Association’s coaching journal, has a nationwide readership of over 21,000 nationwide, and is published by the Victorian Branch three times per year. The South Australian Branch, organized by SANFL, and the WA Branch, WAFC, also produce their own journals Coaches Corner and Footyl Fever

These journals discuss a range of topics, including:

Rule ChangesTacticsManagement and PlanningPlayer ConditioningSet PlaysNutritionDrills

Each branch managed by AFL State Development staff is an integral part of their football community and generally provide the following services.

Annual Coach of the year Awards and coach recognition programsLocal Coaching NewslettersDistribution of Coaching Update Regional coaching workshops and seminars.Operating a Coaching Resource Centre.

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Australia Team in recent years

In 1997, after winning the OFC qualifying tournament, Australia had to play Iran over two legs in one week, with the winner progressing to the World Cup finals to be held in France. Australia's road to USA 94 is an example of the difficult qualifying path which members of the Oceania confederation have had to endure. In order to qualify for USA 94, Australia had to endure 3 playoff stages. In 2001 Australia again won the Oceania Confederation qualifying tournament for 2002 FIFA World Cup. Second and third-string lineups thrashed a number of tiny island nations in a competition that made a mockery of the Confederation, including a world-record 22–0 win against Tonga, then smashed that record with a 31–0 win over American Samoa only two days later.

In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the Oceania Football Confederation World Cup qualification tournament. Australia was placed into 2006 World Cup Group F, along with Japan, Croatia and defending champions Brazil. While in Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Socceroos stayed in the town of Öhringen. Just days before Australia's first World Cup match against Japan, it was reported in the west that the Japan Football Association chairman claimed the Socceroos were "guilty of a lot of dirty fouls" and that "they target ankles in particular." Australia, led by Graham Arnold, went to their first Asian Cup sending a strong squad which included 15 players from the World Cup team. Australia was drawn in Group A alongside (co-host) Thailand, Oman and Iraq. The Socceroos were seeded to enter the AFC qualification campaign in the third round alongside Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan. They were drawn into a group comprising of Qatar, Iraq and China with the media dubbing it the "group of death".

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