Group D
Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana
Nickname: Socceroos (No, I did not make that up)
Colors: Green and Yellow (however their away jerseys are blue?)
Current World Ranking: 19
Manager: Pim Verbeek. Verbeek has been in charge of the Socceroos since December 2007 and led a very successful World Cup qualifying campaign. He is a Dutch manager who coaches Dutch style football which the Aussies are familiar with from previous manager Guus Hiddink (Pim was an assistant under Guus Hiddink at South Korea in the 2002 World Cup). Despite his success with the national team he has chosen to leave Australia after the World Cup so the finals will be his last appearance as manager for the team.
History: Australia has a fairly young soccer history forming the national team in 1922 and a very brief World Cup history. They have only qualified for the 1974 and 2006 World Cups (which coincidently were both hosted in Germany). Due to the country’s isolation in relation to the rest of the soccer world their opponents were limited to the Oceana Football Confederation which also made it very difficult to advance to the World Cup.
In the 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign Australia had to win the Oceania group play-off, play a second play-off game against the CONCACAF runner up (Canada) and then go on to play against the South American group runner up Argentina which they lost. The 1998 and 2002 qualifying campaigns were much of the same where Australia came out on top of the Oceania group then had to face multiple runner-ups from other groups where they could not find a win in the final game. Finally in 2006 under wonder coach Guus Hiddink Australia beat Uruguay in a penalty shoot out to qualify for their first World Cup in 32 years. They advanced out of the group stage only to be beat by eventual champions Italy with a controversial injury time penalty kick.
As of 2005 Australia has been part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and qualified first out of the group for the 2010 World Cup quite easily with 6 wins, 2 draws and zero losses.
Players: The Australian domestic A-League has only been in existence since August of 2005 meaning that most of the national team players play for European Leagues. In addition to a young, inexperienced home league many players chose to play for other national teams leaving slim pickings for the national team. However, there are also a handful of players who have played for other nations youth teams but ultimately chose to play for Australia at the national level.
Tim Cahill - Midfielder
Cahill currently plays for the English club Everton and is Australia’s highest profile player. He is an attacking midfielder who can score just as many goals as a striker when on the pitch. He was the first Australian to score a goal in a World Cup and has scored the most goals by any Australian in the World Cup (Germany 2006 – 2 goals). He was also just awarded the Australian Professional Football Associated Player of the year in 2009.
Cahill made his national team in 2004 after playing for the Samoa Under-17 team and was a prolific goal scorer in the 2006 World Cup and 2010 qualifying campaign. He is Australia’s 7th all-time goal scorer with 19 goals in 37 appearances. In fact, Australia has never lost when Cahill has scored. Cahill will definitely be a determining factor in how well Australia perform in South Africa.
Mark Schwarzer – Goalkeeper
The oldest player on the team at 37, Schwarzer brings great experience to the team. He is the most capped goalkeeper and Australia’s longest ever serving player. He has been playing for the national team since the 1994 World Cup qualifying games and has been instrumental to the team. In the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign he saved two penalty kicks against Uruguay for them to advance to the finals. He blocked another penalty shot against China during a 2010 World Cup qualifying game and only conceded one goal in eight games during the campaign.
Schwarzer currently plays for Fulham in the English Premier League so he has plently of practice saving shots from the likes of Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres. He is one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the league and has a knack for saving penalty kicks. He is a force between the goal post and will provide tremendous strength to the Australian team heading into South Africa.
Lucas Neill – Center Back
Neill currently plays for the Turkish club Galatasary but has only been with them since January 2010. Before the transfer he played with Cahill at Everton in the EPL. He is a solid, composed defender but has been criticized for his lack of ability against aerial strikers and temper on the field.
Neill made his national team debut in 1996 becoming the second youngest player to be called up at age 18. He helped Australia qualify for the 2006 World Cup by scoring a penalty shot against Uruguay and started all four games at the Finals. It was Neill’s tackle during injury time against Itlay that led to the penalty kick sending Australia home after the round of 16.
Prediction: Australia has their work cut out for them going against both Germany and Ghana in the group stage but I think if they can handle Ghana they can come out of the group as runner-up. The Australian teams seem to perform well under Dutch coaches (Guus Hiddink took them to the 2006 World Cup) and with Pim Verbeek at the helm I think they just might have a shot at advancing. Of course if they do advance they will have their work cut for them most likely to face England, but history has shown that this team can compete against the best.
Thanks to Nebraska's Nani for putting together this post.
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