2014 World Cup: Socceroos' qualification road to Brazil a bumpy, dramatic ride for Australia
Updated
Sun 8 Jun 2014, 12:28pm AEST
Australia has qualified for three consecutive FIFA
World Cups; a comparative glut after the 32-year absence following the
country's maiden 1974 appearance.
After the heady heights of 2006
and a 2010 tournament filled with controversy and anguish, the
Socceroos' attendance at football's showpiece event now seems ensconced
in the country's sporting expectations.
Ultimately, the Socceroos
lived up to the public's demands in qualifying for the 2014 event, under
the guidance of coach Holger Osieck.
But like all good fantasy
fiction, the road to Brazil was one filled with peril and despair,
before a late run of results saw Australia sneak home by the skin of its
teeth.
Look back on how the Socceroos' campaign unfolded, in a journey stretching from late 2011 to mid 2013.
Australia's top-five ranking in Asia saw it granted a bye through to
the third round of AFC qualifying, and began its campaign on September
2011 in Brisbane against Thailand.
The world number 120-ranked
Thais were daring to dream when taking a 15th minute lead at Lang Park,
but local boy Matt McKay sparked a Socceroos revival, assisting both
Josh Kennedy and late call-up Alex Brosque in a 2-1 win.
The momentum flowed into Australia's next match as it secured a 3-1 win over Saudi Arabia in 40-degree temperatures in Dammam.
Kennedy followed up his goal against Thailand with a brace against the Saudis, while Luke Wilkshire also scored a penalty.
Leading scorers in 2014 qualifiers
 |
Josh Kennedy (5)
|
|---|
 |
Alex Brosque (3)
|
 |
Tim Cahill (3)
|
 |
Brett Holman (3)
|
 |
Archie Thompson (2)
|
 |
Luke Wilkshire (2)
|
Single goal scorers: Marco Bresciano, Brett Emerton, Mile Jedinak, Harry Kewell, Robbie Kruse, Lucas Neill, Tommy Oar.
Australia returned home a month later to face Oman at
Sydney's Olympic stadium, and promptly buried the visitors 3-0. Kennedy
scored again, while Brett Holman and Mile Jedinak notched their first
international goals of the campaign.
But Oman came back with a vengeance in the next match in November, grinding out a 1-0 win in Muscat.
Amad
Ali scored Oman's only goal in the 18th minute, and the hosts' defence
held strong against an increasingly frustrated Australian attack.
That
frustration was soon quelled when Holman fired Australia into the
fourth round of qualifying as Australia beat Thailand 1-0 in Bangkok.
The
Socceroos needed only a point to progress, but grabbed all three when
Holman rose to head in Brett Emerton's cross on the 77th minute.
The
dead-rubber against Saudi Arabia still proved an entertaining affair,
as Australia hit back from 2-1 down to eventually win 4-2 at AAMI Park.
Brosque
netted a brace while Harry Kewell and Emerton all scored in a
five-minute triple-goal salvo to turn the match on its head.
Round four: late, scrappy and dramatic
Round 4
Australia had to make another return to Oman, and
suffered in the heat again, grinding out a 0-0 draw in Muscat, before
making the quick trip back home to face mighty Japan in Brisbane.
Things
looked bad when Mark Milligan was sent off for two bookable offences,
before Japanese defender Yuzo Kurihara tapped in to give the Blue
Samurai the lead with 25 minutes remaining.
Australian heads were
not down for long, when a fortunate penalty on the 68th minute saw Luke
Wilkshire slot home in a match that finished 1-1.
But the campaign
looked to have lurched badly in the King Abdullah Stadium, as the
Socceroos copped a shock 2-1 away loss to Jordan in Amman.
Jordan
raced to a 2-0 lead after the half-time break, before Archie Thompson
pulled a goal back late on. Poor finishing, however, and frantic
defending saw Jordan hold on for victory.
On the back foot and in
serious need of a win in round four, Australia procured the three points
in Doha with a 2-1 win over Iraq to ease the pressure on coach Osieck.
Again,
the Socceroos went behind as Alaa Abdul Zahra put Iraq ahead, but Tim
Cahill and Thompson gave the campaign a belated jump start to turn the
match around and register Australia's first victory of the round.
The
joy, however, was short-lived, as Australia contrived to draw 2-2 with
Oman in Sydney, while Jordan shocked Japan 2-1 to send the Socceroos
down to third place on the ladder, with only the top-two directly
qualifying.
Oman stunned the home crowd into silence with a
sixth-minute opener, before Mile Jedinak conceded an own goal shortly
after half-time.
Cahill proved Australia's talisman again when he
leapt highest to head home a corner, before Holman spared the team's
blushes with a raking drive from distance to level the match.
With
five games played and only one win and six points to show for their
efforts, the Socceroos needed a bright and somewhat unlikely result in
Saitama against Japan.
That result suddenly looked imminent when
Tommy Oar's cross from the left flank clipped off his marker's foot to
sail over the keeper's reach and into the back of the net.
But
Japan responded, having kept Australia on the back foot for much of the
match, and equalised through a Keisuke Honda penalty. The 1-1 draw was
enough to ensure direct qualification for Japan.
| Fourth round, Group B | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
 | Japan | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 5 | 17 |
 | Australia | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 13 |
 | Jordan | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 10 |
 | Oman | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 9 |
 | Iraq | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 5 |
In desperate need of two victories in their last two
matches, the Socceroos got the first with a convincing 4-0 drubbing of
Jordan at Docklands, with Robbie Kruse scoring once and laying on two
assists.
The match also saw Australia captain Lucas Neill score his first-ever goal in national colours.
The
final match proved as nailbiting as they come for Australian fans, as
Iraq stood between direct Socceroos qualification, or more difficult
progress through play-offs.
Needing a win to guarantee
qualification, the Socceroos looked to have fluffed their lines in front
of a nervy Sydney crowd of 80,523 spectators.
The Socceroos
almost had an early goal inside four minutes when Kruse and Cahill
exchanged passes in the box, before Cahill hit a close range shot at the
diving Ahmed Ibrahim.
But the hosts struggled to fashion anything of note afterwards.
Osieck then controversially substituted Cahill for Kennedy, while Thompson came on Kruse.
It
proved the correct decision, as Kennedy got on the end of Marco
Bresciano's chipped cross to head home the winner, and book Australia's
ticket to Brazil.
Epilogue: Osieck sacked, Postecoglou becomes coach
But the elation of securing qualification seemed over almost as soon as it had begun.
Australia's
next fixtures would see it travel to Brazil and France - two mighty
opponents placed many rungs above the Socceroos in FIFA's world
rankings.
Two 6-0 thumpings to both teams followed, and Osieck's
work in the qualifying campaign seemed a distant memory, as the FFA
announced his sacking shortly after the loss in Paris.
Ange
Postecoglou, who had led the Brisbane Roar to two A-League titles and
had only recently taken the reins at Melbourne Victory, was named as
Osieck's successor.
Goalkeeping stalwart Mark Schwarzer also
announced his international retirement shortly after completing his move
to Premier League giants Chelsea.
Schwarzer's vacancy will be hotly contested by the likes of Mitch Langerak, Mathew Ryan and Eugene Galekovic.
First posted
Tue 13 May 2014, 12:57pm AEST
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