Australia emerged out of the wilderness at Germany 2006, ending a 32-year long wait for World Cup football. Talk to any Australian football fan about their most memorable Socceroo moment and it will definitely be those eight made minutes in Kaiserslauten, when a spectacular 3-1 comeback win over Japan in the dying stages of the match started the Aussies on their way to getting out of the group stages. They suffered a heartbreaking and controversial exit at the hands of Italians in the first knockout round via a late Francesco Totti penalty. The pioneers though will always be the men who first qualified in 1974.

Strengths
Hyper-organized and unified, as their defensive record suggests. This is a team in which the players know each others playing styles intimately, having largely all been together when they first broke the nation’s World Cup drought four years ago. They have become masters at grinding out results late in the game, which suggests determination and fitness are their backbone.

Star Men
Tim Cahill (Everton, England)
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham, England)
Harry Kewell (Galatasaray, Turkey)