2008 Australia national soccer team season

This page summarises the Australia national soccer team fixtures and results in 2008.

Australia
2008 season
ChairmenFrank Lowy
ManagerPim Verbeek

Summary

The main focus for the National Team was to attempt to qualify for their third World Cup. The 2010 campaign was Australia's first as a member of the AFC and they entered the qualification in the Third Round drawn into a group containing Qatar, Iraq and China. Matches took place from February until June and Australia had already succeeded in moving through the next round when they lost to China at home in the final game. Despite this, they still topped the group.

Fourth Round qualifying had Australia in a group with Bahrain, Japan, Qatar and Uzbekistan. By the end of the calendar year, they had played three games for three wins and were sitting top of the group with five games yet to be played.

They also enjoyed a come from behind friendly win away to the Netherlands who were ranked four in the world at the time. Australia finished the year ranked 28 on the FIFA Rankings.

Record
Type GP W D L GF GA
Friendly matches 4 2 2 0 5 3
World Cup qualifiers 9 6 1 2 13 3
Total 13 8 3 2 18 6


Match results

Friendlies
22 March Friendly Singapore  0–0  Australia Kallang, Singapore
(Report) Stadium: National Stadium
Attendance: 6,282
Referee: Prayoon Veerapool (Thailand)
23 May Friendly Australia  1–0  Ghana Sydney, Australia
Sterjovski  46' (Report) Stadium: Sydney Football Stadium
Attendance: 29,914
Referee: Hajime Matsuo (Japan)
19 August Friendly Australia  2–2  South Africa London, England
Sterjovski  25'
Kennedy  38'		 (Report)  21' Nkosi
 58' Modise		 Stadium: Loftus Road
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Howard Webb (England)
6 September Friendly Netherlands  1–2  Australia Eindhoven, Netherlands
Huntelaar  6' (Report)  45+1' (pen.) Kewell
 76' Kennedy		 Stadium: Philips Stadion
Attendance: 22,500
Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)

World Cup qualifiers
6 February Third Round Australia  3–0  Qatar Melbourne, Australia
Kennedy  11'
Cahill  17'
Bresciano  33'		 [ (Report)] Stadium: Telstra Dome
Attendance: 50,969
Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
26 March Third Round China PR  0–0  Australia Kunming, China
[ (Report)] Stadium: Kunming Stadium
Referee: Mohamed Al Saeedi (United Arab Emirates)
1 June Third Round Australia  1–0  Iraq Brisbane, Australia
Kewell  47' [ (Report)] Stadium: Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 48,678
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
7 June Third Round Iraq  1–0  Australia Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Mohammed  28' [ (Report)] Stadium: Al-Rashid Stadium
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Kazuhiko Matsumura (Japan)
14 June Third Round Qatar  1–3  Australia Doha, Qatar
Ibrahim  89' [ (Report)]  17', 56' Emerton
 74' Kewell		 Stadium: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Lee Gi-Young (South Korea)
22 June Third Round Australia  0–1  China PR Sydney, Australia
[ (Report)]  12' Sun Stadium: Stadium Australia
Attendance: 70,054
Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
10 September Fourth Round Uzbekistan  0–1  Australia Tashkent, Uzbekistan
[ (Report)]  26' Chipperfield Stadium: Pakhtakor Stadium
Attendance: 34,000
Referee: Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli (Kuwait)
15 October Fourth Round Australia  4–0  Qatar Brisbane, Australia
Cahill  8'
Emerton  17', 58'
Kennedy  76'		 [ (Report)] Stadium: Suncorp Stadium
Attendance: 34,320
Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
19 November Fourth Round Bahrain  0–1  Australia Manama, Bahrain
[ (Report)]  90+3' Bresciano Stadium: National Stadium
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)

Goal scorers
Player Friendlies FIFA World Cup qual. Goals
Emerton - 4 4
Kennedy 2 2 4
Kewell 1 2 3
Bresciano - 2 2
Cahill - 2 2
Sterjovski 2 - 2
Chipperfield - 1 1

References
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