Australia

Australia 1998-2000 Home
Australia 2010-11 Home

Let’s start things off with the spectacular. Keeping the traditional 2 colours of deep green and yellow, the stripe down the front divides it up nicely. Additionally, adding the yellow trim across the sleeve boundaries, for the three stripes and the same pattern as the front in the collar keeps the shirt interesting enough without breaking up the main colour. The old FFA logo is also fairly striking, if a little dated, adding to the appeal. Lastly, just in case you aren’t certain it is an Australia shirt, the national crest is printed into the fabric across almost the entire shirt! A beautiful shirt, and one of my favourites from down under.

As they were still in the OFC at the time, Australia used this shirt in the 2000 OFC Nations Cup. Supremely comfortable 17-0 and 6-0 wins over the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands sent them through to the semi-finals. In the semis they faced a resilient Vanuatu side who conceded only a penalty all game. Nonetheless the 1-0 victory sent them through to face New Zealand where the Aussies would defeat their Kiwi neighbours 2-0 to retake their continental title and qualify for the Confederations Cup.

Somewhat less spectacular is this Nike template. We keep both of the traditional colours but separated by the band of white this time. Overall it feels a lot more muted: no pattern to the fabric and all very standardised. The modern logo comes back into play and there are bands of yellow on the sleeves but we’ve lost the detail and the interest behind it. It is decent enough, but nothing more. Being able to compare it to its forebears highlights the deficiencies, sadly.

Shirt was worn across the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 Asian Cup. In the former, a 4-0 loss to Germany proved to be the flaw in their campaign, with a 1-1 draw against Ghana and a 2-1 victory over Serbia sending them out on goal difference. The Asian Cup proved a little better for them, with victories over Bahrain (1-0) and India (4-0) combining with a 1-1 draw against South Korea to send them through to the knockouts. It took extra-time to grant them a 1-0 victory over Iraq, before they annihilated Uzbekistan 6-0 to reach the final. Sadly, extra-time giveth, extra-time taketh and Japan edged them 1-0 in the final.

Overall these results are fairly typical for Australia. While in the OFC they took part in 6 Nations Cups, winning 4 but losing the final to New Zealand in 1998 and 2002. Overall, they were dominant, scoring 142 and conceding only 13 across 28 games. Since their move to the AFC in 2006 they’ve been to 4 Asian Cups. On every occasion they’ve reached the knockout stages, reaching the final in 2011 and 2015, winning in 2015. These successes have sent them to 4 Confederations Cups, though they’ve struggled more there. They finished in 2^nd in 1997 and 3^rd in 2001 but haven’t progressed past the Group Stages since. In the World Cups, their performance has been more similar to the Confederations Cups. Traditionally reaching the play-offs in qualification (9 times from 14 attempts!), Australia first reached the World Cup in 1974 and have returned in every edition from 2006 onwards to date. At the cups, they’ve struggled to maintain their form, with only 2 wins, reaching the quarter-finals in 2006. To assuage the pain of some of their defeats, they have a host of minor titles from small tournaments across Asia/Oceania.

On the women’s side, Australia are more intimidating. They started out slowly, typically falling short of New Zealand and getting three 2^nds and a 3^rd place (also behind Chinese Taipei) in their first 4 tournaments. From then on, they were dominant though, with 3 titles from 3 tournaments, before a move to the AFC where they reached 4 of 5 finals (winning in 2010). They’ve also been to 3 Olympic Games and 8 World Cups, reaching the knockout stages in each of the last 4 World Cups and 2 of the Olympic Games. Regarded as one of Asia’s strongest sides and a distinct power in the world, the Aussie women can’t be underestimated. Across youth football we see some familiar patterns, with the men reaching 6 from 8 Olympics (including a 4^th place) and holding a string of OFC titles before shifting to AFC bronzes and AFF golds. Recent performances have been a little shakier, but they’ve reached 28 combined men’s youth World Cups with two U20 4^th places and runners up in the 1999 U17 edition. Women’s youth football has been surprisingly quiet, with three U20 World Cup appearances, mostly qualifying from OFC competition and mainly 4^th and 5^th place finishes across AFC competition. They’ve been runners up twice in U20 AFF football and champions once at U16 level but fall somewhat short of the senior side.

Highly active in futsal, Australia were kings of the OFC, winning every Championship game they played, often convincingly. Regulars in the AFC knockout stages, they’ve reached only 1 semi-final, finishing 4^th in 2012. They’ve had more luck in the AFF, reaching but losing 4 finals to Thailand in all 4 of their appearances. This has led them to 7 FIFA World Cups and 6 AMF World Cups, though only a handful of wins means that they’ve typically been eliminated in the first round. They;’ve played women’s futsal previously but don’t appear active within the AFC. Beach soccer has been much quieter, with an appearance at the 2005 World Cup (they lost both games) followed up by appearances at the 2009 and 2013 AFC Championship, where they performed reasonably but unspectacularly.

Drawn with Kuwait, Jordan, Nepal and Chinese Taipei for their 2022 2^nd round qualification group, Australia were expected to proceed comfortably and have done so, with a 100% record. Assuming they get a favourable draw, they are expected to qualify for 2022 automatically, though an unfavourable one may send them into the play-offs. Not qualifying is not really an option for them.