2008 Australia national soccer team season

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

Australia

2008 season
Chairmen	Frank Lowy
Manager	Pim Verbeek
Home colours Away colours

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