Reaction: Australia World Cup squad announced

By Bobo

Australia's squad now contains probably more English-based players (as of my writing, eleven, which consists of most of the top half of the player list), than it ever has done before. Being completely knowledgeable and accessibly interested in half the squad from a domestic league sense on a weekly basis is a good thing as it allows the ability to check out the players on a week-by-week basis. Along with this, only three players are actually based in Australia, the vast majority of the rest playing in England, albeit with no less than six players moving clubs after the completion of this tournament.

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has only given two places away to as-yet noncapped players, those being a young German-based striker, whose club affiliation is fairly based upon his performances during this competition, as he is set to join another club fairly imminently, and a 19-year-old Australian full-back who recently visited Vietnam with an eye to improving his soccer-playing future and impressed national soccer coaches Graham Arnold and Johan Neeskens while there.

The Australians reached the World Cup after beating twice-champions Uruguay on penalties on November 16, 2005, thus reaching the finals for the first time since 1974’s tournament, which also took place in Germany (pre-unification, this cup was on the Western side of the Wall).

Australia’s players hardly had to get past tricky opposition with their warm up players, but in their group are going to find things a mite harder.

Mark Schwarzer is Australia's main goalkeeper for this World Cup Finals. With thirteen years of international experience, he has enjoyed his greatest successes in England with Middlesbrough, including a League Cup final victory in 2003/04. He is currently contracted until 2008, and took part in many of their more testing qualifying matches, including against non-qualifiers Uruguay.

Lucas Neill is another British-based player, who immediately came to England having graduated from one of the highest Australian sports colleges. Once again he is going to come in as useful at right-back as he has done over the past two seasons, and, with his partner and domestic team-mate Brett Emerson by his side, he has excelled since the 2005 Confederations Cup.

Craig Moore has spent nearly twelve months north of the border with Newcastle United since moving from Borussia Monchengladbach last year, becoming the first Australian to ever play for the Magpies. He was also part of the Australian 2004 Olympic soccer team in Greece. He was unable to play a single game for Newcastle until shaking off an injury in late-March 2006.

Tim Cahill left his home country at the age of 16 to start upon his dream of playing domestic football in England. He scored in the semi-final of the 2003/04 FA Cup, in which he played for Millwall against Manchester United. After appearing for Western Samoa earlier in his career, he could prove to be one of the star performers of this tournament if Australia perform well.

Jason Culina was most recently signed by current Australia coach Guus Hiddink when the Dutchman was at PSV Eindhoven. He himself moved to the Netherlands, and most recently aided Twente in their quest for UEFA Cup football in the 2005/06 season.

Tony Popovic is one of the few players of international standard who currently play for English side Crystal Palace. A great threat in the air, Popovic first starred for the Australian team in 1987 in the Under-17s World Championship before making his senior international debut eight years later.

Brett Emerton currently plays for Blackburn Rovers, and has been in the Australian team since the very start of his career. He won the title of Oceanian player of the year in 2002, previously captained Australian World Cup squad in 2000. He also was listed in the 2001 and 2005 Confederations Cup squads for the team.

Josip Skoko became the first Australian to captain an overseas team to a title, as he did with Belgium’s KRC Genk in 2001. In the same year he scored one of Australia’s greatest goals in the Confederations Cup against Mexico, and since the summer of 2005 has belonged to Wigan Athletic.

Mark Viduka broke into the English Premiership with Leeds United in 2000, and the tall striker was in that same season voted Oceanian player of the year. He played in Scotland from 1999, and has become Australia’s captain ever since injuries were bestowed upon his team-mate, Craig Moore.

Harry Kewell has been voted Oceanian player of the year three times and is now one of the most famous Australian soccer players of all time. However, he has only recently gained fitness enough to be part of the Australian squad, where he spent much of 2005, including the Confederations Cup of that year, out with injury. Hopefully he has recovered well enough to perform to his potential as one of the best players in the squad.

With one of the most accurate left feet in the business, Stan Lazaridis' services to Australian soccer have lasted the majority of the last 13 years. He later joined West Ham United in 1995, and played in the 1997 Confederations Cup, joined Birmingham City in 1999 and played in the same competition in 2001.

Ante Covic is very much likely to be Australia’s third choice keeper during this tournament, and the nomadic 30-year old has recently gained his first international cap against Bahrain. He has built up a good reputation as a shot stopper and is very much in Hiddink’s good books.

Italian-based striker Vince Grella almost faced second division football in his playing country when based at Empoli in Italy. However, the former representative at the 1997 and 1999 World Youth Championships didn't win his first cap until 2003, in a 3-1 victory against England.

Scott Chipperfield plays in Switzerland and has achieved 45 caps since his debut against Fiji in 1998. A late bloomer, born in '75, the twotime NSL player of the year has finally achieved a first-team squad place. He is a promising left-sided midfielder with a keen eye for goal.

John Aloisi has played in three of Europe's toughest footballing countries, with Osasuna (and now Alaves) of Spain, with Coventry City of England, and in the top Italian division with Cremonese. He struck the winning penalty to bring Australia to the World Cup, and performed exceptionally in the Confederations Cup, scoring four times in three games.

Michael Beauchamp is one of only two Australian-based players in the Australian side, for top-of-the-league Central Coast Mariners. Having only seen the league formed recently, Beauchamp is one of the few players to establish himself within the division in the heart of the defensive line.

When asked one of the most common trivia questions of recent times, the name of Archie Thompson barely trips off the tongue, though the New Zealand-born striker who put 13 goals past American Samoa is in the record books. He was later to give his services for a short time to PSV Eindhoven, and his ball control shows for miles in the domestic league.

Goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac has more than two metres of height at his disposal, and plays in the Italian leagues for AC Milan. Having made his debut fourteen years ago against Malaysia, "Spider" initially joined the ranks of European football in 1998 and has enjoyed a decent career ever since.

Joshua Kennedy played in the German Second Bundesliga for Dynamo Dresden this season, and the Australian substitute stalwart is of good use to coach Guus Hiddink in aerial situations, standing at a mighty 6'4" tall.

Luke Wilkshire currently plays for Bristol City, and has garnered eight international caps since first appearing against the Solomon Islands in 2004. He previously played in the 2001 FIFA Youth World Championship, and represented the Australian Olympic team as captain against Iraq at the 2004 Olympic tournament.

Mile Sterjovski is one of the classiest wingers for the Australian team. Having enjoyed a steady career back home, he joined Lille in France, and later Swiss side FC Basel, where he teamed up with fellow countryman Scott Chipperfield. He played in the Confederations Cup teams of 2001 and 2005.

Mark Milligan’s rise to the top of the game having took part in two of the most recent World Youth Championships has surprised nobody. And even though he suffered from injury with a hernia at the beginning of the year, the elegant defender took part in the FIFA World Championship.

Marco Bresciano, who for the majority of his career has been active in Italy, secured the largest ever transfer fee, of seven million euros, of any Australian footballer. With one of the finest abilities at delivering set pieces of any Australian footballer, he lined up for the Australian team in the 2000 Olympics, and most recently he has been attempting to help Parma stay in Serie A in 2005.

For the first time for many decades, soccer has become at least the second-most important sport in the national conscience, and its dominance in this area should not be avoided. After beating the English football team so incredibly recently, Australia have to be watched out for.

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