The Socceroos road to the FIFA 2022 World Cup
June 3rd is the date that soccer fans around Australia can turn on their TVs once again.
Why? Because Graham Arnold’s Socceroos will be playing their first match in 566 days since defeating Jordan – the longest pause that our national team has ever taken.
This match, which will be played in Kuwait, is part of the Socceroos World Cup qualifying campaign. It’s the second qualifying phase and this match is only one of four in 12 days, so we’re guaranteed to see some serious action.
When and where will their qualifiers take place?
This qualifying phase is organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Taking place in Kuwait within the next few days, it’ll involve Australia's remaining Group B FIFA contestants plus of course Australia duking it out for a birth in the World Cup.
The stadiums that’ve been chosen to host all four Socceroo games are the Jaber Al-Hamad International Stadium and Kuwait Sports Club Stadium.
These matches will take place on the 3rd, 7th, 11th and 15th respectively.
How do the Socceroos currently look?
Soccer fanatics may already know this, but Australia is already off to a strong start in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Out of the four matches that they played way back in 2019, they won all of them. This is even more impressive given that three of those were away from home.
Another reason why the Socceroos team is looking strong is that they scored a massive 16 goals (four per game average) while conceding only one.
First, they smashed Kuwait 3-0 then a month later they comfortably beat Nepal 5-0 in Canberra. After that, they went on to Taipei where they beat the home team 7-1 at Kaohsiung National Stadium. Finally, they travelled to and subsequently took down Jordan’s national soccer team. And now here we are in the second phase of the qualifiers over a year later.
What is their world cup record like?
Despite never hoisting the FIFA World Cup trophy above their heads, the Socceroos have reached the finals on five separate occasions. These came in the years 1974, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill are our most capped FIFA World Cup players, with 9 appearances a piece. Cahill is also our top goalscorer, finding the back of the net a total of 5 times. 1974, which was the first year that we qualified, saw us field a team entirely made up of amateurs. Consequently, we were bundled out of the tournament after a scoreless draw against Chile.
Fast forward a few decades to 2006 and we made it all the way to the Round of 16 before being felled by eventual champions Italy. We then suffered a crippling 4-0 loss against Germany in South Africa in 2010. In 2014 we performed slightly better, drawing 1–1 against Ghana and winning 2–1 win against Serbia. However, it wasn’t enough for us to progress beyond the first round. Finally, after an exceptionally tough group at Brazil in 2014, we lost all three games.
Are they in the mix to qualify for 2022?
In order to reach the FIFA World Cup, we’ll need to finish as group winners or one of the best four runners-up. This will automatically see us advance through to the third round of the Asian Football Confederation.
12 countries will be split into two groups of six during this third round. With the top two teams from each group securing a place in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022. At the moment, we’re at the top of Group B on 12 points. This is a pretty good place to be in at the moment given that we’re 2 points clear of Kuwait and Jordan (both of whom have played one extra game each).
Key matches for the Socceroos
Here are the details for all four of the Socceroos upcoming qualifying matches in Kuwait. Make sure to keep one eye on Socceroo social media pages for news, updates and squad announcements.
Australia v Kuwait
Thursday, 3 June 2021 (4 June AEST)
9.30pm local, 4.30am AEST (Friday morning)
Nepal v Australia
Monday, 7 June 2021 (8 June AEST)
Kick-off: 7.30pm local, 2.30am AEST (Tuesday morning)
Australia v Chinese Taipei
Friday, 11 June 2021 (12 June AEST)
Kick-off: 7.30pm local, 2.30am AEST (Saturday morning)
Australia v Jordan
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 (16 June AEST)
Kick-off: 9.30pm local, 4.30am AEST (Wednesday morning)
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