In 2004, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 World Cup by topping the round-robin stage of the Oceania Football Confederation World Cup qualification tournament. The team drew 2-2 with the Solomon Islands, which combined with other results put that team ahead of New Zealand in the standings and meaning that the Solomon Islands qualified for the final playoff rather than the expected New Zealand.
Australia face Germany in the 2005 Confederations Cup
Coach Frank Farina stood down from the position by "mutual consent" on June 29, 2005 after Australia failed to win a game at the Confederations Cup 2005, citing ever increasing speculation over his position. On July 22, Guus Hiddink was announced by FFA as the new national coach. This announcement came after intense speculation by the Australian media over potential candidates and even a premature announcement from Hiddink himself. Hiddink now combines his roles as manager of Dutch club PSV Eindhoven with that of Australia, and will remain the coach of Australia until the end of the 2006 World Cup, after which he will coach Russia.
After some initial training sessions with the Australian team in the Netherlands, his first campaign as national coach resulted in a 9-1 aggregate win over the Solomon Islands in the OFC Qualifying Tournament Final. The remaining task for Hiddink and Australia was the Oceania-South America playoff against the fifth placed team from the CONMEBOL Qualifying Tournament for a place in the World Cup.
In October 2005, Australia beat Jamaica 5-0 in a friendly in London. The win was the Socceroos' biggest win against a team ranked higher than them in the FIFA World Rankings list and also, Australia's biggest win against a country which has participated in the World Cup.
Australia then moved on to play Uruguay in a qualifying rematch of the matches in 2001. Fearing a repeat of the events in Montevideo in 2001, Australia announced that they would hold their training sessions in Buenos Aires in Argentina, and would only stay in Montevideo for the game. Uruguay called for the 1st leg to be moved a day earlier, to November 11. This idea was rejected by Australia. As a result, Uruguay had announced that they had moved the kick off time back 5 hours to 9:00 p.m. local time on November 12. This meant that Australia would miss their direct flight back to Sydney for the second leg. This would also mean that Uruguay would have an extra day of preparation for the second leg.
However, this plan backfired on the Uruguayans. Their plans to charter a plane for a direct flight to Sydney fell through. When Uruguay asked to move the kickoff back, Australia, which by that time had found a charter for immediately after the game, refused. Eventually, FIFA stepped in and ordered the kickoff moved back to 6:00 p.m. local time.
Uruguay defeated Australia 1-0 in Montevideo on November 12, 2005, after a header from Dario Rodriguez. Australia had the better of their Uruguayan opponents for a lot of the match, but they could not capitalise on their opportunities. In Sydney on November 16 for the second leg of the qualifying series and in front of 83,000 fans at Telstra Stadium, and 3.4 million more watching the televised broadcast, Australia led Uruguay 1-0 after 90 minutes following a goal by Marco Bresciano after a miss-pass by Harry Kewell in the first half. The aggregate was tied, and extra time was played. Neither team scored after two periods of extra time, bringing the game to a penalty shootout. Australia won the penalty shootout 4-2 and qualified for the 2006 World Cup, their first Football World Cup qualification in 32 years. Mark Schwarzer made two saves in the penalty shootout. The resulting win led to scenes of wild jubilation across the country, as fans rejoiced at the Socceroos qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, their first qualification in 32 years.
Germany were also the hosts the last time Australia qualified for the World Cup back in 1974. Also worth mentioning is the similarity that Brazil, like in 1974, go into the World Cup as defending champions after having defeated a European team in the final. In 1970, Brazil beat Italy in the Final, and in 2002, Brazil beat Germany to take the title.
Immediately after that qualification, Australia were to go into the 2006 World Cup as the second lowest ranked side. Their ranking on the FIFA World Rankings improved in subsequent months, leap-frogging other qualified countries. In preparation for the tournament, the Socceroos will play the Netherlands in June 2006 in the lead up to the World Cup. A friendly against Greece took place on 25 May 2006 at the the 98,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Australians won 1-0 thanks to a Josip Skoko volley early on in the match. The match was sold out in only 2 hours. .
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