Australia

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The Socceroos had to wait until the final round of fixtures to secure their place at the AFC Asian Cup finals for the second time in their history as a member of the Asian Football Confederation.




With Kuwait and Oman mathematically still in contention for a place in Qatar, Australia would have missed out had the Gulf sides drawn and had they lost at home to Indonesia.



However, a 42nd minute Mark Milligan strike at the Suncorp Stadium meant the goalless draw in Muscat had no bearing on Australia as they finished top of the table two points clear of Kuwait and a further point ahead of third-placed Oman.



Utilising an almost exclusively domestic squad as Pim Verbeek used his international stars for the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, Australia struggled to gel in the early stages, going down to a shock 1-0 home loss to Kuwait after a goalless draw in Indonesia before back-to-back wins over Oman and a 2-2 draw in Kuwait put them in the Group B driving seat.