Brett Emerton - International Career

International Career

Emerton was captain of the "Olyroos", Australia's Olympic football team, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was sent off against Nigeria as Australia were beaten 3–2 and went out of the tournament. He was named in the Australia squad for the Fifa Confederations Cup held in South Korea and Japan in 2001 and made the starting line-up in a shock win over France and a defeat by South Korea as Australia qualified from the Group stages.

Emerton was a member of the Australian national team that lost out on the final place in the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea and Japan when Uruguay beat Australia over two legs in November 2001. He played in the team that comprehensively beat England 3–1 at the Boleyn Ground in February 2003, scoring the final goal to seal an impressive win.

Emerton played in both legs of World Cup play-off against Uruguay in November 2005, when the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the first time that Australia had reached the finals of the World Cup since 1974, and was named in the Australian squad for the World Cup finals. He was in the starting lineup for all three Group Stage games against Japan, Brazil and Croatia as Australia qualified for the second round. However, he received two yellow cards against Croatia, was sent off in the 87th minute and subsequently missed the Socceroos' second round match against Italy.

Emerton scored two goals against Qatar in Australia's fourth match of World Cup Qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in Doha. The match finished 3–1 to the Australians, as the nation advanced to the second round of the World Cup qualifiers. He also scored two goals against Qatar on 15 October in Brisbane, one from the penalty spot and the other a right foot finish from a flowing Australian move. Since returning from injury Emerton has received an international recall for the upcoming matches against the Netherlands and Oman. In his return match for the Socceroos against the Netherlands, Emerton came on as a second half substitute for Josh Kennedy, and made an exceptional return by looking dangerous on the right side of midfield. He then started the next match on against Oman and played a full 90 minutes. Emerton scored a late winner against Oman in the 2011 Asian Cup Qualifying fixture to give the Socceroos a 2–1 win. On 17 November 2010, he injured his hamstring whilst on international duty against Egypt in a 3–0 defeat in Cairo. On 25 January 2011, Emerton scored his 18th goal for his country and the fourth goal in the 73rd minute of the match when he scored against Uzbekistan in a 6-0 win in the semi-finals of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup after coming on from the bench. He played a total of 5 games at the tournament. On 5 June 2011, he captained the Aussies because there was no Lucas Neill in their 3-0 victory over rivals New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval Stadium. On 7 June 2011, Emerton started the friendly game against Serbia playing in the 0-0 draw. Emerton has currently won 92 caps and has scored 19 goals.