Jo Peters achieves century of appearances

Qantas Matildas midfielder Joanne Peters achieves century milestone.

Qantas Matildas midfielder Joanne Peters has become just the third Australian footballer to reach a century of national team (A) appearances and celebrated the occasion with a goal in Australia-s 8-1 victory over Chinese Taipei in their qualification match for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the Chungshan Stadium, Kaohslung.

The Leeton born, Newcastle resident sits behind only current captain Cheryl Salisbury (127 appearances) and Anissa Tann (102 appearances) on the honour board of male and female Australian footballers to have played 100 full international appearances.

Defender Heather Garriock with 86 appearances is the next current player likely to reach the century mark.

The most capped Qantas Socceroo is Alex Tobin who made 87 appearances, while Brett Emerton sits highest amongst current players with 55 appearances.

Her goal against Chinese Taipei also catapulted her into equal second position, on the all-time national team goal scorers list. Peters joined former player Sunni Hughes on 24 goals, six goals behind Salisbury.

Peters made her debut in March 1996, just after her 17th birthday against arch rival New Zealand, where she also scored her first international goal.

She played in the 1999 FIFA Women-s World Cup, starting two matches and then subsequently retired from international football for the next two and half years, after leaving the AIS program. This included missing out on the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

After returning in 2002, Peters again became a regular and was a key player at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, again in the USA and the following year at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, where she scored against the USA in their group match that earned the Qantas Matildas its first ever draw in a competitive match against the powerful American team.

She has also traveled extensively in her club career, having played for Santos (Brazil), New York Power (USA) and KIF Orebro (Sweden), just to name a few clubs.

Still only 27 years of age (at the time of writing), Peters is set to challenge Salisbury-s record, if she continues play at this level for many more years to come, although Salisbury herself, looks set for a few more years on the international scene.