Neill becomes 50th player to captain Australia

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Qantas Socceroo defender Lucas Neill was today announced as the 50th captain of the Australian national team, for the upcoming matches against Paraguay and Bahrain.

Neill takes over from World Cup finals skipper Mark Viduka, who is absent from this series, because he wife is due to give birth to their second child any day now.

Current Socceroos Coach Graham Arnold revealed that Neill was one of several contenders for the job and was only decided when they had arrived in Australia.

"I don't know who said Craig (Moore) was definitely captaining the side tomorrow, it was never to be decided until the players came into camp,'' Arnold said today from Brisbane.

"Public perception may have been Craig was next cab off the rank, but the guy sitting next to me (Neill) has put his hand up massively in the last year and since I've been working with Lucas gradually he's becoming a leader.

"He really stepped up at the World Cup and showed his leadership qualities, so he was in the frame all along.''

Neill is currently filling in as captain at Blackburn in the absence of New Zealand international skipper Ryan Nelsen, who is likely to be out with injury until Christmas. His manager at Blackburn Mark Hughes, believes the captaincy and extra responsibility that comes with that, has helped Lucas immeasurably in the early part of the English Premier League season.

At 28, Neill is one player that Australian football fans will be looking to, to lead the team to the next World Cup finals in South Africa.