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Australia PM's own goal: Abbott gets Socceroos' captain wrong!

A good luck message from the Australian prime minister to the national soccer team at the World Cup was somewhat undermined when Tony Abbott got the Socceroos' captain's name wrong.

Wearing a team scarf draped over his suit, Abbott greeted skipper Mile Jedinak as "Mike" in a video posted online before the Ange Postecoglou-coached Socceroos' Group B opener against Chile on Friday.

"Ange, Mike and the Socceroos, in this World Cup you have the opportunity to make the world game our national game," Abbott said.

"Throughout this cup we'll burn the midnight oil as you take the field in our name."

The video was hastily taken down but not quick enough for it to appear on major news and social media websites.

Australia lost the Chile match 3-1 in Cuiaba.

The gaffe follows the conservative prime minister's mispronunciation of Canada, as "Canadia", earlier this week while on an official visit to the country.