Schwarzer was released from Leicester after the end of 2015–16 season at the age of 43. International career Schwarzer made his international debut for Australia against Canada in Edmonton in a 1994 World Cup qualifier in 1993. He came on as a substitute for Milan Blagojevic after first-choice Robert Zabica was sent off 15 minutes into the match. In the return leg in Sydney, he made headlines when he saved two penalties to send Australia to the final phase of qualifying against Argentina. Schwarzer did not play in these matches, and Australia were defeated 2–1 on aggregate. He was instrumental in Australia's qualification for the 2006 World Cup, in the play-off against Uruguay. After Uruguay won the first leg 1–0 in Montevideo, Australia won 1–0 in Sydney on 16 November 2005. In the penalty shoot-out, Schwarzer saved two penalties to see Australia victorious 4–2. At the World Cup finals, he played the first two games in Australia's group matches, conceding a controversial goal against Japan, and two goals against Brazil. In the third match, he was replaced by Zeljko Kalac, but after Kalac's disappointing performance, he was reinstated for the round of 16 match against Italy. Although he correctly predicted the direction of the penalty kick, he was unable to save the penalty in that match, which was scored by Francesco Totti in injury time and sent Australia out of the World Cup. Schwarzer played in all of Australia's matches in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Although he made two good saves in the opening match against Oman, which finished as a 1–1 draw, he made an error which led to a goal in the 3–1 loss to Iraq. In the quarter-final, he could not match Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi during the penalty shootout, which saw the Socceroos get knocked out of the competition in their debut at the tournament. Schwarzer said that the penalty shootout in the Asian Cup quarter-finals was the first penalty shoot-out in his career that he had ever lost. Schwarzer saved an 89th-minute Shao Jiayi penalty against China in Australia's 0–0 draw in the 2010 World Cup qualifier in March 2008, continuing his record of stopping penalty kicks. He received his second yellow card of the campaign against Qatar in Doha, in which Australia were 3–1 winners, leading to his suspension for the following match against China. Schwarzer made several vital saves to secure Australia's