Moore recieves ban

Moore – who, in the absence Mark Viduka, had been set to take the captain's armband for Australia's friendly against Paraguay on Saturday and Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain next Wednesday – failed to show up at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday.

The FFA gave Moore a one-match ban for what a breach of its code of conduct but the 30-year-old elected to remove himself from the squad entirely “in the best interests of the team”.

“Yesterday I missed my flight to Brisbane from Sydney to join the Socceroos in camp and to attend training, and some other commitments,” Moore said in a statement released by the FFA.

“I apologise to my team-mates, the coach, FFA and the fans, about missing training and about the media interest which this incident has caused.

“I am very disappointed not to be playing in Brisbane, as I am a local and have been looking forward to playing in front of family and friends.

“I am still deeply passionate about the national team and proud of what we achieved during the World Cup and want to continue to be part of it.”

The FFA refused to reveal the circumstances behind Moore missing the training session and was quick to praise Moore for his action.

“He met us in Sydney and said he wasn't going to go up to Brisbane,” FFA spokesman Adam Mark told FOXSPORTS.com.au

“Any reports that he snubbed the FFA are not strictly accurate and Craig accepted his punishment like a true professional before making the decision to be released from the squad.”

Moore arrived in Sydney from Newcastle on Tuesday and spent the day catching up with Socceroos team-mates Zeljko Kalac and Tony Popovic.

But while both Kalac and Popovic were on their flight to Brisbane the following day, Moore was not. He was still missing later that day when the Socceroos had their first official training session.

Former Socceroos striker Robbie Slater had little sympathy for Moore and claimed he would not be surprised if there were repercussions when Moore returned to Newcastle for domestic duty.

“Craig Moore has let himself down,” he said.

“This is totally his fault and Graham Arnold – as the national coach – was left with no option but to rule him out of both these games. It's unfortunate because he was going to captain the side.

“There'll be repercussions back [in Newcastle] too, because the football world is small now and Glenn Roeder will be fully aware of what is going on and what has been going on.”

Blackburn Rovers defender Lucas Neill has replaced Moore as captain for the games against Paraguay and Bahrain.