Australia begin World Cup preparations

August 10, 2009

While many countries are still elbow-deep in a battle for World Cup qualification, Australia already has secured its place on soccer’s biggest stage. It was one of the first teams to qualify for South Africa and now has to make do with friendlies while World Cup qualifiers take place.

The fact that they have already tied up qualification makes Australia a very attractive opponent and in light of this it has secured a number of glamour matches. First up is Ireland in Limerick. The Irish are in the middle of their campaign and will play Australia for just the second ever time. Ireland won the first game 2-1.

With most of the Australian side playing in Europe, playing in Ireland makes the logistics of it all very simple as the players don’t have far to travel. Oliver Bozanic, Aaron Mooy and Nikita Rukavytsya are the three players who will be making their Socceroos debut if they play. Bozanic plays for Cheltenham Town in England as does Mooy who plays for Bolton. Rukavytsya is with FC Twente who were just cruelly eliminated from the Champions League after an injury time goal knocked them out.

The main threats to Ireland in its World Cup qualifying soccer league are Italy and Bulgaria. Ireland are treating its game against Australia seriously and have named a team which reflects this. Stars such as John O’Shea, Robbie Keane, Damian Duff and Kevin Kilbane have all been named in the Irish squad.

Soccer betting for this match is even with the hosts having a slight edge due to their home ground advantage, but with the likes of Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill in the side, Pim Verbeek can play the attacking football that many have him been asking him to play.

With really nothing to play for apart from pride, there is no reason why Verbeek can’t let go of the reins and hand the players the freedom to play free-flowing football. If Australia is to do anything at the World Cup it has to win matches and find different ways to score goals. These friendlies are a great way with which to try and find this out. With nothing at stake, Verbeek should throw caution to the wind. No one is going to remember what happens in this game but everyone is going to remember what happens at the World Cup.

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