Australia - Upcoming Fixtures

by memory germany were without ozil,neuer & lahm.
also klose was only brought on in the last 15 minutes or so.

still a great result for australia,
though has to be said that beating germany in a competitive match and beating them in a friendly are two very different things.

We still need to avenge the 3-1. Make it happen, Holger.

Didn't we do that in South Africa last year?

Gah, thought that game was a draw.

We need to do it in Copenhagen. Only then will our ancestors know true peace. *firm nod*

Any matches planned in January or before the next qualifier?

Not to my knowledge. The next qualifier is on a single date so I don't think we can play another game before it. The next dates on the international calendar aren't untill June.

ANZ

Money, money, money.

Not mine.

In today's Hong Kong football news, HKFA chairman Brian Leung confirmed that Australia has applied to take part in the EAFF Championship and their wish has been granted. He also confirmed that Hong Kong will host the EAFF semi-final tournament in December this year. Hong Kong, Australia, North Korea, Chinese Taipei and the preliminary round winning country (Guam, Macau or Northern Mariana Islands) will take part.

The winner of the semi-final tournament will go on to play South Korea, Japan and China in a round robin final tournament in 2013.

Is that during an international break or anything? Would suck if we had to settle with an A-League XI.

Trust me, you don't need your best team to win in the semi-final tournament. Only North Korea poses a little bit of threat to Australia.

I think this will actually help the national team players who are domestic based.

I hope not Mike, because if it does, they'll invest in it further as though it was an"achievement"..

Lol none of the countries participating in the final tournament use their best teams. Usually domestic-based, and honestly it's seen as just an unnecessary pain in the ass for South Korea & Japan but it's understood why its done.

Two more friendlies before the end of the year on official FIFA dates, according to the Friendlies thread on the general Asian blog :

12.10 UAE - Australia ( in Dubai?) as a warm-up before the Iraq game in Doha four days later.

14.11 Korea Republic - Australia : both teams have Byes in their qualifying campaign - makes good sense - but I wonder whether this will be another A-league dominated team, or whether the venue will be in Europe to capture both sides' euro-based players.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/asian-nt-friendly-matches-2012.1943308/page-7
http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/asian-nt-friendly-matches-2012.1943308/page-8

12.10 UAE - Australia in Abu Dhabi

http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=uae/fixturesresults/gender=m/index.html#

At the post-match conference after the EAFF game against Taiwan, Osieck indicated that a friendly was on the cards for 6/2/2013 - probably in Europe.

Lots of teams have already announced their friendly matches - here's some European teams remaining (who have similar or better FIFA rankings - surely we wouldn't try and play a minnow like Liectenstein again !) :
4 Portugal
9 Russia
10 Croatia
22 Denmark
30 Hungary
31 Bosnia-Herzegovina
34 Montenegro
37 Romania
40 Bulgaria
42 Serbia
49 Slovenia
17 Ecuador is also free (and SA teams often travel to Europe for friendlies).

If it was one of these, I'd like to see us play Russia.

Ecuador are currently 2nd in CONMEBOL qualifying for 2014. Would love to play'em.

Update about opponents for 6. February :

4 Portugal - Playing Ecuador
9 Russia - Playing Chile
10 Croatia - Playing South Korea
22 Denmark - Playing Macedonia
30 Hungary - Playing Belarus
31 Bosnia-Herzegovina - Playing Slovenia
34 Montenegro
37 Romania
40 Bulgaria
42 Serbia
49 Slovenia - Playing Bosnia
17 Ecuador is also free - Playing Portugal

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein Liechtenstein OI OI OI

Sorry Liechtenstein playing Azerbaijan on 6. Feb , but Andorra is still available