Pre Match Thread: England vs Australia

[fademan77]

Lets get this thing on the road. I know the match is a month and a bit off but I cant wait for it. Australia has been match deprived for over a year and I am getting itchy....!

I think the final score will be 2-0 to england, or something similar. I cant see us winning the game over there...

[Canadian_Supporter]

So, when is this game? Feb 12?

[desertfox2]

Yes it's Febuary 12th, and it looks like both teams are bringing their A team. Australia will have their stars including Kewell, Viduka, among others and England will have the majority of their best players as well though I don't know how long they will actually play if at all. For England, this is a good match for them to prepare for their next EURO 2004 qualifier in late March. As far as Australia is concerned, this match will give their players some needed experience outside of the Oceania/Asia region. Should be an interesting match.

[Ben OZ]

Here's the respective squads for the match:

Australia
John Aloisi (Osasuna, Spain), Marco Bresciano (Parma, Italy), Scott Chipperfield (Basel, Switzerland), Brett Emerton (Feyenoord, The Netherlands), Vince Grella (Empoli, Italy), Zeljko Kalac (Perugia, Italy), Harry Kewell (Leeds United, England), Stan Lazaridis (Birmingham City, England), Craig Moore (Rangers, Scotland), Kevin Muscat (Rangers, Scotland), Lucas Neill (Blackburn Rovers, England), Paul Okon (Leeds United, England), Tony Popovic (Crystal Palace, England), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England), Josip Skoko (Genk, Belgium), Mile Sterjovski (Lille, France), Tony Vidmar (Middlesbrough, England) and Mark Viduka (Leeds United, England).

England

Goalkeepers: David James (West Ham), Paul Robinson (Leeds), Richard Wright (Everton)

Defenders: Gary Neville (Man Utd), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Danny Mills (Leeds), Paul Konchesky (Charlton), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Ledly King (Tottenham), Wes Brown (Man Utd), Matthew Upson (Birmingham)

Midfielders: David Beckham (Man Utd), Paul Scholes (Man Utd), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle), Jermaine Jenas (Newcastle), Sean Davis (Fulham), Scott Parker (Charlton), Danny Murphy (Liverpool), Joe Cole (West Ham)

Strikers: Michael Owen (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Everton), James Beattie (Southampton), Darius Vassell (Aston Villa), Francis Jeffers (Arsenal).

Sven-Goran Eriksson has stated that he'll play a near full strength side in the first half and have wide-scale substitutions at half time.

The World Game (http://theworldgame.com.au) has an article that Kewell may not play due to hamstring tenderness.

I'm predicting 2 -1 England.

[Goa^uld]

According to www.lufc.com (The Leeds United Official Webpage) Kewell is being witheld from the Australian squad due to club rules...
He did not play on Saturday against West Ham due to a Hamstring injury, so Leeds wish to withdraw him from the Australian Squad.
I don't know how this will go down with Kewell and Frank Farina, but I do think he will play, if fit.

[sinner78]

Sven will be experimenting again..
A completely different side will take the field in each half.
All the youngsters will be coming on for the second half..

[fademan77]

the reason for the switch is to compramise to the EPA, because the next round of FA cup matches are this weekend (i believe).

Will make for an interesting game.

[puddleduck]

Here's a pretty decent article from Soccernet:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=257681&cc=5901

Good luck against the poms. I hope you thrash them.

[sinner78]

Originally posted by puddleduck
Here's a pretty decent article from Soccernet:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=257681&cc=5901

Good luck against the poms. I hope you thrash them.

The aussies are all mouth as usual...
they somehow think that winning in cricket gives them an edge over us...
gotta laugh havent ya??

[Goa^uld]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk
The aussies are all mouth as usual...
they somehow think that winning in cricket gives them an edge over us...
gotta laugh havent ya??

I agree with you somewhat. We are massive underdogs, but that said, I don't think we go into the match with no chance at all.
Win, lose or draw, I will still enjoy the match

[babytiger2001]

Before I write my last pre-game article, I thought I'd share with you all the lineup which Australia will be putting out. Some of this is what Soccer Australia officials have already said publicly this morning our time here, and some of the rest lies between the spectrum of educated guesses and pure conjecture.

So here goes...

------------------Kewell*-----------Viduka----------------

---------------------------Grella-------------------------

----Chipperfield--------------------------------Emerton---

----------------------------Okon--------------------------

---Lazaridis-------Moore----------Popovic--------Neill----

--------------------------Schwartzer----------------------

The asterisk by Kewell's name is contingent on him passing a day-of-game fitness test, which will be administered at 11 a.m. BST, according to Soccer Australia officials.

It has been admitted that Chipperfield and Lazaridis will start on the left, with Moore and Popovic in the centre of defense. Other than that, it's a given that Viduka goes up top, and Schwartzer is in goal.

Vince Grella deserves a shot at the #10 position in behind the front two, which leaves captain Paul Okon as the d-mid. Neill starts at right back based on his form with Blackburn, and I'm guessing that Brett Emerton starts on the right wing ahead of Marco Bresciano.

If Harry Kewell fails his fitness test, then look for John Aloisi-- in good form with Spanish La Liga side Osasuna-- to take his place.

This may not be gospel, but pretty close, to what I've been able to dig up.

Discuss...

Cheers,
William

[sammydog]

I would agree with that team, but why is it that frank farina is the only person in the world who thinks kewell is better as a striker?

I would prefer him in behind the strikers and have viduka and aloisi up front.

[Morpheus]

Originally posted by Goa^uld
I agree with you somewhat. We are massive underdogs, but that said, I don't think we go into the match with no chance at all.
Win, lose or draw, I will still enjoy the match

I think the two different teams in the two halves has made this game into a bit of a farce...but what can Erickson do with the big clubs acting the way they do. I think it would be wrong to under estimate Australia, they have some realy decent players. I could see them getting a result, which I wouldent mind if our first team puts in a good performance in the first half.

[Ben OZ]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk
The aussies are all mouth as usual...
they somehow think that winning in cricket gives them an edge over us...
gotta laugh havent ya??

Yeah, I guess so.

[BrianJ 22]

australia WON!