Socceroos v England Friendly Proposal

[el-capitano]

AUSTRALIA'S football bosses are hoping England will agree to play a friendly international Down Under next year.

Football Federation Australia believe England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 may make the fixture possible, most likely in Sydney or Melbourne in May.

Former England captain David Beckham yesterday recalled his country's last meeting with the Socceroos - a 3-1 defeat in February 2003.

"When you're wearing an England shirt, there is no friendly game, especially when it's against Australia,'' he said. "There's rivalries all the way through sport with England and Australia, with the cricket and the rugby.''



http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22837429-5001023,00.html

thoughts?

[sinner78]

Post season in australia!!
When we played post season in america the entire squad suddenly had sicknotes. The only way we would play Australia was if the game happened in England.

[Wezza]

Socceroos should win that one.... ;) :D

[purpleronnie]

Makes sense apparantly LA sold 20,000+ shirts for the friendly game. I'm sure Beckham would play (would it be his 100th cap?).

Its a F.A's wet dream.

[sinner78]

France is scheduled for march in Paris (beckhams 100th)
This australia game will never happen unless its in London.
The australia team play alot of their games in London for a reason...
that nobody wants to take the flight down to australia.

[BusbyBabes]

I would rather have a game against Scotland than a game against the colonies.

[Devil_78]

Hmmm... Playing a friendly on the other side of the world, with the Premier league ending mid-May, with the FA Cup also reaching its climax...

Um. No. Sorry. Players are going to be nackered. Then throw in a flight to the other side of the world. The players will need quite a bit of time to shake off the jet-lag. I'd bank on a minimum of a week. (Took me 2 to completely get over the jet-lag moving from England to Japan). So, if the game is in May, the players will be tired. So, realistically, in June. That'll give the players only, realistically, a month to recover.

I, for one, would be more than willing to give them as much time this summer to recover. Because of course, next season, we will see the start of the qualifiers for the World Cup. Given the utterly miserable way England crashed from Euro 2008, I would be trying to take every step to make sure the team is ready. Such as giving them a decent break over the summer to be fresh for the season.

[sinner78]

Mid season breaks are getting shorter anyway.
Chelsea were in Los angeles for pre season about 5 weeks after the season ended.
players who go to tournies just report for training abit later.

Going down to australia is a waste of time though.
They can travel to play us if they want a game so badly.

[NoRightFoot]

Post season in australia!!
When we played post season in america the entire squad suddenly had sicknotes. The only way we would play Australia was if the game happened in England.

I agree Sinny.

Should be played in England. Friendly or not, if England agree to it (playing in Australia), by the time the whistle is blown that many players from both teams will have pulled out that it will have become farcical. At least if it's played at West Ham where Australia play most of their friendlies these days anyway, we'd see a better spectacle. Australia played Argentina recently in Melbourne, and although they held up their end by bring close to their best team minus Crespo, Australia fielded a much weakened line up and I don't see the point of having these matches if thats always going to be the case. Better off at Upton Park.

[NoRightFoot]

They can travel to play us if they want a game so badly.

Thats my whole point. At least if it's played in England there won't be any travelling, except probably Beckham and a few Aussie players from Serie A. Anyway it may not even happen either way. We were supposed to play Mexico and the USA in september and that never eventuated.

[sinner78]

I agree Sinny.

Should be played in England. Friendly or not, if England agree to it (playing in Australia), by the time the whistle is blown that many players from both teams will have pulled out that it will have become farcical. At least if it's played at West Ham where Australia play most of their friendlies these days anyway, we'd see a better spectacle. Australia played Argentina recently in Melbourne, and although they held up their end by bring close to their best team minus Crespo, Australia fielded a much weakened line up and I don't see the point of having these matches if thats always going to be the case. Better off at Upton Park.

They play all the games at Loftus road or Fulhams craven cottage.
Though any england game in London would be played at Wembley.

[NoRightFoot]

They play all the games at Loftus road or Fulhams craven cottage.
Though any england game in London would be played at Wembley.

Hahaha you're right. Where did I get Upton Park from? I think we have played a couple there in the past. Anyway time will tell.

[sinner78]

Hahaha you're right. Where did I get Upton Park from? I think we have played a couple there. Anyway time will tell.

Upton park was just for one game.
Stralia have been camped out in QPR and Fulham.
Along with Nigeria ,Brazil and afew other teams

[NoRightFoot]

Upton park was just for one game.
Stralia have been camped out in QPR and Fulham.
Along with Nigeria ,Brazil and afew other teams

Yeah I think it may have been the England game in 2003 and the thread title may have jigged that.

Anyway, might have to pop over prematurely if they do come to their senses and play it in England. Flying over on June 8 anyway, might have to make it a bit earlier. Should meet up at the game for a few beers.

[sinner78]

Yeah I think it may have been the England game in 2003 and the thread title may have jigged that.

Anyway, might have to pop over if they do come to their senses and play it in England.

The one time we toured down under we had a seriously weakened team.
We had the likes of Brian Deane in the squad.
way back in the early 90s .
if we had another tour we would get so many sicknotes we would have to call up Brian deane again.

[sinner78]

Yeah I think it may have been the England game in 2003 and the thread title may have jigged that.

Anyway, might have to pop over prematurely if they do come to their senses and play it in England. Flying over on June 8 anyway, might have to make it a bit earlier. Should meet up at the game for a few beers.

if the game happens and i go to the game..
yeah why not eh
i guess it could happen if i had the time off.

[NoRightFoot]

The one time we toured down under we had a seriously weakened team.
We had the likes of Brian Deane in the squad.
way back in the early 90s .
if we had another tour we would get so many sicknotes we would have to call up Brian deane again.

Yes I remember the 80's and early 90's of Australian football well.

The good ole days. :eek: :)

On a serious note, thats the answer right there. It's simply not feasible. I'm sure the FFA would make it worth their while financially, but apart from a few players in Italy, and maybe one or two here, the rest in EPL and all of Englands bar Beckham, it's too much of an uproot and distraction for one freaking game, especially given the breaks in season aren't all that long anyway. If either team was serious about a win, they'd play it in England with full, or close to, squads.

[sinner78]

Yes I remember the 80's and early 90's of Australian football well.

The good ole days. :eek: :)

On a serious note, thats the answer right there. It's simply not feasible. I'm sure the FFA would make it worth their while financially, but apart from a few players in Italy, and maybe one or two here, the rest in EPL and all of Englands bar Beckham, it's too much of an uproot and distraction for one freaking game, especially given the breaks in season aren't all that long anyway. If either team was serious about a win, they'd play it in England with full, or close to, squads.


First we need a new manager before arranging any games.
No doubt the new manager will want to pick his own opponents.
Right now we only have one game against France arranged.

[NoRightFoot]

First we need a new manager before arranging any games.
No doubt the new manager will want to pick his own opponents.
Right now we only have one game against France arranged.

Which is what's funny about the FFA. We're in the same boat re manager, and with WCQ's starting in february, maybe it's me but I would have thought that might have been a priority before organising friendlies in may.

Who are the candidates for England?

Advocaat and Houllier have pulled out of the running for Australia which I'm not all that unhappy about with Fabio Capello, Gabriel Batistuta, Jurgan Klinsman and Gianfranco Zola being the latest to want the job. Capello has a great domestic record in Italy but I'm not sure about his national qualifications, Batistuta lives in Australia and was an excellent player but again not sure about his managing abilities, Klinsman wants the job but wants to remain living in the US which defeats the purpose IMO which leaves Zola who is currently managing the Italy U/21 team. Should be an interesting one to observe.

[sinner78]

Who are the candidates for England?

.

-cappello
-mourinho
-van gaal

so far the people who are supposed to have stated interest.