Australia confirmed today that their home playoff leg will be in Sydney. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-07/socceroos-to-meet-syria-in-sydney-world-cup-playoff/8881178
australia will win. thread closed. the question here is, will australia face the USA after? probably not.
I read in some thread stating Iran or Iraq should host the first leg which in my terms is wague idea.. Syrian team is used to playing in Malasiyan turf which they might difficult to adapt in new turf and also the increased travel time will put on more misery on both the teams..
Im against Iran hosting for any team unless its Tajikistan/Afghanistan. Let me make that clear. A USA-Syria match in Azadi would go against Syria and frankly surprise them. The government would have to control who is allowed attendance because the uncontrolled crowd would root for USA>Syria
They could stage a complaint. Im not even in favor of it happening. Sportsmanwise, after the US wrestling team went there and was treated like kings, if an objection is made it wouldnt come from USSF but higher up. Id wager Iranians would root for the Aussies over Syria as well.
I have no doubt they would be treated well if they went - just can't see it happening. There were a few Iranians in the away end for Iraq-Australia. I ended up giving my Australia shirt to one of them.
Syria's attack is bolstered by arrival of Somah and he deadly finisher in air and ground..Australia will have tough time defending him
Football Associations are meant to have venues sorted four weeks before a match. All of the countries that could've qualified would have needed to have venues sorted before the final day of the last qualifying stage.
I welcome hosting for any team as long as It is not in top 3-4 biggest stadiums we have. I do not think they can choose Iraq for their home games in official matches at the moment.
Bro Saudi would send the complaint letter to FIFA asking for a neutral venue so fast it would be received yesterday
Supposedly the Syrian leg will be in Abu Dhabi despite some initial objections from the Emirati government.
I think Syria would have been better off sticking to Malaysia as a venue as the travel between matches would have been easier for them. In any case, its up to them where they play their home leg.
Some are saying the pitch in Malasiya sucks due and almost makes it unplayble thats why they want to change..
If Malaysia, the stadium may be packed by Ausie expats. I remember 1997 JPN x IRN playoff @ Johor Bahru. 20,000 Japanese fan mostly from Singapore and Bangkok rushed to the venue. I was one of them.
Not just expats. It doesn't cost much more than a domestic flight for a lot of Australians to get to KL.
The media in Australia has been very quiet about this game coming up. Yes, it’s been a very busy week in sports news in Australia this past week, but the day before the game in Malaysia there is only a couple of very small articles in the papers. Ticket sales for the return leg next week are also going very slowly. You can still easily buy blocks of 10 seats in any section of the stadium you want, including in the Australian “Active” area behind the goals. It’s as if almost everyone seems to think that a win over Syria is a foregone conclusion and they are just waiting for the next CONCACAF opponent to arrive. This attitude is hopefully not shared by the players or we could find ourselves not even getting on that plane to Panama or where ever.