A Hectic 18 Months for the Socceroos
Last week the draw for the 2011 Asian Cup Final Qualifiers was announced. Australia is in a group with Indonesia, Oman and Kuwait. The upshot of this is 14 matches between September this year and March 2010. There is talk of there being 2 squads of players to “cope” with this schedule.
What a load of crap. The FFA campaigned to join the AFC so we had more regular and higher competitive matches. I understand that the AFC does tend to have matches on NON FIFA dates which can be a problem, but surely we MUST pick our best team when available. I understood Pim letting the top players off last month against China and would be happy for that to happen again in the same situation. However, we MUST choose our best side for matches that we need the points
In any case it is an exciting time for us fans with a minimum of 7 away matches to plan for and whatever “Friendlies” that come along. The Aussie boys and Gals in England and Europe get to watch the Socceroos live in London and Eindhoven in August/September.
Here is the schedule for the next 18 months of Qualifiers. Bring it on.
- September 10, 2008: Away to Uzbekistan (World Cup qualifier)
- October 15, 2008: At home to Qatar (World Cup qualifier)
- November 19, 2008: Away to Bahrain (World Cup qualifier)
- January 14, 2009: At home to Kuwait (Asian Cup qualifier)
- January 28, 2009: Away to Indonesia (Asian Cup qualifier)
- February 11, 2009: Away to Japan (World Cup qualifier)
- April 1, 2009: At home to Uzbekistan (World Cup qualifier)
- June 6, 2009: Away to Qatar (World Cup qualifier)
- June 10, 2009: At home to Bahrain (World Cup qualifier)
- June 17, 2009: At home to Japan (World Cup qualifier)
- November 14, 2009: At home to Oman (Asian Cup qualifier)
- November 18, 2009: Away to Oman (Asian Cup qualifier)
- January 6, 2010: Away to Kuwait (Asian Cup qualifier)
- March 3, 2010: At home to Indonesia (Asian Cup qualifier)
July 09 2008 10:30 pm | Socceroos
