Tag Archives: Socceroos

EPL soccer games should prepare Socceroo stars

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EPL soccer games should prepare Socceroo stars

With the World Cup brouhaha all set to start again for Australia in Thailand next month, a look at the Socceroo diaspora shows a mixed bag in terms for playing fortunes for EPL stars who need to get soccer games under their belt.

With only four Aussies plying their trade in the EPL this season, it has been an eventful start to the English season in terms of soccer games staged.

Vince Grella was not called upon to play for Antipodean-friendly Blackburn Rovers in their opening game of the season, leaving him only two soccer games in the EPL – at Aston Villa tomorrow (Saturday) and at home to Everton to get some much-needed match practice before the Thailand fixture on September 2. Aussie team-mate Brett Emerton was at least playing for Rovers, and picked up a booking for his trouble.

Everton mainstay Tim Cahill was also left kicking his heels on the opening weekend of the EPL season but that was due to the rioting that tore across England.

The civil unrest threatened to disrupt several soccer games but eventually only accounted for the game at Tottenham – where the rioting started – whom were due to host Cahill’s Everton.

Everton host newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers and visit Emerton‘s Blackburn before the Thailand opener for Australia.

EPL star Schwarzer excels in opening soccer games - image by Flickr.com

EPL star Schwarzer excels in opening soccer games - image by Flickr.com

EPL veteran Schwarzer excels in early season

Elsewhere in the EPL, the season has started rather more brightly for Socceroos veteran and Fulham shot-stopper Mark Schwarzer.

Unlike his fellow EPL-based Australians, Schwarzer already has eight competitive fixtures under his belt as new manager Martin Jol, stuck with his experienced keeper for the club’s Europa League campaign.

Although matches against the likes of Faroe Islanders NSI and Belfast-based Crusaders are not the most daunting prospects, Schwarzer has thus far conceded only one goal in eight soccer games – in Belfast – and has already shut out Croatians Hajduk Split, twice, Aston Villa and Ukraine-based Dnipro.

The former Middlesbrough keeper has games at Wolves and Newcastle in the EPL to look forward to, as well as the return leg in the Ukraine, before heading for Thailand.

Next up we’ll take a look at the exiled Australians looking for soccer matches outside the EPL.

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The World Cup draw – reasons to be cheerful

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Socceroos coach Holger Osieck could be forgiven for thinking his World Cup qualification campaign will not begin in earnest until June next year.

Although Kewell and co are set to kick off the qualifiers for Brazil 2014 against Thailand next month, the task of finishing second in their initial group should not be too demanding. Although the Saudis have an impressive World Cup heritage – and could return to haunt Osieck further down the line – disposing of the Thais and Oman should not prove too tricky for the Socceroos.

Even with the days of going head to head with soccer powerhouses like the Cook Islands and Fiji behind us, the German coach will surely be able to finish second in the initial qualifying group even if the European parent clubs of players like Schwarzer and Neill start getting proprietorial with their stars.

Presuming we can safely reach the next round, things become a little more taxing as the final ten combatants lock horns in two groups of five. At this stage the top two in each group can start booking their hotels in Rio. The sides finishing third in each group will play-off and the winner of that duel faces the recurring nightmare of a two-leg play-off for the final Asian slot in 2014.

Traditional Asian powers like Japan, Iran, South Korea and, you’ve guessed it, Saudi, will be jostling with us for the automatic berths and whilst we should be able to brush aside the likes of the UAE, Iraq and Qatar at this stage, Osieck could be heading to South America for an unwanted World Cup dress rehearsal.

That’s because the ‘prize’ in the intercontinental lottery is a play-off against South America’s also-rans, the toughest draw possible and one of the hardest to predict, with Chile, notoriously high-altitude Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia and Ecuador all likely candidates.

In that scenario we’d probably be World Cup toast so let’s hope we can hit form in the second group stage.

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