victorythe1
August 9th, 2006, 11:10 AM
AUSTRALIA is lining up a friendly against South American side Paraguay in October, as part of the preparations for next year's Asian Cup.
As a squad of A-League players trained in Melbourne yesterday ahead of next week's Asian Cup qualifier with Kuwait, it's understood Football Australia have arranged the friendly with Paraguay for the Friday before the final qualifier against Bahrain on Wednesday October 11, with Brisbane the venue.
With the squad's European-based stars likely to make themselves available for the Bahrain game, it's hoped that Socceroos fans will be able to see a full-strength side on home soil for two games in five days.
Both October 8 and 11 are full FIFA international dates, allowing the FFA to insist the players report up to five days before.
That would give whoever is in charge of the side - presumably interim coach Graham Arnold - the best part of 10 days with the squad.
The FFA is also aiming to fill the gap left by the cancelled qualifier against Lebanon in November with a friendly for the team in Europe.
Yesterday head of high performance John Boultbee said the FFA were examining the options of opposition for such a friendly.
November 15 is only a FIFA friendly date, meaning the team will only gather for two days before the game.
But ironically it was also revealed yesterday that success at next year's Asian Cup is threatening to diminish the main advantage of Australia's move into Asia, the regular competitive games against strong opposition.
The Asian Football Confederation has ruled that teams which come first, second and third at the 2007 Asian Cup will receive automatic qualification to the 2011 tournament - removing the competitive qualifying program that would follow the 2010 World Cup.
Boultbee described the move as "alarming", and said: "It would take away a year's games.
"If you look at our Olympic program, for instance, we'd have 14 games for the Olympic team but potentially none for the senior team, which is a bit imbalanced.
"Also the teams that are top of the tree in 2007 are not necessarily at the top in 2011," he added.
http://foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20061631-23215,00.html
As a squad of A-League players trained in Melbourne yesterday ahead of next week's Asian Cup qualifier with Kuwait, it's understood Football Australia have arranged the friendly with Paraguay for the Friday before the final qualifier against Bahrain on Wednesday October 11, with Brisbane the venue.
With the squad's European-based stars likely to make themselves available for the Bahrain game, it's hoped that Socceroos fans will be able to see a full-strength side on home soil for two games in five days.
Both October 8 and 11 are full FIFA international dates, allowing the FFA to insist the players report up to five days before.
That would give whoever is in charge of the side - presumably interim coach Graham Arnold - the best part of 10 days with the squad.
The FFA is also aiming to fill the gap left by the cancelled qualifier against Lebanon in November with a friendly for the team in Europe.
Yesterday head of high performance John Boultbee said the FFA were examining the options of opposition for such a friendly.
November 15 is only a FIFA friendly date, meaning the team will only gather for two days before the game.
But ironically it was also revealed yesterday that success at next year's Asian Cup is threatening to diminish the main advantage of Australia's move into Asia, the regular competitive games against strong opposition.
The Asian Football Confederation has ruled that teams which come first, second and third at the 2007 Asian Cup will receive automatic qualification to the 2011 tournament - removing the competitive qualifying program that would follow the 2010 World Cup.
Boultbee described the move as "alarming", and said: "It would take away a year's games.
"If you look at our Olympic program, for instance, we'd have 14 games for the Olympic team but potentially none for the senior team, which is a bit imbalanced.
"Also the teams that are top of the tree in 2007 are not necessarily at the top in 2011," he added.
http://foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20061631-23215,00.html