Another FIFA conspiracy (Oman V Socceroos Preview)

November 12th, 2009 | by: Kieran | Comments(2)

You really have to feel sorry for Oman. Due to the set-up of the Asian Cup qualifiers, Australia’s full strength team only plays in two of the six qualifiers (because these are the only two FIFA sanctioned dates for the qualifiers), and poor old Oman has to play our A team twice. Poor bunch.

Anyway, disregarding the possibility of a FIFA conspiracy, Australia lie at the top of the group, despite our previous game being a ‘do or die’ clash. The group currently sees Australia and Oman sitting in equal first on four points, with the Socceroos ahead on goal di…well, because we’re better (all four teams have a massive goal difference of 0), while Kuwait and Indonesia sit behind on three and two points respectively. While a loss wouldn’t put Australia completely out of the running, it would add difficulty for the A League Socceroos in the next two rounds, so a win is still vital. The game kicks off on Saturday at 6pm local, which according to the FFA is : 1am AEDT, 12:30 ACDT, 12:00 AEST, 10pm AWST.

The squad appears thus:

Mark Bresciano, Alex Brosque, Tim Cahill, David Carney, Scott Chipperfield, Jason Culina, Bruce Djite, Brett Emerton, Adam Federici, Brett Holman, Mile Jedinak, Brad Jones, Harry Kewell, Patrick Kisnorbo, Shane Lowry, Mark Milligan, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Mark Schwarzer, Mile Sterjovski, Carl Valeri, Dario Vidosic, Luke Wilkshire, Rhys Williams

The call up of Alex Brosque adds insult to injury for Scott McDonald, who will feel hard done by that his weekend brace hasn’t seen him recalled. Aston Villa defender Shane Lowry, who is currently on loan at Plymouth Argyle, has also been added to the squad. Hopefully Verbeek will cap Lowry so he will be tied down to Australia.

The dropping of Macca aside, the most interesting call up has to be that of Bruce Djite, the 22 year old striker who has been struggling for minutes in Turkey.

Once again, the dropping of McDonald aside, this is a full strength Australian squad which should see off Oman. While the conditions may be tough, I full expect Australia to take the game. 2-0 Australia