Socceroos World Cup send-off game in doubt as new coach says he’d prefer training session
NEW coach Bert van Marwijk’s preference for an intensive training camp and a scarcity of lucrative opposition has cast doubt on Australia’s traditional World Cup send-off game.
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THE prospect of Australia playing a World Cup send-off game in Australia remains in the balance, with new coach Bert van Marwijk making clear his preference for an intensive training camp and lucrative opposition proving hard to pin down.
Though talks with several countries continue, including the Chile team that failed to qualify for the World Cup, FFA are laying alternative plans that would see the Socceroos squad assemble in Europe for a pre-tournament camp ahead of moving to Russia in advance of the opening game.
It would be the first time that the side has not had a farewell game, after facing Greece in 2006, New Zealand in 2010 and South Africa four years ago.
Van Marwijk will run the rule over his squad at friendlies with Norway and Colombia in Europe next month, but by the time of a send-off game would have picked his preliminary squad for Russia.
“Training is very important,” van Marwijk said. “I like to train because you have the chance to improve the team and the players.
“When it is my decision, I would not play a lot of friendly games. I’d train more.”
FFA CEO David Gallop said he would consult further with van Marwijk, as well as consider what commercial returns such a game would provide.
“Obviously it’d be wonderful to have a big farewell game back on home soil but we’d need to have the commercial return for it to make sense,” he said.
“We’d need quality opposition that’s good for the preparation for Russia. We’ve had some reasonably preliminary discussions with Bert about that.
“We do have some options for a farewell game in Australia but we’re in no way locked into anything. We will work through that over the next few weeks.”
The WA Government among others has made clear it would be interested in hosting the game at the new Perth Stadium, while Melbourne and Sydney have also been mentioned as potential venues.
“We don’t have those things in place at this point,” said Gallop. “It’s a long way to bring the team, who mostly are already in Europe, back.
“There’s a range of factors that need to be worked through before we can confirm whether we’ll have a home farewell game or not.”