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Socceroos vs Wales live scores, blog

10th August, 2011
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Roar Guru
10th August, 2011
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Wales vs Australia

The Socceroos take on Wales in an international friendly early Thursday morning, and while the FIFA rankings are a mismatch with Australia some 89 spots above the Welsh team, Wales are a team full of talent, likely to field English Premier League stars Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale and Craig Bellamy.

The match between the sides is the first international between the sides

Wales snapped a five game losing streak with a win over Northern Ireland, while the Socceroos have beaten Germany and New Zealand, with a draw with Serbia in their last three games.

Wales lost four games in Euro 2012 to be all but eliminated from qualifying, with sights now on the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

A younger side had been selected by manager Gary Speed, who will be desperate to triumph in front of a home crowd at Wembley.

Socceroos coach Holger Osieck has also named a relatively inexperienced line-up, with just Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Luke Wilkshire and Mark Schwarzer considered old hands, with Brett Holman unfit, and Harry Kewell missing out due to fitness concerns.

Neill is expected to have his hands full with Ramsey, Bale and Bellamy, and will partner an unfamiliar back-line, likely to include Matthew Spiranovic and Michael Zullo at left-back.

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Scott McDonald will get a chance to break his 24 game run without scoring, while Tim Cahill returns after missing the June friendlies against New Zealand and Serbia.

Kick-off: 7:45pm local time (4.45am AEST)

Teams: Wales (4-5-1): Hennessey; Gunter, D. Collins, Gabbidon, N. Taylor; Bellamy, Ramsey, D. Vaughan, Collison, Bale; Earnshaw.

Socceroos (4-4-1-1): Schwarzer; Wilkshire, Spiranovic, Neill, Zullo; Emerton, Jedinak, Valeri, McKay; Cahill; McDonald.

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