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Rarely has an international friendly — scheduled over six months away from the World Cup — meant so much to Australian football. Join us from 6.00am AEST as the Socceroos meet France at les Parc des Princes.
After the embarrassing 6-0 defeat they suffered against Brazil in September, the Socceroos will be desperate to prove that they are indeed capable of mixing it with the best in the world, and will be more than just also-rans in Brazil next year.
They’ll be looking to re-establish their attacking tenacity that was simply shut down by Brazil, and will relish the opportunity to take on a star-studded French team at the Parc des Princes on Saturday morning.
The pressure is certainly on Socceroos’ coach Holger Osieck here, who could very well have managed his last fixture in charge of the team should they endure another humiliating defeat here.
Australia were comprehensively shut down by Brazil last month—struggling to offer tenacity in attack or defence — and it’s raised big questions about the Socceroos’ ability ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
You’d have to think that they will bounce back to some extent here, and given how poorly they played against the Selecao that shouldn’t be that hard.
However, at the same time, don’t expect a thrilling victory for the green and gold.
France are a very strong football team packed with up-and-coming talent, and Didier Deschamps will be keen to experiment with his squad here in order to evaluate what his best starting team will be in Brazil next year.
Les Blues have a number of international stars likely to take the field for them in this one, with the likes of Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Paul Pogba (Juventus) and Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) all probable starters.
Their squad — although somewhat unimaginative from Deschamps — is filled with European stars and stands in stark contrast to that of the Socceroos, who will be without some of their biggest players for this fixture.
Brett Holman (quadriceps) and Tom Rogic (groin) have both been ruled out of this fixture, while Mark Schwarzer has been left out of the squad all together.
For even the most optimistic Socceroos fan, it’s hard to see them getting any sort of a result in this one — away from home to a very strong France team.
It might not be as clinical as the Brazil defeat was (in terms of the chances afforded to Australia), but Les Blues have more than enough talent to find the back of the net on multiple opportunities, and could rack up a similar scoreline in the end.
End of the road for Osieck? You’d think so.
Prediction: France 7-0 Australia 0
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