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
Crank Yanker
Guest
Haha, how can soccer be taken seriously in this country when the socceroos are a grade A joke. Mainstream sport? A bunch of parkos.
Football4Eva
Guest
Biggest disgrace? Biggest exaggeration if you think that. I can think of plenty of other disgraceful incidents in other sports for Australia. Underarm bowling anyone? Do you really support our game or just here having a go?
Football4Eva
Guest
His brief was also to bring in and educate young players. He's failed big time on that. Half the team is too old and too slow. It really showed against France. We barely strung 3 passes together and were very very slow. We need a change and hope Ange gets the nod.
RoCK
Guest
At the heart of all this it was a friendly. FFA & some fans _ What did they expect to happen? For example, Who would you rather have in your team Robbioe Kruse or Frank Ribbery? This is not a great team - you cannot create a silk purse out of a sowers ear. A lot of Australians appear to be carried away with the hype & not looked at the substance of the Australian team. I'm proud of the Australian Team, even if they lost 6- nil (in a friendly). Thanks Holger _ Thanks to all the players who got the team to Brazil. With regards to older players - We still need older players so if they are good enough - pick them. Mark Bresciano & Luke Wilkshire for example are still two of our best. Basically I think it's too easy to blame the coach. Maybe it is time Frank Lowy also resigned. (I think Frank has done great things for Australian football.) Who is being groomed to take over from Frank? Georgr Negus? Craig Johnston?
SVB
Guest
Maybe one should write an article about it.
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Is this this the biggest disgrace in Australian sport?,perhaps but then again the Socceroos tend to do things "big" and has provided this country with the biggest sporting moments in our history.i suppose that's football all over though,there is no middle ground its either extreme elation or devastating lows,if anyone can't embrace that they are best to leave it alone.
fatboi
Roar Rookie
I could've gotten the Socceroos through Asian Qualification. How hard must it be to be just a little bit better than Jordan, Oman, Saudi, Iraq, Qatar, Thailand, etc Pim's and Holger's "acheivements" of qualifying for the World Cup through Asia is overhyped.
Qantas Supports Australian Football
Guest
Our star player plays in the Celtic reserve team... But let that not get in the way of blaming the manager.
Australian Rules
Guest
Disaster? He got an average Australian team through Asian qualification...that was his brief.
AZ_RBB
Guest
bit of humour amongst all the doom and gloom Richard Hinds "France 6-0. #Socceroos need to lift in the second set." hahah
Legro
Guest
Yep it's official! http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/socceroos-coach-holger-osieck-sacked-after-run-of-poor-results-20131012-2veor.html Thank God, for that.
jamesb
Guest
I'll pay that LOL
realfootball
Guest
Lord, I hope so. Surely he cannot possibly continue after this.
realfootball
Guest
Osieck, as I have been saying for 2 years, is completely and utterly out of his depth. He has been a disaster. Fussball, your thoughts now?
eric1
Guest
The players have to shoulder some blame but Holger deserves a large part of the blame;an out of position Holland on his own against Ribery;Carney getting any sort of game time,Luke Wilkshire getting continuously picked over much better players,his reluctance to regenerate this team, and so on..I can't be bothered going on.
Legro
Guest
Woohoo! Holger has been sacked!! Hallelujah! our prayers has been answered!
Australian Rules
Guest
Awoke to see 6-0 after 51 minutes...ouch. We have an average coach, and an average group of players. The one thing we can improve before Brazil is our effort - we looked lazy and insipid - just not good enough.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
hopefully it's not best of 5
jamesb
Guest
According to Tom Smithies,, Holger has been sacked https://twitter.com/SmithiesTele
AZ_RBB
Guest
news creeping through that Gallop has told the team that Holger has been sacked.