June will provide Ange Postecoglou’s Socceroos with plenty of opportunities for the team to measure itself against the world’s best.
Not only will the Socceroos take on Germany, Cameroon and Chile in the Confederations Cup in Russia, but it was announced on Thursday that just six days before the Germany game on 19 June in Russia, the Socceroos will host five-time World Champion Brazil in a friendly at the MCG in Melbourne.
The 13 June Socceroos -Brazil game follows just four days after the Super Classico MCG match-up between Argentina and Brazil at the ‘G, on 9 June, and Australia’s World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia in Adelaide on 8 June.
At Thursday morning’s conference announcing the fixture, the Victorian Minister for tourism and Major events, and Minister for Sports, John Eren responded to concerns that the touring Brazilian and Argentinian teams may not be at full strength and may be missing some of their major drawcards after a hectic European season.
“We’ve made sure that, where possible of course … they are most likely to be here and that’s exactly what we wanted in the contract to make sure those calibre of players attend this very important event.
“This is nations playing against nations, there’s a lot of pride at stake here. No one wants to lose those games.
“It may be called a friendly but we know the rivalry that exists between Argentina and Brazil and both teams want the best teams they can bring because this is going to be telecast to the whole world.”
The minister expressed some satisfaction at the news of Barcelona’s recent heavy loss to PSG in the round of 16 UEFA Champions league, making the final scheduled for 3 June almost beyond reach for the Catalan giants.
This makes the appearance of Barcelona’s Brazilian and Argentine superstars, Neymar, Messi and Mascherano, a greater possibility for their national teams for the matches down under.
“When I heard that news I was very happy,” Eren said with a smile on Thursday.
“Not that I don’t like Barcelona, but the fact that they lost 4-0 means that those players may be free.
“What’s bad news for some is good news for others so I got very excited about that, I must say.”
While the MCG’s seating capacity lends itself to international games of this magnitude, which are expected to draw bumper crowds, it will be interesting to see what the state of the MCG surface will be like and whether an AFL pitch will be up to the high standards demanded by Socceroos boss Postecoglou, and expected by stellar talents such as Messi, Aguerro, Mascherano, Neymar and Coutinho.
Tickets for the Brazil-Socceroos match are due to go on sale on 3 March, while tickets for the Brazil-Argentina game are reportedly selling out fast.
