Destiny 06 – 23 Days To Go
We continue the countdown to the World Cup (South American) play-off kick-off of the 1st Leg being played in Montevideo (Saturday 12 November), bringing you up-to-date with all the headline news from around the country surrounding the crucial play-off matches.
SUPPORT THE Socceroos
Australian sports fans can show their support for the Socceroos for the upcoming matches against Uruguay, by logging onto a new interactive fans site - http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/destiny06/
Some of the features of the site include: a message board, send a photo (by mobile only) and be part of a mosaic plus information on Australia and Uruguay. There will features added as we get closer to the big games.
Socceroos WATCH
UEFA Cup overnight saw a couple of the Socceroos in action.
Middlesbrough pair of Mark Schwarzer and Mark Viduka both started in the 1-0 away win over Grasshoppers. Schwarzer played a full game, while Viduka played 85 minutes.
Scott Chipperfield played a full game, as FC Basel lost 2-0 at home against Strasbourg.
On Wednesday night, striker John Aloisi started for Alaves in the 1-0 loss away at Eibar in the Spanish Cup and was replaced in the 70th minute.
WHAT-S MAKING THE NEWS
LATEST FIFA WORLD RANKINGS
The task facing Australia next month can be put into perspective by the latest FIFA World Rankings that were released following the last lot of international matches.
Uruguay has jumped eight places in the rankings to number 17 in the world, while despite a big 5-0 win over Jamaica (ranked 40), we only picked up one point and in the process dropped four spots to number 54.
The main reason for Australia-s drop was the number of teams that picked up points for World Cup qualifying matches, which have a much higher rating than friendly matches.
REQUEST DENIED
The FFA has denied a request from the Uruguayan Football Association to bring the first leg in Montevideo ahead a day.
A statement released last night by the FFA said that all planning around the matches has been based on those two dates and is not in a position to alter those arrangements.
It means that the first leg will remain on Saturday 12th November with the return leg just four days later in Sydney on Wednesday 16th November.