Football
Associated Press 8y

Australia vs. Greece friendly scheduled for June in Sydney

SYDNEY -- Asian Cup champions Australia will play 2004 European champions Greece in an international friendly at Sydney's Olympic stadium on June 4, the first meeting between the two countries since the Socceroos' 1-0 victory in front of 95,000 fans in Melbourne in 2006.

Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, who was born in Greece and moved to Australia as a child, said on Tuesday that the match in Sydney and another, likely in Melbourne on June 7, would be an important warm-up for the next round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.

"Since the Asian Cup we've had a real emphasis on building a team through pitching ourselves against the best Asian opposition, knowing Asia was on the rise and obviously with the World Cup qualifiers following that," Postecoglou said.

"There was a window in this period where we could play opposition outside our region.

"It's important for this group of players ... and when Greece became an option, I thought it was an opportunity for us."

FFA chief executive David Gallop hopes to be able to announce the second game shortly, with the governing body still understood to be negotiating with the Victorian Government.

"It's obviously something that needs a few parties to come together and make sure it's commercially the right deal," Gallop said.

"I've always said we want to move the Socceroos around the country, and we've got a track record now of having done that.

"But unashamedly we're looking for a deal that gives us a commercial return.

"It's a watch this space at the moment."

Postecoglou's squad currently top their World Cup qualifying group with five wins and a loss, with only two first-phase home matches left in March -- against Tajikistan and Jordan.

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