Qantas Socceroos defender Matthew Spiranovic has underlined the importance of Saturday’s friendly clash against Denmark in building towards June’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Qantas Socceroos defender Matthew Spiranovic has underlined the importance of Saturday-s friendly clash against Denmark in building towards June-s FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Spiranovic joined his teammates in Copenhagen from Japan, where the 23-year-old plays his club football with Urawa Reds.
While Spiranovic-s J.League game time has been intermittent, he has been a mainstay in green and gold of late, starting five of Australia-s six FIFA World Cup qualifiers so far this campaign.
Ahead of Saturday-s showdown at the Parken Stadium, Spiranovic is just one of Holger Osieck-s 26-man squad eager to impress before the serious business recommences in Oman on 8 June.
“I think it-ll be a tough game considering the Danish squad are in a similar situation with the Euro-s coming up,” said Spiranovic.
“It-s a huge game for us, we really want to put in a good performance leading up to Oman, it-s important for our preparation.
“It-s very important, everyone is pushing each other and that makes for a good team.
“The game against Denmark it will also be the case with players competing for spots and players trying to impress the coach."
Drawing on Australia-s march to the AFC Asian Cup final last year, Spiranovic highlighted the importance of the Qantas Socceroos beginning their Group B campaign on a winning note.
“We saw at the Asian Cup, the first game kind of set us up for the rest of the tournament,” said Spiranovic.
“We-ll be looking for three points and it might not be pretty there in Oman but it-s important we get off to a good start.”
“I think, having played Oman already, we-ll be better prepared.
“The conditions, they-ll be a test, but a lot of the boys have experienced the warm conditions in Asia.
“We-re looking forward to the game, we definitely want a good result, three points to hopefully start off the group but we-ll take it one step at a time and Japan will be waiting in Australia and that-ll be a tough game.”
The Qantas Socceroos face Denmark in an international friendly at Copenhagen-s Parken Stadium on Saturday, 2 June. Kick off is at 5pm. (Sunday, 3 June AEST, Kick off is at 1am AEST).
The Qantas Socceroos begin their final phase of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a clash against Oman in Muscat on Friday, 8 June.
Soon after, the Qantas Socceroos will host Japan in their first home fixture of the fourth stage of Asia-s FIFA World Cup qualification process on Tuesday, 12 June at Brisbane-s Suncorp Stadium. Kick off is at 8pm.