Australia plays at home for the first time in more than two years against Saudi Arabia

The Australian national team will play at home for the first time in 763 days, after the local Football Association confirmed today that its next match against Saudi Arabia will be held in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Sydney in the middle of next month.

Australia played its last home match against Nepal in the capital, Canberra, in October 2019, before being forced to play abroad after Australia closed its borders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sokeros played 11 of the 12 matches in the World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, the host of the global event, after nearly 13 months, but this did not affect its levels.

He won eleven games in a row to set a record in a single World Cup qualifier, before Japan ended the series this month with a 2-1 victory at home in Saitama.

Head coach Graham Arnold said: “I think playing in front of our fans in a beautiful stadium and on good ground will help us a lot. The fans can provide energy to the teams and players, and after we have been away from Australia for a long time, I expect our players to benefit from the support they will have at Western Sydney + Stadium+ on November 11.

The Al-Ittihad website stated that it would allow a mass attendance of 75%, equivalent to about 22,500 fans.

Japan's victory brought the samurai team back to the competition strongly for one of the two direct cards to the finals for the leader and runner-up.

Saudi Arabia is at the top of Group B with four victories from four matches with 12 points, while Australia ranks second (9) in front of Oman and Japan (6 each), six stages before the end.

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