The Subway Socceroos will return to Melbourne on 14 November to take on Saudi Arabia and the excitement is already building, including for Victoria-based Daniel Arzani (#596).
The Melbourne Victory star, who was in attendance at yesterday’s announcement event, is incredibly excited about playing at the iconic Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
“I would say it's one of my favourite stadiums in the world, I love how close the fans are to the pitch, it's an incredible atmosphere,” Arzani told us.
“Having a home crowd here against a big team like Saudi Arabia and a really important game, a must-win game as well. I think it's going to be incredible, I'm so excited for it.”
The Subway Socceroo, with seven caps to his name, knows the Melbourne faithful will be out in force for the game and encouraged fans to secure their tickets early.
“I think get your tickets early, it's a must win game, it's very important, the atmosphere is going to be incredible, and I think tickets might sell out early, hopefully,” he said.
“We are so excited to play here, playing in such an important game as well, in front of hopefully a lot of friends and a lot of family, I'm so excited.”
On the game itself, Arzani knows that Saudi Arabia will provide a tough test for the team, but he is hoping that home ground advantage, mixed with the Socceroos’ trademark determination, will help secure the all-important three points.
“I think it's going to be a really tough game – historically they're a very, very difficult opponent to play against,” he continued.
“They're going to be away from home, we're going to have home ground advantage, which hopefully will help us out a bit.
“But look, it's going to be a tough game, they're going to want to win just as much as we're going to want to, so it will be a good contest.”
Looking ahead, the Victory man reiterated head coach Graham Arnold’s sentiment that automatic qualification is the primary objective.
“Now it’s 48 teams going, there's obviously that second chance as well, but like Arnie [Graham Arnold] touched on earlier, we really want to get automatic qualification,” he stated.
After featuring for Australia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, Arzani is eager to represent his nation at what is set to be the biggest FIFA World Cup™ in the tournament’s history in 2026.
“It's the biggest stage in the world, and only happens once every four years, so I think it's paramount [to qualify], I think it's a great platform for players to show themselves and to test themselves against the best players in the world.”
To find out all the latest information on fixtures, results and Third Round Qualification updates please click here.
Match Details
Subway Socceroos v Saudi Arabia
Thursday, 14 November 2024
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne
Kick-off: TBC
Tickets: Start from $20 Child, $25 Concession, $35 Adult, and $65 Family. Tickets from Ticketek.
Football Account Pre-Sale: 10.00am AEST on Thursday, 22 August 2024.
General Public On-Sale: 2.00pm AEST Monday, 26 August 2024.