The popular Soccerros from Australia will be coming to Macedonia on March 30 for a friendly, the two federations confirmed on Friday.
After the initial negotiations with Russia failed, Macedonia found another opponent for the free FIFA date after the EURO 2016 qualifier against Belarus on March 27. It will be Australia, the winners of the AFC 2015 Asian Cup.
The Socceroos will travel to Skopje after they will first play a friendly against Germany on March 25. It is good that Macedonia found an attractive opponent, plus it is great that Australia will stay in Skopje instead of playing the friendly in another European country. Instead, the game will be played at the National Arena Philip II of Macedon, the same venue where Macedonia will host Belarus three days earlier.
BREAKING NEWS | Socceroos to play FYR Macedonia in Skopje on March 30! – http://t.co/agRGyxdFBk #GoSocceroos pic.twitter.com/0qb0zd3tD7
— Subway Socceroos (@Socceroos) February 27, 2015
To date, Macedonia has faced Australia only once, back in 1997 when the Socceroos also visited Skopje and celebrated a 1:0 victory thanks to a late winner by Aurelio Vidmar. You can view the match report from that game by clicking here.
Australia will come to Macedonia as the current holders of the Asian Cup. They hosted the 2015 edition this January/February and reached final where they defeated South Korea 2:1 after extra time to claim the trophy.
This friendly will be extra special for Australian-born Daniel Georgievski, now a member of the Macedonian national team. We asked him his thought on the friendly and also whether he expects to be called up. This is how he responded:
