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Australia´s football match against Argentina postponed
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's clash with Argentina has been postponed so the South American giants can field a full-strength team in Melbourne, Football Federation Australia (FFA) said Friday.
The Socceroos were scheduled to play two-time world champions Argentina on June 6 but FFA said it had agreed to delay the match until later in the year after being told the visitors would be unable to bring their top players.
FFA said Argentina requested the delay because of commitments in Europe. Officials agreed because they wanted fans at the 95,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground to see the strongest possible line-up.
"We agreed it would be in the best interests of both teams and Australian football supporters to postpone the match to later this year and we expect to confirm the new match date within the next week or so," FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said.
He said the delay was caused by Argentina making commitments to play in Europe after they had already agreed to the match Down Under.
"We share our fans' disappointment about rescheduling the match, but we hope that they will accept that a postponement was necessary so that we will see a full-strength Argentina," he said.
The Socceroos have two matches, against Uruguay on June 2, and against Singapore on June 30, before they play their Asian Cup group opener against Oman in Bangkok on July 8.
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