Socceroos to take on Singapore... again

We're coming to get you Pohui!

From The World Game

National coach Pim Verbeek has announced a five-day camp in Singapore and a game against the island state on March 22.

The vital China match will be four days later.

"We want to play as many matches as we can against teams from Asia and, with Singapore also in the process of attempting to qualify for the World Cup, it is a perfect opponent for us," said Verbeek.

Due to club matches being played on the same weekend in Europe as the Singapore match it is likely the squad will be made up of mostly A-League players, giving them another important chance to earn a place in the squad to travel to Kunming to play China.

"This match will give valuable experience to A-League players and will be another important part of our program to keep them fit during the off season," said Verbeek.

"Once the match is over I will then decide who will make the final squad for the trip to China."

Verbeek also revealed that he took a lot of information away from a recent trip to China where he saw their national team in action.

"China played in a strong tournament so it was valuable for me to be able to see them play."

"They have stayed in camp and have already moved to Kunming to continue their preparations so the match against Singapore is vital for us."

Selected players from Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory who will be involved in Asian Champions League matches will join the camp once they complete their club matches on March 19.

The squad for these matches will be announced next week.

I'm not sure what the point of this is myself, using mostly A-League players who by Pim's own admission are better off playing reserves football in England, and not forgetting that most of them are now in their off-season (which goes for what, about 6-7 months or something), but it'd be interesting to see how some of them go regardless. Oh wait, it's not on free to air. I guess I'll have to imagine it then.