Greece have announced a friendly with Australia in June and coach Michael Skibbe has praised the opposition’s impressive record when it comes to doing well at major tournaments like the World Cup.
Australia have qualified for the last three World Cups and this remains a major achievement for a nation where football is not yet hugely popular. Greece have been successful in major tournaments in the past but not of late. They did qualify for the World Cup 2014 and surprised a few by reaching the last 16. However, they have not been able to sustain their performances since the tournament.
Failure to qualify for the Euro 2016 resulted in the appointment of Skibbe as the new coach, who left his role to become a manager for Manchester entertainment offers.
Greece will be making a long trip in order to be part of the match, but the manager reckons that it will be a trip worthwhile. The objective of such friendly matches will be to do well in the upcoming World Cup 2018 qualification campaign. After having missed out on the Euro 2016, this remains a major objective for Greece.Skibbe has also reminded his players that they need to come up with a good performance since they do not have the advantage of playing in a competitive tournament like the Euro 2016.
“It is far, far away from Europe to go to Australia but on the other hand they have a really good team.They play very good, nearly every time they are going to the World Cups and doing well. We are looking forward to see them again maybe in Russia in 2018.They have a lot of players playing in Europe so I think this will be very tough for us.For us it is very important because we aren’t playing in the European Championships so we have to look at our performance,” saidSkibbe.