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Socceroos vs Mexico/Switzerland - Pre-World Cup Friendlies 2026 🇦🇺🇲🇽🇨🇭

Bbouy said:
Volpato is there now. Shown walking with the team during their pre-match walk. He genuinely may play today.
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If Cristian Volpato gets at least a minute's worth of game time today either as part of the starting XI or from the bench then he's locked in to the green and gold jersey for life and will be a Socceroos player heading into our World Cup campaign and beyond.
 
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rebelliousfeminist974 said:
If Cristian Volpato gets at least a minute's worth of game time today either as part of the starting XI or from the bench then he's locked in to the green and gold jersey for life and will be a Socceroos player heading into our World Cup campaign and beyond.
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On what basis do you say that? According to the FIFA eligibility rules as I understand them, friendlies don’t cap tie players (whether they’ve changed association or not).
 
Toebash said:
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On what basis do you say that? According to the FIFA eligibility rules as I understand them, friendlies don’t cap tie players (whether they’ve changed association or not).
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Cristian Volpato jumped ship from the Italian federation to Football Australia and if we cap him in a friendly that should in theory count as unofficial competition for the purposes of locking him to an association.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
Cristian Volpato jumped ship from the Italian federation to Football Australia and if we cap him in a friendly that should in theory count as unofficial competition for the purposes of locking him to an association.
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OK I've actually looked at the wording of the FIFA eligibility rules properly. For Volpato to be able to revert back, he'd need to fulfil the following criteria:

"5. A player that was :a) granted a change of association; and b) was not fielded in a match in any (official or unofficial) competition in any kind of football by the new association, may request a change of association back to his former association provided he continues to hold the nationality of such association."​

Unfortunately, neither "unofficial competition" (or "competition") is defined in the Rules. In my professional opinion, this element is poorly drafted and it's actually unclear whether or not a friendly cap-ties a player in Volpato's circumstances.
 
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Surely we will be fine. If he gets minutes in the World Cup he is locked. Both Lynch and Garb saying it looks like he is in the squad. It makes zero sense for him to fly in for a sunny walk around Pasadena and then be cut and flying out less than 48 hours later. If Poppa did that it would confirm that he is a psychopath.
 
Toebash said:
OK I've actually looked at the wording of the FIFA eligibility rules properly. For Volpato to be able to revert back, he'd need to fulfil the following criteria:

"5. A player that was :a) granted a change of association; and b) was not fielded in a match in any (official or unofficial) competition in any kind of football by the new association, may request a change of association back to his former association provided he continues to hold the nationality of such association."​

Unfortunately, "unofficial competition" (or "competition") is defined in the Rules. In my professional opinion, this element is poorly drafted and it's actually unclear whether or not a friendly cap-ties a player in Volpato's circumstances.
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Friendlies officially sanctioned by FIFA (as the Mexico and Switzerland matches are) are unofficial competition.
 
Toebash said:
Interesting, why do you say that?
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It’s been clarified on here before by a poster who previously worked for FIFA in this area.

Also, if you look at the commentary under FIFA Article 5, it has the following comment.

20. The phrase “official competition” is defined in the FIFA Statutes as “a competition for

representative teams organised by FIFA or any confederation”.13

20.1 Friendly matches are therefore not matches in an official competition.

So if official competition is defined only as a competition organised by FIFA or a confederation, by extension it implies that all other international matches are unofficial competition.
 
Keeper66 said:
It’s been clarified on here before by a poster who previously worked for FIFA in this area.

Also, if you look at the commentary under FIFA Article 5, it has the following comment.

20. The phrase “official competition” is defined in the FIFA Statutes as “a competition for

representative teams organised by FIFA or any confederation”.13

20.1 Friendly matches are therefore not matches in an official competition.

So if official competition is defined only as a competition organised by FIFA or a confederation, by extension it implies that all other international matches are unofficial competition.
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Oh amazing, could you link me to that person's post?

On your second point, my hesitance isn't so much about whether friendlies are "official" or "unofficial" (they appear to be the latter, which makes sense), and more whether they constitute a "competition" or not.

My common sense understanding of the word "competition" is that it is more or less synonymous with "tournament" or something like that (i.e. multiple gamers between more than one team with an overall winner). It wouldn't, to my mind, describe a one-off friendly game.

The FIFA eligibility rules appear consistent with my understanding, because they distinguish "competition" from "matches" on multiple occasions (see for example at Article 5 29.4 which mentions "football trials, training camps, matches, or competitions", thereby distinguishing the two, as well Article 9.2 a and b, both i and ii which all refer to a "match in an official competition").

On that basis, it looks like a friendly match ought not be counted as an "unofficial competition", but if someone in the know has said otherwise I'd be very interested to read it!
 
Breaking the 55-Year "Curse": Mexican sports historians are frequently pointing out a bizarre stat: Mexico has not defeated Australia in a men's international match since December 1970 (a streak of 2 losses and 3 draws, including their wild 2-2 tie back in 2023). The media is calling on Aguirre to finally break the drought.
 
Toebash said:
Oh amazing, could you link me to that person's post?

On your second point, my hesitance isn't so much about whether friendlies are "official" or "unofficial" (they appear to be the latter, which makes sense), and more whether they constitute a "competition" or not.

My common sense understanding of the word "competition" is that it is more or less synonymous with "tournament" or something like that (i.e. multiple gamers between more than one team with an overall winner). It wouldn't, to my mind, describe a one-off friendly game.

The FIFA eligibility rules appear consistent with my understanding, because they distinguish "competition" from "matches" on multiple occasions (see for example at Article 5 29.4 which mentions "football trials, training camps, matches, or competitions", thereby distinguishing the two, as well Article 9.2 a and b, both i and ii which all refer to a "match in an official competition").

On that basis, it looks like a friendly match ought not be counted as an "unofficial competition", but if someone in the know has said otherwise I'd be very interested to read it!
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I'll dig around when I get a chance and try to find it.

I understand your dilemma regarding "unofficial competition", and I agree that FIFA do not appear to do a very transparent job at wording their rules.
 
Looks like what poppa sees as a full strength xi apart from volpato

Talking points:

- oniell partners irvine emphasising controll over the defensive starch of devlin or the go forward of okon
- irankunda is a super sub
- herrington starts over burgess despite arriving at camp late
 
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