Having emerged victorious five days earlier in Parramatta, the Subway Socceroos travel south on the Federal Highway for the 'return leg' against Lebanon in Australia's capital city of Canberra.
Now five points clear of second place Palestine in Group I, the Subway Socceroos can edge ever closer to the third round of AFC qualifiers with a fourth win in four matches on Tuesday night.
Last time out, Graham Arnold's men traversed a tricky encounter in front of a boisterous crowd at Parramatta. An early long-range strike for home-town hero Keanu Baccus opened the scoring, before a maiden Kye Rowles goal from a set-piece doubled the lead, with a 2-0 scoreline the end result.
There have been a few adjustments to the squad that started camp almost a week ago, with both Riley McGree and Jordan Bos succumbing to injury during the first game.
Lebanon team news
Hussein Sharafeddine makes his debut in defence, one of two changes from the match in Sydney. Nader Matar also comes into the team, with Hasan Srour and Maher Sabra dropping out.
Lebanon (possible 5-4-1) M Matar; Nassar, Khamis, Sharafeddine, Shour, Shibriko; Maatouk, Sisi, N Matar, Jradi; Bugiel.
Substitutes: Khalil, Sabeh, Dhaini, Moghrabi, Haidar, Srour, Khoury, Bitar, Al Haj, Lajud, Farah, Darwiche.
Tonight’s match in Canberra is a sellout according to Football Australia. We won’t know the exact figure until the second half but the ground record for a football match is 24,800 which was for a double-header during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Socceroos team news
As expected, Graham Arnold has made a number of changes, some enforced. Craig Goodwin, Mitch Duke, Gethin Jones and Ajdin Hrustic replace Riley McGree (and Jordy Bos), Adam Taggart, Nathaniel Atkinson and Keanu Baccus.
Patrick Yazbek, who is of Lebanese descent, is on the bench.
That meeting in Sydney was, as Jack Snape wrote, a world away from the horrific situation in the Middle East.In the third row, Yessar Daou had come to the match with his family and girlfriend, and taken in a meal at a Parramatta Lebanese restaurant on his way to the ground. “We’re always celebrating big when it’s a wedding or anything like that, but we rarely do when it comes to sport,” he said. “The result actually doesn’t matter.”
This was an evening to acknowledge the world game in one of the country’s multicultural hubs. Almost a quarter of a million Australians have Lebanese heritage, and many live in Sydney’s west.
