Socceroos to be sidelined until June with Nepal clash set to be called off

Coach Graham Arnold and his players have been desperate to reassemble but the pandemic and its impact on international travel has consistently skittled plans, forcing the last-minute cancellation of a mooted friendly against England at Wembley late last year.

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Australia is two points clear on top of Group B with four wins from four games and only one goal conceded, having played one fewer match than the other four teams in the pool.

Three of their four games to come in the second round of World Cup qualifying were due to be played in Australia – but even if they had to play them on neutral territory, the Socceroos would still be heavily favoured to win all of them because of the low calibre of their opponents.

Despite the Asian Football Confederation’s recent announcement that the match against Nepal would go ahead, Football Australia is still yet to confirm it on their end, because the governing body working through the various international border and quarantine implications for players to ensure it was actually achievable.

Ultimately it was deemed too difficult for players from around the world – and particularly those based in Australia, most Asian countries and the United Kingdom – to get together.

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FIFA’s current rules dictate that clubs don’t have to release players for international duty if they have to travel to a country imposing mandatory quarantine or self-isolation for at least five days upon arrival or their return.

An official announcement on the postponement is expected to be imminent from the AFC.

Last week, the Socceroos were forced to pull out of this year’s Copa America because it would have clashed with the backlog of World Cup qualifiers that have been postponed since the pandemic.

Football Australia remains in discussions with the federal government and the other nations from Group B about the prospect of staging the rest of the second-round fixtures in Australia – but that would require a change to the current blanket rule of 14 days in hotel quarantine for all arrivals into the country to enable teams to train and play matches during that time.

It appears more likely that Football Australia will instead push for home fixtures in the third round of qualifying across the September, October and November, when they will come up against the likes of Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

By that stage of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, FA’s expectation is that the government will be more inclined to loosen quarantine requirements and enable the matches to go ahead.

The Socceroos have not lost a qualifier in Australia across the last two World Cup cycles, with home nation advantage historically pivotal to the country’s ambitions of reaching the finals.