Our four internationally picked Sky Blues have been making waves overseas. The U-23 WAFF Championship is underway seeing three of our Olyroos playing in Saudi Arabia, while Robert Mak found his minutes off the bench in Slovakia’s friendly against Austria, plus there has been a new call-up to the Socceroos to verse Lebanon.
Mak started on the bench for Slovakia’s first game of the international break against Austria. Slovakia conceded in the first minute of the game through an unbelievable individual effort straight from kick-off by RB Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner. Bristol City’s Andreas Weimann made it 2-0 to Austria in the 82nd minute.
Robbie came off the bench in the 83rd minute to play out the rest of the game, but the side could not find a reply to Austria’s first-half dominance. Robbie will try to make a response in their next game against Norway on the 27th in Oslo.
The Olyroos have played their first two games at the WAFF Championship in Saudi Arabia with Jordan Courntney-Perkins, Jake Girdwood-Reich, and Corey Hollman starting on the bench in the first game against Iraq.
Winning their first game against Iraq meant the Olyroos would verse Egypt in the semi-finals and all three Sky Blue recruits were picked in the starting lineup to take on Egypt in a tough-fought game that finished 1-1 after 90 minutes leading to a penalty shootout.
Courtney-Perkins was given the captain’s armband in the second half and took responsibility for the first penalty kick only to see it saved with a great leap by the Egyptian keeper.
Jake Girdwood-Reich tucked his kick away with power before two more saves from the Australian keeper saw the shootout finish 2-1 to the Olyroos. The side will now verse Korea Republic in the final at Al Fateh Stadium on Wednesday 27th of March at 7 am AEDT.
Joel King has also been called up to the Socceroos squad for their World Cup Qualifier game against Lebanon on the 26th of March in Canberra. This is the second game the ‘Roos play against Lebanon after beating them 2-0 in a dominant display in Sydney.
You can watch the Socceroos live on Paramount Plus, 10 Play, and 10 Bold at 7.45 pm on the 26th of March.
