Dream date with France awaits Socceroos at 2022 World Cup should they qualify
Australia will face a dream opening date with defending champions France should they make it to the World Cup finals in Qatar.
Friday’s draw found the Socceroos in a difficult - and eerily familiar-looking – group D alongside the 2018 world champions as well as Denmark and Tunisia. Remarkably, they also played both Denmark and France in the 2018 group stages in Russia, losing 2-1 to the eventual champions and drawing 1-1 with the Danes as they ended up being eliminated at the bottom of the group.
Speculation 'part of the job' for Socceroos coach Graham Arnold
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Of course, though, it’s far from a done deal that Australia will even make it to the big show at all. Graham Arnold’s side must first beat the United Arab Emirates in the Asian play-off in Doha on June 7 and then Peru in the inter-continental play-off a week later, just to make it to the end-of-year finals.
But if Australia, currently ranked 42nd in the world, can successfully negotiate those two one-off ‘finals’ - a big ask on the strength of their recent unconvincing form - they will be the first opponents for France on November 22 as the world’s No 3 side and two-time champions set out on their title defence.
The Socceroos would then play 35th-ranked Tunisia, traditionally one of Africa’s strongest sides, on November 26. A clash with Tunisia would be just the second time Australia has played an African nation at the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Ghana in the group stages of the 2010 tournament
The final group match on November 30 would be against 11th-ranked Denmark. That may mean another date with Christian Eriksen, who scored against Australia in 2018, should he again feature in the Danes’ squad following his remarkable comeback after nearly dying on the pitch at the European Championships.
However, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold believes playing June’s World Cup play-offs in “second home” Qatar will be an advantage for Australia.

Having been given the nod by Football Australia to lead Australia through the play-offs, ending speculation he would be sacked, Arnold remains optimistic of the Socceroos’ chances of reaching a fifth-straight World Cup finals.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Australia played home matches in their qualifiers against China and Oman in Qatar and Arnold expects that to put his team at ease in the neutral surroundings. “We’ve had that experience of being here in Qatar during the qualifiers but also playing in the air-conditioned stadiums,” Arnold said after the draw in Doha. “So we’ve got that advantage. This is like a second home for us.
“It’s all about being positive, looking forward, and the players know very well what’s at hand and what’s important is they’re working hard at their clubs, getting game time and they come into the camp fit and healthy.”


Although disappointed by defeats to Japan and Saudi Arabia in the past week which scuttled any hopes of automatic qualification, Arnold insists both matches were close and could have gone Australia’s way despite having 11 players unavailable for a variety of reasons.
“Against Japan we scored in the first half - disallowed - it should’ve been a goal,” he said. “Even against Saudi Arabia, the second game, Martin Boyle’s offside goal - when I see that back, that was a goal as well. So both those results were very close. We’re competing ... I just want a full squad (for the play-offs).”
The times and venues for World Cup fixtures will be decided later this month, as FIFA tries to allocate matches to prime broadcast slots for viewers in a team’s home country.
New Zealand, who must also first try to win a tough inter-continental play-off against Costa Rica as they seek to qualify, have been drawn in their own hellish ‘group of death’ with former winners Spain and Germany, as well as Japan.
The most competitive preliminary, in truth, looks set to be Group G which puts five-times World Cup winners Brazil against Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
Other highlights of Friday’s draw in the Qatari capital Doha, where France coach Didier Deschamps was on hand clutching the World Cup itself, include the US facing England and Iran in a highly-charged group B, which will also feature the winners of the European play-off featuring Wales, Scotland and Ukraine. It means there’s potential for the first-ever ‘battle of Britain’, as England have never played either Wales or their oldest rivals Scotland in a World Cup finals.
There will also be some delicious head-to-heads.
Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski - holders of the Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best player in the world awards, respectively - will meet in group C as Argentina play Poland. Group H will feature Luis Suarez’s reunion with Ghana for the first time since the infamous 2010 quarter-final when the Uruguayan was sent off for punching away an almost certain extra-time winner for the African side. And Cristiano Ronaldo will also open his fifth straight finals for Portugal in that group against Ghana.
The tournament will run from November 21 to December 18, the first time the trophy’s been competed for in the Middle East, with Qatar opening proceedings against Ecuador.