Hello friends and welcome to live coverage of this final World Cup warm-up friendly between Australia and Switzerland. Kick-off at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego is noon Saturday local time, which is 5am Sunday AEST.
Today's match is the final opportunity for both nations to nail down their starting sides and tweak any last-minute tactics ahead of their World Cup openers next week. The Socceroos will face a fancied Turkey in their first Group D clash, while Switzerland take on previous hosts Qatar in Group B.
Over the past week, each nation has locked in the 26 players that they hope can go as far as possible in this 48-team behemoth of a tournament. There is a particular buzz around Australia's final-hour inclusion of former Italy youth international Cristian Volpato and towering young striker Tete Yengi, neither of whom appeared in Australia's 1-0 loss to Mexico last weekend, but who we hopefully get a glimpse of today.
As for Switzerland, they come into this friendly off the back of a comfortable 4-1 win over Jordan and with the wind in their sails after a surprisingly deep run in the 2024 Euros. Anchored by captain Granit Xhaka, for whom this will probably be the last World Cup, there are some bright stars emerging, in particular Dan Ndoye and Johan Manzambi.
There are a few cool pre-game yarns worth reading, which I will bring you shortly. In the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on today's game, the squads, any players you are excited to see, and the tournament in general. Flick them through via email.
