Socceroos fans say alarm clock will get them on the ball

The month-long sporting extravaganza is one of the biggest events on the planet, outside the Olympic Games, as both only come around every four years.

Australia’s campaign with a new-look side under coach Ange Postecoglou begins Saturday morning with the match against Chile being televised live on SBS from 8am.

But, after that local supporters will need to keep their alarm clocks handy.

The Socceroos’ second match is against the Netherlands on Thursday, June 19 from 2am.

Their final group fixture is on Tuesday, June 24, again being beamed live on SES from 2am.

With the opening ceremony being televised from 4am on Friday, local self-admitted soccer tragic Mark Rooke can’t wait for the action to start.

“The experts don’t like our chances, but we have to be optimistic,” he said.

“Going on what we’ve seen so far from the Socceroos, even though they lost 1-0 to Croatia in their most recent warm up match, I don’t think we played that badly.

“We really haven’t seen what sort of a style game we are going to play yet and the guys have been playing in unfamiliar positions.

“I believe we’ve got a lot more to show the world and hopefully we can get something out of the match against Chile. Maybe a draw or even snatch an upset win.”

Mr Rooke admitted Australia will find the Dutch and reigning World Cup champions Spain very difficult.

“You just can’t get the ball off Spain when they’re in possession,” he said. “It’s incredible how many passes they can string together. The stats show they generally double the number of passes over any team they play against. This means we have to be patient when we get the ball and hold onto it.”

As for Australia putting the ball in the back of the net, Mr Rooke said the experience of our all time leading goal scorer Tim Cahill would be invaluable.

“There’s a couple of younger boys there and Mark Bresciano is always good in the attacking areas,” he said.