Australia friendly with Scotland confirmed

Australia will travel to take on Scotland in an international friendly on August 15, it was confirmed on Monday.

The teams will use the fixture at Easter Road in Edinburgh as part of their preparations for 2014 World Cup qualifying matches, with Craig Levein’s Scotland side to face Serbia on September 8.

It will be the fifth meeting between the two teams and first since November 2000, when Australia recorded a 2-0 win at Hampden Park thanks to goals from Brett Emerton and David Zdrilic.

Australia coach Holger Osieck said the outing would be similar preparation to when his side edged Wales 2-1 in Cardiff in August last year.

“This match is a very good opportunity for us to start a new season with a similar match to last year’s one against Wales,” Osieck said.

“We will be using the match to assess the quality of our players and get a good start going into the next phase of the qualifiers come September.”

“Scotland is always a tough team to play against, especially at home.”

Australia have advanced to the fourth round of AFC 2014 World Cup qualifying, topping a group which featured Saudi Arabia, Oman and Thailand.

Scotland coach Levein said he expected Australia to be challenging opponents at the home of Scottish Premier League outfit Hibernian.

“I’m delighted to confirm this match against Australia, and complete our preparations for the World Cup qualifiers in September,” he said.

“Just last year Australia defeated our World Cup qualifying opponents, Wales, in Cardiff, and have been in good form in their own qualifiers, so I have no doubt that they will provide us with a tough test.”