Australia to play Lebanon for first time

Australia has lined up a friendly against Lebanon in Beirut in the first senior international ever between the two nations, officials said on Friday. The Socceroos will face the Lebanese on September 6 to fine-tune their squad ahead of a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Jordan in Amman five days later. "This match against Lebanon will be an ideal opportunity for us to face quality opposition who play a similar style of football to our next opponents in the World Cup Asian qualifiers," said head coach Holger Osieck. Australia are currently third in Group B in final Asian World Cup qualifying with two points from two games, the same as Iraq. Japan are top on seven points from three matches.