Mooy now has the World best in his sights

TOWN star Aaron Mooy has a meeting with World champions Germany on his agenda.

The 26-year-old midfielder, on loan from Manchester City, will line up against them for Australia in the Confederations Cup.

Australia have been drawn in Group B for the tournament in Russia next year, facing Germany, Chile and the winners of the Africa Cup of Nations (to be decided in February).

All the matches take place during the English closed season, with Australia playing Germany in the opening match in Sochi on June 19, the African champions (to be crowned on February 5) in ST Petersburg on Sunday 22 and Chile in Moscow on June 25.

In Group A are the hosts, Russia, plus New Zealand, Portugal and Mexico.

Mooy, of course, has been picked out as one of the key players in the Socceroos’ bid to make the World Cup finals.

And head coach Ange Postecoglou described the Confederations Cup draw as an ideal opportunity for the Socceroos to test themselves on the world stage.

“We are excited now we know who we have to play and we will start preparing immediately,” Postecoglou said.

“We’ve earned the right to play in the Confederations Cup by winning the Asian Cup and as Champions of Asia we now look forward to testing ourselves against some of the best nations in world football.

“Germany and Chile will be tough opponents and we know the winner of the African Cup of Nations will be a quality side, but we will go into the games well prepared and ready to show everyone what we are capable of.

“Australian football is growing rapidly and our growth as a football nation will only continue if we have the opportunity to play to test ourselves against the very best and we certainly have that with the Confederations Cup.” ■■Owen Coyle says anyone judging Town’s next opponents Blackburn Rovers on their league position is in for a shock.

The Lancashire side are fifthbottom, but their boss says their form is more like that of a top-six team.

That’s where Town are in the standings ahead of Saturday’s clash, when Rovers will be seeking a third straight win.

After beating Brentford at Ewood Park, Coyle’s side won at leaders Newcastle United last Saturday.

It was a fifth victory in 11 and the manager said: “There is a lot of perception in football and people see the table and think Blackburn are a poor team.

“Nothing could be further from the truth.

“We took two points from our first seven games and there was a lot going on at the club.

“From there after, I think that is now 17 points from 11 games and that is close to play-off form.

“At Newcastle, we stuck to the gameplan, we asked them to stand toe-to-toe, we marked them man-for-man all over the park.

“We knew we would have to do a lot of dirty work, and we did.”