AUSTRALIA versus Ireland, it’s only a friendly and the result doesn’t bear any significance.

That's bullshit of course, Australia has to beat Ireland this week. Although it is a bit harder to find reasons why we should beat the Irish as opposed to, say, the English.

Except for the English, no-one hates the Irish. There's not a lot to hate about the Irish. Some people don't like Guinness so much, but they want to. There has been some mention from Ireland's side that perhaps the fact Australia are 16th in the world rankings and Ireland are 37th doesn't really mean much. It's difficult to rile against that statement though because no-one disagrees.

A browse of the club's listed in the respective squads gives a better idea of what kind of match this will be. For Ireland we see Premiership teams Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham, Fulham, Blackburn, Stoke, Wolverhampton, Hull and a raft of English Championship names.

Representing the Premiership for Australia we see Timmy Cahill of Everton, Schwarzer of Fulham and an un-contracted Lucas Neill. Then we see Oliver Bozanic of English fourth division Cheltenham, Patrick Kisnorbo of English third division Leeds, and a raft of players who are aspiring to, or are struggling to crack the first team squad for their clubs; David Carney at Sheffield, James Holland at AZ Alkmaar, Aaron Mooy of Bolton Wanderers, Nikita Rukavytsa of FC Twente.

The Socceroos are again taking on Europe with a rag-tag team of European journeymen, a mix of players enduring the shock of the transition from Australian football to European reserve squads and those few who have survived all the way to the top.

For the players there is plenty to be motivated - those like Nick Carle, Carney and Neill who are uncontracted or on the outer at their clubs have their chance to impress.

For the fans however, this match is about Australia versus Europe (it's also about Guinness. Guinness has to fit in here somehow). Despite Australia's heroics at the World Cup three years ago, the current campaign via Asia does not impress upon the Europeans.

Qatar, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Japan are not seen as world football heavyweights. The fact that Australia has breezed through the second round of World Cup qualifying conceding just one goal has only served to reinforce that view.

This will be the first true test of Australian football outside of Asia in the lead up to 2010. Ireland are still mid-campaign to qualify for the World Cup and are using this match as a warm-up to play against the might of Cyprus next month.

Yes, that's how highly the Socceroos are rated in Europe, we're a warm up to play against the might of Cyprus. A win this week might be the first step in getting the Europeans to take us seriously, again.