Australia were the last of the eight teams to arrive in Russia for the tournament which kicks off this weekend when the home team take on New Zealand in St Petersburg from 1am Sunday (AEST).

The Socceroos are based in Sochi, situated in the south of the country on the Black Sea and most famous for holding the winter Olympics in 2014. 

It’s a fairly arduous journey for those travelling from Australia involving at least three flights. Less so for Jimmy Jeggo who has was called into the squad to replace Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak who suffered a groin injury during the team’s 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia in the important World Cup 2018 qualifier.  

The midfielder plays in Austria at Sturm Graz having moved there from Adelaide United in 2016. He returned to training for his club side when he received the call to join the national squad in Russia.

“It was a pleasant surprise," Jeggo said. 

"Obviously, now I’ve been given this chance to come here you want to come here and make an impression and not just be here to make up the numbers. I want to try and get on the pitch and make my debut.”

Jeggo wasn't too concerned about having missed out on match fitness during Australia’s recent two games against Saudi Arabia and a 4-0 defeat to Brazil.

“I just need to get stuck into training here and generally I’m okay getting to be match fit quite quickly," he said.

Jeggo was one of seven players that were left out of the original squad of thirty that coach Ange Postecoglou had put together before finalising the 23 player squad for Russia. The 25 year old took it positively, determined to earn a place back.

“My first thought, when I missed out, was what do I need to do now to make sure that it isn’t the case next time,"he said.  "Luckily I’ve got a bit of a reprieve in coming in and I want to make the most of it.”

Australia have been grouped with Chile and Cameroon, and will face World Champions, Germany, in their opener. 

At number three, Germany is the highest ranked team in the FIFA rankings in the tournament and although they have taken a very inexperienced squad to Russia they are expected to impress as Jeggo explained: “They’ve got so much depth in their country.  I think that they’ll still be a very strong side.”

Fellow midfielder Mark Milligan agreed: “Germany have a lot of good structures in place.  I think they’re very set in their ways the way they go about a match so I think the personnel is a little bit secondary to the way that they want to do things. 

"We have no doubt that they will be very strong and we’re very excited about playing them.  We expect the same sort of discipline and game plan from them."

Australia must recover from the heavy home defeat to Brazil and Milligan, who captained the side for some of the game is sure that it won’t have an impact on the team.

“Obviously there were some things that we need to work on and be better at,"he said. 

"With this group, when the boss (Ange Postecoglou) comes to us and is a bit disappointed in the way that we do things we generally respond and generally are able to work on that.

"We have a very good bunch of boys who are very responsive to what Ange wants.  We’re confident that we’ll be able to bounce back and to do a better performance and a better showing on Monday.”

The Socceroos trained for the first time in Russia on Friday afternoon. The focus now is to recover from the journey and put in the training required so that the squad is as well prepared as possible for the challenge that faces them. 

In tournament conditions the result of the first match can be a major bearing on how far a team will progress and neither team will want to start off with a defeat.

MATCH DETAILS

Australia v Germany       Fisht Stadium Sochi           Tuesday, June 20, 1am (AEST)