The Roos will meet the Kiwis at Melbourne Cricket Ground - and Football Federation Australia hopes to match the 90,000 crowd that farewell Australia against Greece before the 2006 World Cup.

But there has been an air of disappointment about the choice of New Zealand as the opponents for the final game, with many hoping to see a bigger nation or one more similar to the style Australia will face in South Africa.

Pim Verbeek today backed the match and promised a spectacle for supporters.

"New Zealand are a FIFA World Cup qualified country, they play more-or-less a European style of football and there is a nice rivalry between our two teams that goes back many years," Verbeek said.

"We are expecting a very competitive match against the All Whites and it will be a great way for us to start our pre-tournament camp.

"The match will not only be an opportunity for the fans to farewell the Qantas Socceroos, but also for us to say thank you to the fans for supporting us through the qualification campaign."

 

The Socceroos squad is expected be the full strength World Cup line-up and will include their biggest names such as captain Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Schwarzer.

"This is a great opportunity for Australian sports fans to fill the stadium with green and gold to send the team off to the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa in grand style," said FFA CEO Ben Buckley.

"A wonderful tradition started in 2006 when a huge crowd saw a fantastic game of football and showed to the Qantas Socceroos that they had the whole country behind them before they left to take on the world in Germany.

"The anticipation around the 2010 is building rapidly and the fact that New Zealand has qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa adds to the excitement."