For the first time in more than a decade the Socceroos are set to play an important international match in the nation's capital when Australia  meet Kuwait in their first home match of the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers at Canberra Stadium on Thursday  March 5.

Now it is in the hands of the Canberra community to demonstrate their interest in football  and the most practical way to do this is to come along to the Kuwait clash, according to former Socceroo captain and Canberra Cosmos player, Wade. 

"If ever there was an opportunity to justify a Canberra team in the Hyundai A-League now is the chance, when the whole country is watching," he said.

The last time the Socceroos played an international in Canberra was an Oceania Cup match on 1 November 1996 against Tahiti, which was also the final appearance in the green and gold for Wade.  

The crowd at that game was 9,421, with the most number of fans ever to fill a Canberra stadium to see the Qantas Socceroos being in 1980 when they met the then Czechoslovakia with 15,000 in attendance.

"For a city of more than 320,000 people, this record should be easily broken," said Wade. "It was almost 30 years ago, which shows that there was a good level of interest in football in Canberra back then.

"I see no reason why there wouldn't be more now and this is the perfect opportunity to show that Canberra is serious about football and to break this record."

Wade said Pim Verbeek is tipped to name a largely A-League based side for the match next week.

He added: "Led by Craig Moore, who is a first choice player for Verbeek and one of Australia's outstanding players of the past decade, this will nonetheless be a very good side.

 "The Hyundai A-League is growing in reputation and improving every season, as evidenced by Adelaide's achievements in reaching the Asian Champions League Final.

"I expect a very good and competitive match."

Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman and Australia have been drawn in Group B. The top two teams from each group of the qualification stage will progress to the AFC Asian Cup 2011 which will be held in Qatar.