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OCEANIA-OFC NEWS

December 20, 2002 Matildas to play Sweden, Mexico and South Korea in Australia Cup 2003 Australia will play Sweden, Mexico, and South Korea in the 5th Australia Cup to be held from January 26th. to February 1st., 2003. Australia National Team Head Coach Adrian Santrac was quoted as saying "that the three countries coming all have distinctly different styles of play, and being able to adapt and combat those differences will be an important part of our overall preparations. This is our final tournament preparation before the World Cup Qualifiers, and it promises to be a fantastic event. The players are very excited about the quality of opposition participating and are looking forward to the challenge in front of them" Sweden qualified for the 2003 World Cup by finishing as one of the top four nations at the European Championships earlier this year. They competed in the 2000 Australia Cup, finishing second behind the USA. As the third placed team in the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup Mexico will play off for a place in the 2003 world Cup next year against the team finishing third in the Asia Federation qualifying competition. The Matildas won the other three previous Australia Cup crowns, in 1999 against Italy and Canada, 2001 over France, and 2002 against South Korea. South Korea could be that third team of Asia to play off against Mexico.