Socceroos stars make A-League return after World Cup heroics in front of sparse crowd in Sydney
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Home sweet home… but there’s no one there! Socceroos stars return to the A-League after World Cup heroics in front of a sparse crowd in Sydney
- Socceroos players returned to A-League action at the weekend
- Mathew Leckie, Marco Tillio and Jamie Maclaren were honored on Saturday
- They were joined by Socceroos star Andrew Redmayne.
- The A-League crowds were kept thin for the first three matches of the round.
- Australia reached the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time since 2006
- Click here for the latest international sports news from Daily Mail Australia
A host of Socceroos players returned to A-League action following their World Cup exploits in front of a sparse crowd in Sydney on Saturday.
Mathew Leckie, Marco Tilio and Jamie Maclaren lined up for Melbourne City against a Sydney FC side featuring Andrew Redmayne.
The foursome were last on the pitch at the Allianz Stadium, receiving a warm welcome from the fans and a framed photo featuring all the A-League players who were part of Australia’s World Cup campaign in Qatar.
Andrew Redmayne (far left), Jamie Maclaren, Mathew Leckie and Marco Tilio (far right) returned to A-League action on Saturday after playing in the World Cup.
They were joined in Graham Arnold’s squad by the Central Coast Mariners trio of Garang Kuol, Jason Cummings and Danny Vukovic and Adelaide United star Craig Goodwin.
The crowd at the Allianz Stadium, however, seemed rather sparse, a disappointing turnout after Socceroos fever has swept across the country for the past two weeks.
Around 30,000 fans gathered to watch the action at Federation Square in Melbourne during the group stage.
A similar crowd packed AAMI Park in the Victorian capital to watch the match against Argentina last week, in which the Socceroos were knocked out in the round of 16 after a 2-1 defeat.
The crowds at the Allianz Stadium were sparse, on a poorly attended weekend in the A-League
There were swaths of empty seats as the Socceroos stars made their first post-World Cup run.
Public screenings were also arranged in Sydney and Brisbane for the round of 16 clash, as Graham Arnold’s men bid to become the first team from Australia to reach the quarter-finals.
The first two A-League games of the weekend drew an even smaller crowd than the game at Allianz Park, with just over 4,000 fans turning out for the 1-1 draw between the Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United at the Dolphins Stadium.
Meanwhile, less than 3,000 spectators went through the turnstiles at WIN Stadium for Wellington’s 1-1 draw against Western United.
And they were handed a framed photo featuring the eight A-League players who were part of Australia’s World Cup campaign in Qatar.
The Socceroos were left out of the World Cup last week after narrowly losing in the round of 16 against a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina.
Australia came to Qatar as a ranked outsider in Group D, but recovered from a 4-1 thrashing against France in the opening game to reach the round of 16 for the first time since 2006.
The Socceroos won two matches in the World Cup for the first time in their history and kept two clean sheets, after conceding only once in their previous five appearances in the combined tournament.
And their performances in Qatar garnered huge public support in Australia, with thousands of fans gathering to watch the action at Federation Square in Melbourne during the group stages.