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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -Australia soccer officials on Wednesday agreed to a request from China to reschedule next month's soccer friendly between the nations because of a clash with World Cup qualifying dates.
The match, which was to be played at the Sydney Football Stadium on Oct.13, clashes with qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup recently announced by the Asian Football Confederation.
China asked that the match against Australia be delayed to allow it to concentrate on home and away knockout matches against Myanmar on Oct.8 and 28.
"The (China Football Association) felt it would have compromised their performance in those World Cup qualifiers had they also traveled to play Australia," Football Federation Australia said in a statement.
"(Australia) commence 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying in a later round, starting in February 2008," the Federation said.
"The FFA agreed to the postponement on the basis that it would be unfair to put China's World Cup qualification process in jeopardy and that if China were forced to honor its commitment to play in Sydney, they may have sent a below strength team to Australia."
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said discussions between the FFA and CFA would continue over an alternative date.
"It is disappointing for the fans that the match will not take place as planned, but we all recognize how important World Cup qualifiers are to any country and we have agreed to their request on this basis," Buckley said.
The Sydney game was to be the first of a two-match agreement which saw the two countries play again at the Chinese city of Guangzhou in March 2008.
