![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9ske3pg3fgmajrun.jpg\")
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ALAMEDA, Calif. – World Cup<\/a> excitement arrived in Alameda as fans gathered on the island to watch the Australian Men’s National Soccer Team hold an open community training session.<\/p>\n The event took place at the Oakland Roots practice facility, which is currently hosting the international squad as their official home base during the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We are so excited to have them here, we worked so hard to qualify as a home base and to bring our Australian friends and family to Oakland, Alameda and the East Bay,” said Lindsay Barenz, president of the Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul.<\/p>\n Transplants and Local Fans Connect with Squad <\/p>\n The practice session drew a dedicated crowd of spectators, ranging from lifelong Australian soccer fans to local residents discovering the team for the first time. \u00a0<\/p>\n Steve Spiker, a Bay Area transplant originally from Alice Springs, Australia, used the community day to introduce his daughters to the national squad.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m in my 50\u2019s now, and I finally get to see them up close, it’s really cool, pretty exciting,” said Spiker.\u00a0<\/p>\n Roster Prepares for Levi’s Stadium Match <\/p>\n For the players on the Australian roster, the open practice provided an opportunity to connect with the local community.<\/p>\n At 33 years old, this marks the first World Cup appearance for player Jason Geria. “For me, I\u2019m just very grateful this opportunity has come,” said Geria.<\/p>\n Team player Lucas Herrington also highlighted the importance of having family members traveling alongside the squad to witness the milestone.<\/p>\n “It means everything to have their support. They\u2019ve pushed me my whole life to achieve this dream, and to have them sitting in the stands, during the World Cup, it\u2019s a dream come true for me,” said Herrington.<\/p>\n The Socceroos are scheduled to face Paraguay in a competition match on June 25 at Levi’s Stadium, which will be officially designated as San Francisco Bay Area Stadium during the World Cup matches.<\/p>\n News<\/a>Alameda<\/a>FIFA World Cup<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALAMEDA, Calif. – World Cup excitement arrived in Alameda as fans gathered on the island to watch the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[5445,389,1184,100,143,145,144,1181,5393],"class_list":["post-347507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda","tag-alameda-county","tag-ca","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-us","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}