•       Australia's road to Qatar has been blocked by the COVID-19 pandemic with the national team not playing a single match in 2020.The remaining matches of their Asian qualifying group have since been rescheduled, with a home fixture against Kuwait on March 25 before a trip to face Nepal on March 30.Arnold, however, says the Kuwait match cannot proceed without government intervention, similar to that which is allowing the Australian Open to be played in Melbourne next month. "We need government help to be able to play here in Australia against Kuwait, to get our players that are all overseas back into Australia to be able to get tested at the airport, go to the hotel, train for three days and play and then be able to go back out," Arnold told the RSN Breakfast Club radio show."If we can't get that type of help from the government, well then, it will be difficult for maybe this whole year."

The pandemic has also scuppered Australia's hopes of appearing as a guest nation at last year's Copa America.Arnold still holds hope of competing when the South American continental championship is held in mid-2021 but admits fixture scheduling may mean the Socceroos have to withdraw from the tournament.Australia will still have matches against Taiwan and Jordan to play between June 1 and June 15 to complete their World Cup qualifying group commitments.Arnold said the final dates for those matches may make competing in the Copa impossible."The most important thing for all of us is the World Cup qualifiers and we've got to make sure we don't put that in jeopardy at all," he says