With the 2022 FIFA World Cup fast approaching, it’s time to take stock of the Socceroos’ squad, including the likely starters and those who are racing the clock to be fit.
Possible Starting XI
GK: Maty Ryan
LB: Aziz Behich CB: Trent Sainsbury CB: Harry Souttar RB: Nathaniel Atkinson
CDM: Aaron Mooy
LM: Martin Boyle CM: Ajdin Hrustic CM: Jackson Irvine RM: Awer Mabil
ST: Jamie Maclaren
Bench: Andrew Redmayne, Danny Vukovic, Milos Degenek, Kye Rowles, Bailey Wright, Marco Tilio, Matthew Leckie, Denni Genreau, Riley McGree, Nicholas D’Agostino, Tom Rogic, Mitchell Duke, Jason Cummings, Garang Kuol
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Defence
Starting from the back, Mat Ryan is a certainty for the goalkeeper spot, as he’s been Graham Arnold’s first-choice keeper for the majority of the coach’s time at the helm.
Atkinson has continued to impress on the right side of defence, presenting a potent threat in attack while having the fitness and ability to easily track back.
Aziz Behich will likely not be replaced as the left-back mainly due to the Socceroos’ lack of experience in that position, helping out with his 50-plus caps for the national team.
The centre of defence is where the biggest selection headache in the squad will occur for Graham Arnold.
Arnold has shown his faith in Trent Sainsbury during his reign, despite his advancing age and current club level, but he is yet to let the coach down and brings a wealth of international experience.
If he is fit, Harry Souttar will undoubtedly partner Sainsbury at the back. The Scottish native has been a mainstay in the back of the field since changing allegiances and has been one of the Socceroos’ best players.
His recovery to come back from a devastating knee injury could prove to be the deciding factor as to whether or not he is back in the squad, and if he isn’t Arnold will have some quality players to replace him with.
Bailey Wright and Milos Degenek will be battling for the final centre-back spot if Souttar is not fit, and will make it hard for Arnold to pick between the two.
The pair were in and out of the starting team during the Asian qualifiers, but have proven their quality when given the chance. Wright started the final qualifier against Peru and put on a notable performance.
Kye Rowles is another option for the Socceroos at centre-back, but it seems that his recent injury may deter Arnold away from picking the talented youngster.
Midfield
In the centre of the park, Ajdin Hrustic is the most talented player the Socceroos have and is crucial to everything they do going forward.
Alongside Aaron Mooy and Jackson Irvine, it is unlikely that we will see a different combination in Qatar.
Martin Boyle, if fit, will line up on the left and will be an X-Factor for Aussies in attack.
The right-midfield position may be up for grabs, but Awer Mabil will be favoured to take up that spot. After suffering an injury and being without a club in the latest rounds of qualifiers, Arnold gave Matthew Leckie and Craig Goodwin a go at Mabil’s position, and although they were impressive, it’s hard to not give Mabil his spot back with full fitness.
Forwards
Now to the one spot where the Socceroos have struggled the most since Tim Cahill’s retirement, the centre-forward role.
Jamie Maclaren is the slight favourite to get the nod ahead of Mitchell Duke, however his spot isn’t guaranteed.
Both strikers have struggled to keep their spot up top and Arnold has been willing to give other players a shot including Hrustic and Leckie.
Maclaren’s league form will likely be the deciding factor, but Duke could just as easily be the starting striker in game one of the World Cup.
Now throwing the uncapped Jason Cummings into the mix, Arnold has some genuine depth to contest for the striker role.
Who’s fighting the clock?
As mentioned, Harry Souttar is currently rehabbing a serious knee injury that has put him out of action since December of 2021 and looks set to return to action in the coming weeks.
Souttar recently released footage of him training with Stoke and he looks back to his best, as a ball-playing and dominant centre-half.
Coming back from an ACL injury presents a lot of risks for Souttar and with Stoke City looking likely to fight against relegation in the Championship, he may look for an earlier-than-expected return to football.
Although Souttar has made it publicly clear that he is eager to represent the Socceroos at the World Cup, his return from injury may well hinder those chances if he were to re-aggravate it.
After helping Celtic to return to the pinnacle of Scottish football last season, Tom Rogic has only just found a new home with West Brom.
Rogic has been a staple of the Celtic team over the last ten years and subsequently was a regular for the Socceroos in that time frame.
The Griffith native was linked to a move to Everton, in a move that may have been more detrimental to his world cup hopes than the West Brom move.
But, with the strong midfield combination Arnold has at his disposal for selection, Rogic will need to recapture the form that saw him become the star of the national team, in order to push one of the incumbent midfielders out of the starting side.
West Brom is in the midst of a poor start to the season and will look to Rogic to lead them out of the relegation zone.
Big names in new places
Ajdin Hrustic
After winning the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt last season, Hrustic made a late move to Serie A side Hellas Verona in order to secure more playing time.
Hellas Verona has struggled to start the season, with just one win in the first six games. Hrustic has come on a sub once and was unused in his other appearance for the Italian side.
He will likely break into the side as the season progresses, but he will likely need to get more regular first-team football under his belt in order to all but secure his spot in the squad.
Maty Ryan
Ryan completed his second stint in Spain at the end of the 2021 season and secured a move to Danish giants FC Copenhagen as the first-choice keeper.
In his debut game, he kept a clean sheet which sent Copenhagen into the Champions League group stage.
Ryan’s form after that first game has been up and down, but he has shown flashes of brilliance including a clean sheet over Spanish heavyweights Sevilla in Game Day Two of the Champions League.
He won’t need to do much to retain his spot in between the sticks, but his form going into the World Cup will be crucial in order to give the Aussies the best chance of an improbable qualification to the Round of 16.
Awer Mabil
It’s been a difficult 12 months for Mabil, wrapping up his injury-riddled spell at FC Midtjylland and signing a deal with La Liga side Cadiz – under the assumption he would play regularly.
He was reportedly frustrated with management not living up to their promises and attempted to get a last-second loan deal away from the bottom-placed Spanish side.
After these reports, Mabil was left out of the side, but has slowly found his way back into regular appearances off the bench including a 72nd-minute appearance against Barcelona.
Although Mabil’s playing time has decreased, he finds himself in a good position due to the Socceroos’ lack of depth and talent in his position and he should be the incumbent come time for the trip to Qatar.
Aaron Mooy
One Aussie out, another in – Ange Postecoglou was quick to secure the services of Aaron Mooy after the departure of Tom Rogic.
Mooy has become Ange’s go-to man off the bench, playing nine times thus far for Celtic, with all of them as a substitute.
His experience playing in such an advanced attacking system in Celtic will give him a massive advantage over his teammates and can only benefit the Socceroos going forward.
The Socceroos will be rank outsiders to progress past the group stage, but with a resurgence of youth and playing in some familiar conditions, anything will be possible for the Aussies in Qatar.
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