Ange Postecoglou has named his preliminary 30-man squad for the Socceroos’ final World Cup qualifying playoff against Honduras.
Skipper Mile Jedinak has been named in the squad despite his recent injury problems, but there is no good news for left-back Brad Smith, who has been left out of the side after picking up a hip injury in Australia’s 2-1 win over Syria in Sydney.
Smith is the only member of the 23-man squad which defeated Syria to have missed out this time around, and has been replaced by Alex Gersbach.
The squad is light in Australian-based players, with only four members of the side plying their trade in the A-League – Tim Cahill, Mark Milligan, Josh Risdon and James Troisi.
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There are a number of inexperienced Europe-based players named by Postecoglou, with Danny Vukovic, Awer Mabil, Mustafa Amini, Craig Goodwin, Ajdin Hrustic and Jimmy Jeggo all a chance of making the final 23-man squad, which will be announced next week.
“There are a couple of weeks before the group gets together so we will be monitoring the health and fitness of every player to make sure that the final 23 are available for what is going to be a challenging couple of games,” said Postecoglou.
“We feel that we are right on schedule with regards to our arrangements, logistics and intelligence for Honduras, and are comfortable that the work completed and decisions made so far will help us in our quest to qualify for Russia.
“A large, vocal home crowd in Sydney for the second leg is something that everyone involved with the squad is looking forward to.”
The first leg of the playoff against Honduras will be played on Saturday, November 11 at 9am (AEDT), before the return leg in Sydney on November 15 at 8pm.
Mustafa Amini
Aziz Behich
Mark Birighitti (GK)
Tim Cahill
Milos Degenek
Alex Gersbach
Craig Goodwin
Ajdin Hrustic
Jackson Irvine
Mile Jedinak
James Jeggo
Tomi Juric
Matthew Jurman
Robbie Kruse
Mitchell Langerak (GK)
Mathew Leckie
Massimo Luongo
Awer Mabil
Jamie Maclaren
Ryan Mcgowan
Mark Milligan
Aaron Mooy
Josh Risdon
Tom Rogic
Nikita Rukavytsya
Mathew Ryan (GK)
Trent Sainsbury
James Troisi
Daniel Vukovic (GK)
Bailey Wright
Angry Kossie
Guest
FYI there is a separate TWG story contradicting your claims about Brad Jones ... keep it factual please when you are trashing a person’s character!
Angry Kossie
Guest
Sure am! Fadida loves Kanta (not)!
Newie
Guest
Maybe he'll pull a rabbit out of the hat and go 4-2-3-1 in San Pedro Sula? Unlikely, but the ability to vary formation from game to game and even during a game would show a growing maturity in our footballing. Are we there yet? Not sure. Considering the cards stacked against them over there, I would personally "do a Mourinho" and nick an away goal and clean sheet. But I don't think the team's mentality has been prepped that way. There was a nice analysis by Craig Foster on a recent podcast about formations and footballing maturity.
Newie
Guest
Unfortunately agree with you on this point. Look, I've also posted on the Caltex Socceroos facebook page as well as here and for whatever reason, Ange hasn't changed his formation. ;-)
Newie
Guest
I hope we *do* change our approach in Honduras and go direct to Tim's head - we can go all tiki taka back in Sydney.
tommaso
Guest
you're having a laugh right ??
Realfootball
Guest
I look at that list of players, and I'm afraid I can't find any reason to realistically believe we can prevail over Honduras over two legs, particularly without Milligan and Leckie in the first leg. Ange plays 3 at the back in Honduras, and the tie could well be over in the first 90 minutes.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
What a surprise – Mooy and Cahill made the squad. Looks like we are in for “British style of football” as noted by the Honduran coach, and Tim Cahill to score the winner off his head from a long ball. I hope Timmy can get an afternoon nap in before the second leg.
Lee
Guest
Disappointed to see davie boy carney misses out. Carns was always good for a laugh. It would also have helped my preference had he played which, like many Australians, is for Honduras to progress to Russia. My reasoning for this stance? As a great philosopher once said ‘The growth of asso football in this sunburnt land has done, and continues to do, unspeakable damage to rugby and cricket in Australia’.
jamesb
Guest
I agree he lacks the technique. But I don't think he is a defender either.
Fadida
Guest
Left wing? He lacks the technique to be a fullback let alone wing
chris
Guest
Geez give ruka a chance. I thought he was ok against Syria when he came on as a sub. I still think he has something to offer
jamesb
Guest
Smith should be playing left wing anyway.
Caltex TEN & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Brillante, deserves a shot. Solid player and full of running, not to mention he can also get on the score sheet as well.
jamesb
Guest
Well Ansell has played 7 matches in all competitions in Portugal so far this season. Meanwhile, Mabil, who has been selected, has played 9 matches in all competitions in Portugal. It's good to see a couple of Aussie lads playing regularly in Portugal.
Angry Kossie
Guest
No Clisby?? No Ben Kantarovski for Milligan??
Nemesis
Guest
Brad Jones will never play for AUS again whilst Ange is the coach. Jones was going to be part of the 2017 Confed Cup squad, but he said he'd only accept if he was guaranteed a starting spot. That's not how it works.
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Nick
Roar Guru
So Left-back Brad Smith will be left back at home? Too easy...
Fadida
Guest
Nick Ansell? Has it come to that?!