With the Socceroos needing to score goals to progress to the next round they’ll need to be more aggressive than they have been in their first two matches.
There is a wide range of starting formations and personnel options but I’ve chosen what I think is the best formation and which players who I think would suit it most.
Starting with the formation, I’d go with a 4-4-1-1, which is the same formation the Socceroos used in their last match against Denmark.
A 4-4-1-1 formation has the advantage of having two strikers meaning that Cahill can be on at the start alongside another player without having to choose between one or the other as would be the case in a 4-2-3-1.
In a 4-4-1-1 formation I would put Tim Cahill and Jamie Maclaren up front as strikers with Daniel Arzani and Mathew Leckie on the wings. Aaron Mooy and Jackson Irvine would be in the centre with Irvine as the attacking midfielder. At the back I’d stick with Beziz Behich, Mark Milligan, Trent Sainsbury and Josh Risdon. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
When it comes to strikers it’s Cahill first, daylight second. Cahill has 50 goals for the Socceroos, which is five times as many as Andrew Nabbout, Tomi Juric and Maclaren put together.
Nabbout is out with injury while Juric was ineffective against Denmark, which leaves only Maclaren.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
The only other option is Tomas Rogic, who might be able to adapt as a second striker from just outside the box, although he might be better used if brought on as a sub.
But as a starting striker Maclaren has the best record of any of them at club level, scoring eight goals from 15 matches with Hibernian and scoring 40 times from 53 matches when he was at Brisbane Roar.
The trouble with Maclaren at the national level might be that his runs are hard for his teammates to spot when they haven’t spent as much time with him as the players at his own club. Maybe I’m speculating a bit, but maybe Arzarni could be the key to unlocking Maclaren’s potential for the national squad.
Arzarni has the ability to read the play and see things differently to other players, much like Maclaren, so if you put them both together, maybe they’ll understand one another and link up well. Arzarni will also likely link up well with Cahill, with whom he seems to have developed a good bond in the training camp. Irvine could also link up well with Maclaren as they have known each other since they were kids.
The combination of Cahill as a static target man and Maclaren as a roving second striker could be difficult for Peru or any other team to deal with. Cahill could sit around and lurk about, sending defenders to sleep while they also have to try to keep track of Maclaren coming in and making darting runs from unexpected directions. If his own teammates find him difficult to track, then what chance do the other team’s defenders have?
Then they have to watch out for Arzani, Leckie and Irvine.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
If Australia needs goals against Peru in order to progress to the round of 16, they need to start with their two best strikers and base the rest of the formation around them, and the best two strikers are Cahill and Maclaren.
Maybe some people will say that selecting Cahill as a starter is a poor choice because of his age, but I have a cousin who runs ultra-marathons in his mid-40s and does quite well. At just 38 I see no problem with Cahill starting as long as he remains largely static to conserve his energy. He could even stay on for the full 90 minutes this way.
I mean, look at any heist movie: whenever you put a team together to break into a building you should always have an old guy in there because nobody suspects them of anything, do they?
Cahill doesn’t need to be fast, he just needs to blend in and disappear.
Then, when they least expect it, up he pops to score with his head against the second-shortest team in Russia. Then they’ll just be left looking around flummoxed at each other wondering what just happened.
Croatia, here we come!
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