The Socceroos squad selected to play South Korea was thoroughly average. Graham Arnold needs to do better than that for 2022.
While they held their own against one of the top teams in Asia, they never really managed to be a serious threat. Australia had only six shots on goal with just one on target while South Korea managed just four shots on goal with two on target.
This result fits into the pattern already seen in both the Russian World Cup and the Asian Cup in the UAE.
In Russia the Socceroos failed to score a single goal in open play from their three group-stage matches, while in the UAE they failed to score in three of their five games. That’s simply not good enough, nor is the result against South Korea.
(Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)
In addition to the poor goalscoring record there is also the same issue of recycling the same old players who have already been tried and who have repeatedly failed. Most of them are over 25 and some of have previously played under Graham Arnold, yet he still went back to them anyway.
If he wants to keep his job, Arnold will need to select a much stronger team. It’s hard to say from this far out who should make the squad for Qatar, but I’ll have a go based upon the best available information I can find.
Starting at the pointy end with the strikers, there are several players to choose from.
Martin Boyle has already proven himself with the Socceroos and would be most people’s favourite for the role, while Mathew Leckie is also in the mix and is often brought up in these discussions. If you’re looking to the future, you have John Iredale, Moudi Najjar and Nikodah Smith, all of whom are strong contenders.
In the attacking three there are a swathe of players from whom to choose.
These options include Daniel Arzani, Reno Piscopo, Tyrese Francois, Alexander Robertson, Awer Mabil, Chris Ikonomidis, Ramy Najjarine, Denis Genreau, Ben Folami and Tom Rogic. The best dribblers from this group are probably Arzani, Piscopo, Francois and Najjarine.
Daniel Arzani of Australia celebrates after scoring a goal. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Behind them in the double pivot there are several options in contention.
Among these are Aaron Mooy, Mustafa Amini, Sebastian Pasquali, Masimo Luongo and Riley McGree, and Cian Cuba might pop up as a complete outsider. Cuba seems to have a lot of talent and would have to be among the top ten dribblers in Australia going by his highlights video, but he hasn’t yet made it into an A-League side for whatever reason. If he does secure a contract before the World Cup, he might just make the extended squad.
When it comes to the defensive line, they’re going to leak goals no matter who you choose, so I’ll try something different and say Aziz Behich, Mile Jedinak, Mustafa Amini and Josh Risdon. But I still have to narrow down the other lines first to get to a starting line-up.
At the tip of the spear it’s a toss-up between Boyle and Leckie. Of the two, Leckie is the better dribbler but Boyle is better at cleaning up the scraps and finishing, which is where the Socceroos often fall down. Iredale, Najjar and Smith are all well in contention but are largely unknown quantities and aren’t as creative. Out of all of them I’d go with Boyle as striker.
In the attacking three there are more options to choose from. The best four dribblers among them are Arzani, Piscopo, Francois and Najjarine. The two I would definitely pick are Arzani and Francois, who are the two best dribblers in Australia, which leaves a choice between Piscopo and Najjarine. I don’t know enough about Najjarine as a newcomer, so I’ll pick Piscopo, who played for Inter Milan’s youth side and who Graham Arnold praised as being “Arzani-like”.
Moving on to the double pivot and there’s a bit more to think about. The three known quantities are Mooy, Luongo and Amini, while Pasquali and McGree are newbies and Cuba could be a dark horse. Any of these players would make a good combination, but the best choice would be Mooy for his experience in the EPL and Pasquali for his vision, passing and technical skills.
Putting it all together the best line-up would be as follows:
Martin Boyle
Reno Piscopo, Tyrese Francois, Daniel Arzani
Aaron Mooy, Sebastian Pasquali
Aziz Behich, Mile Jedinak, Mustafa Amini, Josh Risdon
The weakest part of the chain is in defence, but in the front six things are much stronger, particularly in the attacking three, where we have some world-class dribblers.
This would make a very strong line-up for Qatar and I’d give them a good chance of making it out of the group stage – so long as Graham Arnold chooses them or players quite similar, that is.
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
We still didn't score.
Bruz
Roar Rookie
Some harsh comments towards our efforts in South Korea last week, a partially under strength squad away from home in front of over 50,000 South Koreans. Not to mention the players with few caps under their belts, such as Craig Goodwin and Mitch Duke. I thought we contained the likes of Son Heung Min despite his world class dribbling and shooting ability. Duke was unlucky not to score with his header coming off the post in the early stages.
Nick Symonds
Guest
> Irvine as center back > Behich or Grant in midfield > Pamos Armanakis has skills - All interesting points. I think you should expand on them with an article of your own. Doesn't have to be 800 words, just more than the dot points above. - Panos Armenakas ● Skills & Goals 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PFiaW8z6yM
Griffo
Guest
Iredale has no club and has a serious injury. He'll be out 10 mths...a whole season basically...and most likely won't have a club to come back to. Folami is also injured and will be out for a while as well. But he is still under contract at Ipswich so will have a club to come back through. Mile has retired mate! No Grant? Yet he seems to have performed admirably in the games he's played in and he has pace. Why wouldn't u try something else? Problem with the Roos is they are too slow in mid. Mooy, Rogic, Luongo, Amini are all slow. Irvine is the only one with any agility and height. Why not try Irvine as a centre back and Behrich or Grant in mid? Berich started as a striker so can play up front. With his defensive experience now he should be able to play attacking or defensive mid and he has more pace than Luongo or Amini. There's also young Pamos Armanakis playing in Greece. Can see that Nikodah Smith has played anywhere for some time. Please enlighten me.
Tm
Guest
I really liked Van marwijk, thought he did really well given the amount of time he had....wish we still had him
anon
Roar Pro
European coaches have always been better (Ange doesn't count he was Australian-ised). When Ange left, the improvement in the squad was immediate. Nearly pulled off a draw against France in the World Cup. We suddenly had a hard edge. Under Ange we only got through on some Cahill magic against a war-torn Syria, drew with Thailand.
AJ
Roar Rookie
Honest question: Does the national team coach have to be Australian? I just want the best coach that we can possibly get, whether he's Australian or not.
AJ
Roar Rookie
And the other Asian nations are getting better, most notably those outside the usual contenders in Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia (although they’ll be in contention as always). There’s still only 4.5 teams from Asia go through. The best thing may be that the Asian champions, Qatar, are hosting, and therefore aren’t in qualifying.
Kdog
Guest
Lets concentrate on getting there first.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Ah, I still maintain that a World Cup is Qatar is still a massively bizarre choice, and will remain that way. Bit presumptuous, too, to write an article when the Socceroos are a long way off even qualifying!
Beni Iniesta
Guest
Err. Australia won't qualify for Qatar so you can forget about Arnold selecting a team for that tournament. Simply won't happen. Arnold is a proven failure at international level and the current team are a bunch of spuds. You mention Russia 2018/UAE 2019 and how pathetic Australia was. How many goals in open play was that? ZERO in Russia wasn't it, and barely better in the UAE. Oh, Arnold will be sacked before Qatar 2022 rolls around without Australia and btw MILE JEDINAK certainly won't be going there. HE'S RETIRED CHAMP!
Up late because of a cold
Guest
I guess you could say he's been put out to...cow pasture.
Hawks12
Guest
Jedinak ha ha. Do u even watch the news. He retired from rep football champ. Guess u go back to drawing board
anon
Roar Pro
Are they playing a friendly in Qatar in 2022? Because there isn't a chance that this iteration qualifies for the World Cup. We scraped through by the skin of our teeth two years ago and we're even worse now.
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
It was a tough job for Arnie to try to improve the squad depth at this time of year and from players who's club form actually warranted it. The only players who truly stood out I thought were Duke, Amini and Grant. The latter is already locked in as long as he continues his form with SFC (and unless Risdon has a blinder first season with WU). Amini barely gets any socceroos minutes with the midfielders ahead of him and might even drop out of the squad if more visible A-league midfielders, or other Euro based midfielders play well and score goals. And Duke will probably drop out if all the attackers you've named get back to full fitness and get minutes. So all in all, it was a good to see some new faces picked but probably a pointless exercise if the first choice players continue to get club minutes, and if others who weren't available get back to full fitness and get a run for their clubs.
Nicholas Wilson
Roar Rookie
You had me with Jedinak. He's retired mate!!!
Nick Symonds
Guest
Alternative with Rogic as a long range strike option and known defenders - Boyle Francois - Rogic - Arzani Mooy - Pasquali Behich - Sainsbury - Degenek - Risdon