Graham Arnold has left some big names, including Mitch Langerak and talismanic attacker Tom Rogic out of his 26-man squad for the World Cup, while Roma starlet Cristian Volpato snubbed Arnie’s attempts to call him up.
Rogic, who made himself available for the Socceroos playoffs late in their qualifying campaign, was expected by many to return to the fray for the finals in Qatar later this month.
Arnold said he had assistants Tony Vidmar and Rene Meulensteen visit Rogic and watch him play for West Brom, but made a decision to go with Ajdin Hrustic and Riley McGree instead.
“I only can pick two players every position in a 26 man squad. I would have loved to be able to pick 50 players and we’ve got Ajdin Hrustic and Riley McGree in that area and we need some flexibility and we need players that are extremely fit and ready.
“I felt it was a decision to make on the playing side of it. Tommy has been absolutely brilliant for Australian football and will continue to be so but I have to make those decisions.”
There was also no place for Daniel Arzani or Trent Sainsbury, while Garang Kuol continued his incredible rise with selection.
Arnold chose Central Coast Mariners’ Danny Vukovic and Sydney FC’s playoff hero Andrew Redmayne alongside Socceroos skipper Mat Ryan as the three keepers for Qatar. He said had “trusted” the advice of his goalkeeping coach John Crawley when it came to making the decision on his keepers.
Langerak, who was recently voted Japan club Nagoya Grampus’ player of the year, retired from international football last year. He answered the call from Arnold to reverse his decision and was an unused substitute for the two recent matches against New Zealand.
Mitchell Langerak. (Photo by Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images)
Arnold said he had made three attempts to convince Volpato to come to the tournament.
“Right up until 11pm here last night,” Arnold said of his attempts to sway Volpato.
“It’s not my decision. I spoke to Cristian yesterday three times. Before that I’d spoken him on numerous occasions.
“I pretty much told him yesterday that he was in the 26-man squad. He wanted to go away and think about it. He wanted to speak to the people around him that help guide his career.
“And he came back last night and declined the offer to come play for Australia at the World Cup.
“That’s his decision and I’d rather look at the young Australian boys that have come into this camp, and look forward to the future.
“Cristian feels at this time of his career, that it’s such a massive decision. And at this moment in time, he doesn’t want to make that massive decision, which is all his right.”
Arnold chose a central strike force of Mitch Duke, Jamie Maclaren and Jason Cummings with Adam Taggart missing out.
Australia’s Cup campaign opens against reigning champions France on November 23 (6am AEDT) with games against Tunisia and Denmark to follow.
“It’s been a unique and difficult qualification campaign and we now arrive in Qatar with an exciting squad which will do everything to make Australia proud on the world stage,” Arnold said in a statement.
“Over the past four years, 32 players have made their debut for the national team. I want to thank every player who has helped the team over this journey. We have called upon 68 players during the qualifying campaign and every one of them has played a part in getting us here.”
“The make-up of our team reflects Australia’s multicultural landscape. Our boys come from all over the world, they all have different journeys, but we are united by one jersey,” Arnold expressed.
After securing qualification for the fifth consecutive FIFA World Cup, sixth appearance in total, the Socceroos will be looking to progress through the group stages for the first time since 2006.
The squad features nine members of the Tokyo 2020 Olyroos’ squad in Nathaniel Atkinson, Keanu Baccus, Thomas Deng, Cameron Devlin, Joel King, Riley McGree, Kye Rowles, Harry Souttar and Mitchell Duke as the overage player.
“We have worked hard to give younger players an opportunity over the campaign, to expose them to international football, to test them against the best and I’m thrilled with the development and maturity of this group who now get a chance on the biggest stage possible,” Arnold said.
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