Arnie's bold World Cup squad shows he has one eye on the future

The 26 men tasked with heading to Qatar, proudly representing their country and putting a dignified fight up in a group few expect Australia to progress from has been named.

Maligned coach Graham Arnold, in what many suspect may be his first and only World Cup in the top job, announced on Tuesday afternoon the side he had assembled to take on France, Denmark, and Tunisia in a tough group later this month.

It’s an odd squad. For no reason other than the fact it feels bold – packed with a host of players who are the future of the Socceroos and lacking a pair of previously locked on starters and a squad staple. Oddly though, the squad feels exactly right.

The elephant in the room, and the cherry on top of this Socceroos squad for many is Cristian Volpato, who is slowly starting to prove himself under Jose Mourinho at Roma.

(Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

Graham Arnold admitted his attempts to negotiate with the young midfielder “right up until 11pm last night. I told him yesterday that he was in the 26-player squad… he declined the offer to play for Australia at the World Cup.”

A major statement made by the young Roman. One which ratifies his belief in himself, something to be admired at such a raw age.

Aside from Volpato, Arnold also omitted goalkeeper Mitch Langerak – a decision he conceded was not entirely his own.

The Nagoya Grampus keeper must feel stiff to miss selection. Retiring from the national team last year due to the pandemic, being shoehorned back into the fold after supreme club for in Japan’s topflight – where he kept 14 clean sheets in 33 matches as his side finished eight.

Yet not enough to earn a call-up to the Middle East. Especially when considering Arnie has opted for two experienced goalkeepers alongside captain Mat Ryan – who himself has struggled for minutes in Denmark this season – rather than allocating his third goalkeeper slot to a more forward-thinking addition such as Adelaide’s Joe Gauci.

The other two glaring omissions, Tom Rogic – who has barely played for West Brom this season, notching 250 minutes across five matches – and Trent Sainsbury who “hasn’t played for a number of weeks” and looked severely underdone and outmuscled in a pair of recent friendlies against New Zealand.

Unlike Langerak’s exclusion, it is much easier to cop the absence of both Rogic and Sainsbury – two of Australia’s finest throughout the 2010s, veterans of the failed 2018 Russian World Cup offensive, with enough caps to be the equal fourth and third most experienced players on the planes – due to the fact that, unlike Langerak, their replacements are younger, players with more caps and World Cups in store.

24-year-old Riley McGree and 26-year-old Ajdin Hrustic will fill the creative midfield void vacated by Tom Rogic, while Harry Souttar (24), Kye Rowles (24), and Thomas Deng (25) are Arnie’s younger central defensive options. It also helps that Rowles and Souttar are Australia’s strongest defensive pairing.

Socceroo Ajdin Hrustic lining up for Eintracht Frankfurt. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Even with the 2022 squad being older than 2018 – an average age of 27.5 v 26.3 – has more players 30 and over – nine v six – and the same number of players aged 25 or under (nine), it does feel like a side that has its sights set not necessarily on Qatar, but on next year’s Asian Cup and in four years’ time on the USA, Canada, and Mexico World Cup.

Should all go to plan then a large majority of the players making their tournament debuts this month – Deng, Rowles, Souttar, Atkinson, King, Hrustic, McGree, Devlin, Baccus, and Garang Kuol – will be hitting their strides, entering the prime of their careers having already participated in arguably the toughest World Cup in history not only due to Australia’s draw, but also the environmental conditions that will be at play.

Add to this a handful of other young Australia players who have begun etching their marks across domestic leagues both domestically and abroad. I’m talking Marco Tilio, Louis D’Arrigo, Alou Kuol, Kai Trewin, Patrick Yazbek, Nestory Irankunda, Daniel Arzani and the rest.

Graham Arnold’s World Cup squad is sensible. It allows players set to be the nucleus of the national team to develop relationships, partnerships and understandings of each other’s games and gain crucial experience on the world’s biggest stage, potentially placing themselves in the shop window for career altering moves.

We often say Australian football has a development problem. I don’t think that’s the case. Australian football produces great talent. What Australian football fails to do, especially in recent years, is nurture that talent. Give them their start and allow them to organically progress without placing the weight of expectations forged by the Golden Generation directly on their shoulders.

The 2022 Qatar World Cup feels like a moment to nurture some of Australia’s rising talent, most of who are at the crucial career crossroads most players reach during their mid-20’s, the limbo age between being a young player and an experienced player.

The Socceroos’ campaign his month looks as if it is going to provide a great platform and plethora of learnings for these young players, mixing it with men who have been there before and bringing that undying fight that every young man expresses.