'He's fearless': Why Socceroos' 2006 hero is backing teen star to make impact on the world stage

Australian World Cup hero John Aloisi says the experience of Aaron Mooy and X-factor of Garang Kuol are two reasons why Australia has a puncher’s chance of going on a surprise run at the tournament in Qatar.

Aloisi, who smashed home the penalty to take the Socceroos to the 2006 finals and then scored in the exhilarating 3-1 win over Japan, will be working on the finals as a pundit with SBS this time around.

While the Aussies scraped and fought their way to Qatar, and no one would consider them the equal to 2006’s golden generation of talent, Western United coach Aloisi isn’t putting up the white flag ahead of a daunting opener against France on Wednesday (6am AEDT).

The Aussies have matches against Tunisia and Denmark to follow and many would consider them a strong chance to come home without a point.

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“Every time Australia plays it’s a tough group,” Aloisi told The Roar.

“In 2006 we had Croatia, one of the best teams in Europe and Brazil, the world champions from 2002.

“But this is a good opportunity for Australia.

“I think that the preparation will play into our hands a little bit. We understand the environment, understand what Doha is all about.

“We will be staying at the best place possible, where the players will be feeling very comfortable in the environment, having played quite a few games there in recent times.

“They understand air-conditioned stadiums. They’ll be going into this feeling confident because they’re underdogs, and whenever Australia are underdogs they seem to perform even better.”

He said the qualification game against Peru, which the Socceroos won via a penalty shootout against the favoured South American team, was a perfect example.

“A lot of people were saying it was impossible with the team that we’ve got, the way we’d been performing.

“We outplayed Peru and got the result that we needed and deserved.”

Defending champions France are, of course, another step up, but Aloisi feels they might be vulnerable.

“France are slow starters. Under Didier Deschamps they’re very pragmatic and we could frustrate them,” said Aloisi.

“I believe that we could possibly get something out of this game. A lot of past World Cup winners have struggled in the group stage the following tournament, and I think that’s an advantage for us to take into it.

“If I was Arnie [coach Graham Arnold] I’d be saying these things and getting the players to really believe we can cause an upset and make headlines around the world by getting a result against France.

“Senegal did it back in 2002. It’s our time to do it.”

John Aloisi (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

In 2002, France entered the tournament as champions and one of the leading candidates but internal disputes wrecked their campaign, which began in a 1-0 win to Senegal in the tournament’s opening match.

This Socceroos team lacks a lot of the lustre of the 2006 outfit that made it through to the knockout stages and was unlucky to fall to a disputed penalty against Italy.

That team had plenty of firepower with Aloisi sharing forward duties with some of our best ever talent – Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell, who were all proven players in Europe, including the Premier League.

One Socceroo who has experienced that level, if not quite the same heights as Champions League winner Kewell or Everton legend Cahill for example, is Aaron Mooy.

The midfielder is now with Celtic having come from the Premier League via China.

“Mooy will be the most important player,” Aloisi said..

“He has the experience and a way to control the game in midfield even when we haven’t got the ball through his energy and running. He’s non-stop. We saw in the last two qualifiers, even when he wasn’t match fit he still ran more than anyone else.

“We’re  going to have to run more than France and we’re going to have to be very, very disciplined, very structured, and I think that Mooy will lead that in the middle of the park.”

It’s a sign of the times that one of the most exciting players on the Australian roster – teenager Kuol – hasn’t even started a professional game.

Aloisi still backs the youngster to make an impression.

Garang Kuol of Australia poses during the official FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 portrait session on November 15, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Ryan Pierse – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

“Talking about players going in form, Kuol seems to be able to make an impact whenever he comes on.

“I know these are world class players he’ll be up against. But when you go into any game feeling confident, it doesn’t matter who you come up against, you believe you’re going to be better than them, believe you can take the game to them, and I think Kuol can do that.

“I believe Arnie will put him on for impact. He’s fearless. To have that in your game is great. It’s like he’s playing at the park with his mates.

“Sometimes to have that can take you a long way because it means that the pressure doesn’t get to you. And I don’t think the pressure will get to him.

“I think that he knows and believes he’s a top player. He’ll also know that there’s a lot of work still left in his game but it’s exciting to watch.”

Kuol, meanwhile, is trying to stay insulated from the hype.

“I don’t really pay attention to what is said around me,” he told reporters in Doha. “I’m just really focused on what I do on the field in training and games.

“If I’m not playing well, I’m not going to go and look at something online to cheer me up.

“What I look for is what makes me happy and what gives me that motivation to keep pushing forward.”

Kuol won his first Australian cap on September 25, becoming the youngest Socceroo to debut since a 17-year-old Kewell in 1996.

If he plays in Qatar, Kuol will become the youngest Socceroo ever to play at a World Cup – Daniel Arzani was 19 when he featured at the 2018 edition in Russia.

“I have got to perform on the field,” he said.

“For me it’s all about just having confidence in yourself and being ruthless and having that mindset to want to create something and make an impact.”

While Aloisi believes France could be caught cold and cagey at the start of the tournament, he still expects them to feature at the pointy end of the competition, but with plenty of contenders in the mix.

On a personal level he says, “I’m praying Argentina because I just want to see Lionel Messi win a World Cup.

“But there are so many nations that you go all the way from England, through to Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, all these nations will be going into the tournament believing they’re going to win it and they’ve got the squads to win.

“Then you have the likes of Serbia and Croatia, who have actually qualified really well, Denmark, who seem like they have galvanised even more since the Erickson incident and having him back.”

The unusual circumstances of a World Cup, coming midway through the European league seasons, could throw some teams a curve ball, as could the stifling conditions in the Middle East.

“It could throw a few nations off not being used to the conditions, not being used to walking outside and it’s 35 degrees and then walking back inside and it’s freezing because of the air conditioning,” he said.

“Then there are the injuries that they’ve got leading into the tournament, there’s not enough time to recover.

“It will be different to any other tournament they’ve been involved in because normally you have a lead in, you’re playing friendly games together, you’re playing yourself back in form.

“Whoever’s going to this tournament in form should still perform. But individual players who are out of form might struggle a little bit because they haven’t got long to prepare.

“I look at Cristiano Ronaldo, who you’d never write off, but he’s coming into this without really playing regular football.

“So how’s he going to go with Portugal? Whereas Messi is coming in in very good form and you think that’s he’d carry it on.

“Karim Benzema is underdone, hasn’t played a lot, been injured, then there’s the likes of Kylian Mbappe who is feeling really great and firing on all cyclinders.

“It will affect individuals differently.”