Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
Australia head coach Bert van Marwijk has named six new faces in his preliminary 32-man squad in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
With all 26 players from the Socceroos squad that faced Norway and Colombia in March 2018 included, Van Marwijk has also found room for Hyundai A-League youngster Daniel Arzani after his impressive breakout season for Melbourne City.
Another first time call up is Fran Karacic, a 21-year-old right back who has been a regular starter for Lokomotiva Zagreb in the Croatian 1st Division.
Van Marwijk has also handed Socceroos recalls to Jamie Maclaren, Mitchell Langerak, Alex Gersbach and Apostolos Giannou.
“I am not a person who changes all the time and we thought for a long time about the first squad that we selected,” said van Marwijk on his 32-man squad.
“I had a good experience with the 26 players in the ten days that I worked with them, so I had no reason not to nominate them again. But we have since seen other players so there will be a few new names in the squad.”
The 32-man squad will be whittled down to 26 next week before the team travels to Turkey for a 20-day training camp.
The Socceroos will then play pre-World Cup friendlies against Czech Republic and Hungary prior to travelling to Kazan in final preparations for the first Group Stage match against France.
AUSTRALIA
Goalkeepers
Mat Ryan (Brighton and Hove Albion FC, England), Danny Vukovic (KRC Genk, Belgium), Brad Jones (Feyenoord, Holland), Mitch Langerak (Nagoya Grampus, Japan)
Defenders
Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F. Marinos, Japan), Matthew Jurman (Suwon Bluewings, South Korea), James Meredith (Millwall FC, England), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney), Trent Sainsbury (Grasshoppers Zurich, Switzerland), Aleksandar Susnjar (FK Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic), Bailey Wright (Bristol City, England), Alex Gersbach (RC Lens, France), Fran Karacic (Lokomotiva Zagreb, Croatia)
Midfielders
Josh Brillante (Sydney FC), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa, England), Mark Milligan (Al Ahli, Saudi Arabia), Robbie Kruse (VfL Bochum, Germany), Jackson Irvine (Hull City AFC, England), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers, England), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town, England), Tom Rogic (Celtic Glasgow, Scotland), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory)
Forwards
Tim Cahill (Millwall FC, England), Tomi Juric (FC Luzern, Switzerland), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds, Japan), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa, Israel), Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle Jets), Jamie Maclaren (Hibernian, Scotland), Daniel Arzani (Melbourne City FC), Apostolos Giannou (AEK Larnaca, Cyprus)
