Australia coach Ange Postecoglou was true to his word and yesterday picked a youthful 30-man Socceroos preliminary squad for the World Cup finals in Brazil.
Postecoglou took over from German Holger Osieck just six months ago and had promised to ease out Australia’s aging “golden generation” in favor of younger players.
He has selected a provisional party with an average age of 25 for the June 12 to July 13 tournament, where Australia have been drawn with world champions Spain, as well as the Netherlands and Chile.
Photo: Reuters
The squad is littered with players in their early 20s, with two uncapped contenders for a ticket to South America in forward Ben Halloran and fellow 21-year-old Bailey Wright, a central defender.
Halloran has been in prolific form for Fortuna Duesseldorf in the German second tier, while Wright will be hoping to help Preston North End to promotion to England’s second flight before joining the squad.
Other mild surprises were the inclusion of A-League goalkeepers Eugene Galekovic and Mark Birighitti ahead of Liverpool reserve Brad Jones.
Midfielder James Troisi, who has been on loan at Melbourne Victory from Atalanta BC, Swindon midfielder Massimo Luongo and Adam Taggart, who scored 16 goals for the Newcastle Jets last season, have also been rewarded for their form.
“The majority of them have had strong seasons this year, and I guess for a lot of them, hopefully, they have a similar fire in their belly to myself in wanting to prove themselves,” Postecoglou told a news conference in Sydney. “I had some specific criteria — form, fitness and an eye for the future — and I think this squad reflects that.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen forward Robbie Kruse (knee), Middlesbrough’s Rhys Williams (Achilles) and his fellow defender Trent Sainsbury (knee) were all ruled out by injury.
Experienced campaigners such as goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, former captain Lucas Neill, midfielder Brett Holman and forward Harry Kewell have either jumped or been pushed into international retirement since Postecoglou took over.
“We needed to change the direction of our national team. This wasn’t going to be an adjustment, this was a meaningful change and we needed to regenerate the team,” Postecoglou said. “There was no doubt in my mind that we needed to make some meaningful change in the players we selected and, at the same time, understand that it’s a World Cup.”
The players are to gather in Gosford, just north of Sydney, for a training camp this week, and three players are to be cut after a friendly against South Africa set for May 26.
There was reassurance about the fitness of Mile Jedinak, who is the leading candidate to captain the side, but suffered a groin injury in his final match of the season for Crystal Palace last weekend.
“He won’t be out for more than two or three weeks,” said Postecoglou, who is set to name his final 23-man squad on June 2. “We were going to give him time off anyway and he’ll be in Gosford on Sunday.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS