Well, that was surprising. Tony Popovic’s 26-player squad to face Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in two crucial World Cup qualifiers over the next fortnight has dismantled the status quo.
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The family, as the squad and environment were so often described under former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, has been broken up and, in its place, sits an eclectic mix of new faces and ones that seemed to be surplus to requirements.
Others, meanwhile, are completely missing through their own choosing; as is the case with Cardiff City midfielder Alex Robertson, or have been excluded, where they were previously part of the furniture.
Popovic, after taking on the role just weeks before the last international window in October, said he wanted to ensure that nobody felt they had a right to a Socceroos jersey. With this squad he has done just that and perhaps the biggest story surrounds three players who won’t feature in Melbourne and Bahrain this month.
THE MISSING PLAYERS
Alex Robertson
When Alex Robertson made his debut for Australia in a friendly against Ecuador in March last year, it seemed like the next 100-cap Socceroo had been discovered.
The midfielder, who is now on the books of Championship side Cardiff City, is one of those players blessed with both tactical and technical skill in abundance and it appeared as though the battle for his allegiance was won.
After all, with his father Mark and grandfather, also named Alexander, in the stands in Sydney that night, he became a third-generation Socceroo.
Mark represented Australia in 2001 and Alexander in the mid 1980s.
But Robertson is also eligible to represent Scotland, England and Peru through birth, residence and family.
After playing his junior football in Sydney, Robertson made the move to the UK as a teenager and represented England at youth level.
The 21-year-old hasn’t featured for Australia since a 2-nil friendly defeat to Argentina in Beijing in June last year and whether he adds to his two caps is now up in the air.
Last month, Robertson’s absence from the squad for games against China and Japan was explained as a paperwork issue with FIFA that hadn’t been resolved yet.
Now, it seems, Football Australia has done everything it can to resolve the matter.
“That sits in his hands now,” Popovic said after unveiling his squad in Melbourne.
“If he wants to play for the Socceroos, he needs to make himself available.
“It’s an Alex decision on what he wants to do.
“If he wants to make himself available for the Socceroos then we can look at whether we select him, but at the moment we don’t have that option.
“You have to respect the shirt, the badge; you have to respect the honour of playing for the Socceroos and we also have to respect the fact that everyone can make their own choice.
“Right now, his decision is not to make himself available.”
It’s a measure of Robertson’s immense talent that Popovic went on to say that the door hasn’t been closed because of this latest development, but fans who have long called for his inclusion in green and gold, at least now have some clarity on the matter.
Nestory Irankunda
The other big name missing from the squad list was that of Nestory Irankunda.
The 18-year-old, who swapped Adelaide United for Bayern Munich in the off-season, has made a positive start to his time at the German powerhouse.
The winger has been scoring for both Bayern II in the Regionalliga and also in the UEFA Youth League, but his output at international level has been mixed.
He looked lively and dangerous in the last fixtures of the Graham Arnold era, but struggled in his first match under Popovic, when handed a starting role against China in Adelaide last month and then didn’t feature against Japan.
Popovic’s system, where the wingers play a more inverted role, doesn’t seem to suit the teenager. He’s more comfortable wider on the right, and so far, that is at odds with Popovic’s preferred tactical set-up.
“It’s just a selection decision,” Popovic said.
“We know he’s a young man with a lot of potential, who is signed at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“We just feel it is an opportunity for him to settle in at Bayern and get the development that he needs there and the growth.
“We still hope that we really see this potential moving forward from him in the national team in years to come.”
Keanu Baccus
It won’t be a major headline, but the decision not to call-up Keanu Baccus is still notable.
The combative, deeper lying midfielder, was a mainstay under Arnold, who shot to prominence at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 while locked in a fierce battle with Argentina’s Lionel Messi in a heart stopping round of 16 defeat in Doha.
Under Popovic, Baccus has only seen 10-minutes of action, and that was in a largely unfamiliar right-back role against Japan, in the 1-1 draw in Saitama.
The new coach has plenty of options in central midfield too in the form of Jackson Irvine, Aiden O’Neill, Max Balard, Anthony Caceres and Patrick Yazbek.
THE NEW PLAYERS
Anthony Caceres
Anthony Caceres has often been referred to as the best player never to represent Australia at any level.
Now 32, it appeared the chance of the Sydney FC midfielder shedding that tag was slim, but the door has finally opened.
Caceres seems perfectly suited to Popovic’s system where those further forward are required to be comfortable and make good decisions in extremely tight spaces.
In fact, he’s done just that his whole career.
There was a school of thought over the years that while Caceres was technically gifted, he lacked a killer edge in the final third.
But with three goals, 10 assists and 13 goal involvements to his name last season, those concerns have been allayed, if Popovic ever had them at all.
“He’s been a player that I’ve admired for a very long time,” said Popovic.
“He deserves his chance.
“Every coach has their ideas and this is his chance now.
Max Balard
It’s perhaps the ultimate compliment, that after moving from the Central Coast Mariners to Dutch Eredivisie side NAC Breda this season, the local media in the Netherlands quickly dubbed the 23-year-old the ‘Australian Kante.’
It’s a nod to former Leicester City and Chelsea star N’Golo Kante, now playing for Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad, who is one of the finest ball-winning midfielders of his generation.
Balard missed selection for last month’s window, but should now get the chance to shine, after proving to Australia’s new coaching staff that he can be just as damaging with his range of passing as well.
“He’s had some very good performances this year,” Popovic said.
“We’ve been monitoring him prior to the last camp, but I think in the last month, his game has become more consistent; more balanced in his play, with and without the ball.”
Hayden Matthews
The 20-year-old Sydney FC central defender only signed his first professional contract in January this year and has now earned his maiden international call-up.
At 195 centimetres, he is a towering figure, and although on the surface, it looks like Matthews has been included to get some experience in an extended 26-player squad, it’s interesting that he’s on the radar of the national team boss so early in his career.
THE RETURNING PLAYERS
Rhyan Grant
The last time Rhyan Grant featured for the Socceroos was in a third round World Cup qualifying defeat to Japan in Sydney in 2022.
The tireless right-back has seen a long list of players cycle through that position in an Australian shirt since then, but never in his wildest dreams did the Sydney FC captain think he’d be considered again.
“I honestly didn’t see this coming, but I’m absolutely delighted,” Grant said.
The 33-year-old, who has 21-caps to his name, thought his time had passed, and stressed that point whenever the topic of a recall to international football surfaced, but could well be the answer to the problematic position again.
Brandon Borrello
The search for a striker who can score on a consistent basis is just as puzzling as the absence of an established right back.
Brandon Borrello will fight for minutes alongside Mitch Duke and Kusini Yengi.
The Western Sydney Wanderers quarter-final exit at the hands of Adelaide United in the Australia Cup left the forward short of minutes for the October window, but with 266-minutes and two goals from three games under his belt in the A-League this season, he’s moved back up the pecking order.
Milos Degenek
Few people are more passionate about the Socceroos jersey than Milos Degenek.
In an extraordinary interview at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 he offered an insight into the mentality he takes into games.
“The lion mentality is, you either eat or you get eaten, and that’s the simplest way to put it,” Degenek said at the time.
“I used this term before the Peru game with the boys, I said ‘there’s bread on the table’.
“Either we eat tonight; my kids, my wife and my family eats tonight, or they eat and my kids go home to sleep hungry and my wife as well – and I don’t want that to happen.”
Degenek has missed most of 2024 due to injury but is back on the park and played in FK Crvena zvezda’s first round Serbian Cup game just over a week ago.
The 30-year-old, who can play as a central defender or right-back, adds versatility to the squad and even if he doesn’t feature on the field, he’ll be a force for good around the squad.
Martin Boyle
Martin Boyle looked out of sorts in the September window as the Socceroos stumbled against Bahrain and Indonesia in, what turned out to be, the final days of the Arnold era.
He didn’t feature in Popovic’s first squad, but his form for Hibernian, in Scotland, has been hard to ignore.
The 31-year-old has five goals and five assists to his name this season and could potentially be deployed as an inverted winger or striker.
His experience will also help the side deal with the scale of the challenge in-front of them.
A victory over Saudi Arabia next week will go some way towards rectifying the Socceroos dire start to the third round of qualifying.
Australia is currently second in group C but locked on five points with their next opponents, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
A top two finish in the group earns automatic qualification for the next World Cup in 2026, so the stakes around every fixture from here are high.
Squad: Max Balard, Aziz Behich, Brandon Borrello, Jordy Bos, Martin Boyle, Cameron Burgess, Anthony Caceres, Milos Degenek, Mitch Duke, Joe Gauci (GK), Jason Geria, Craig Goodwin, Rhyan Grant, Ajdin Hrustic, Jackson Irvine, Paul Izzo (GK), Hayden Matthews, Riley McGree, Lewis Miller, Aiden O’Neill, Kye Rowles, Mat Ryan (GK), Harry Souttar, Nishan Velupillay, Patrick Yazbek, Kusini Yengi.
