With a slew of injuries to contend with, Graham Arnold’s 26-man World Cup group contains an eclectic mix of players After all the hysteria and innuendo of a transfer deadline day had been poured into a few weeks of World Cup squad speculation, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold finally named his 26-player squad for football’s global showcase on Tuesday. It is a group full of what Arnold called “boxing Kangaroos”.Fresh as this new slogan may be, the motif and messaging represents a continuation of the fighting spirit that has been a hallmark of Arnold’s tenure – not least when qualification for the tournament in Qatar became less certain and backs were against the wall. Continue reading...
The Mariners youngster appears to be in a four-way battle for the final spot in Graham Arnold’s Qatar-bound squadIf Graham Arnold was reaching for the panadol to deal with selection headaches back in September, he might need something a little bit stronger at this point. With Australia’s opening game of the World Cup against France just over two weeks away, deliberation time has run out for the Socceroos boss. There is no more football left to be played and no more opportunities to make cases for selection; 1,153 days after the Socceroos began their journey to Qatar, Arnold will on Tuesday name the 26 players he will take to the biggest sporting event on the planet. But unfortunately for Arnold,...
In six short months the teenager has progressed from a fringe youth prospect at Central Coast to the English Premier LeagueGarang Kuol is officially off to Newcastle United. Having rode a wave of momentum from A-League youth football to the biggest league in the world in less than a year, the world is at the feet of Australian football’s next big thing. Now, with an entire nation watching on, he stares down the barrel of taking daunting, and treacherous steps into the unknown.Just a week on from becoming the youngest player to debut for Australia since 17-year-old Harry Kewell, Kuol was formally unveiled as the latest member of the Toon on Thursday after flying to the UK following the Socceroos’...
With ‘15 or 16 players’ cemented in coach Graham Arnold’s plans for Qatar 2022, the fight is on to be the best of the rest“I’m going to reach out to Panadol as my new sponsor because I’m going to have quite a number of headaches to fit into a 26-man squad,” Socceroos coach Graham Arnold said in the aftermath of his side’s 2-0 win over New Zealand on Sunday afternoon. Delivered with a wry smile, it was a rehearsed gag that spoke to one of the biggest challenges the 58-year-old – and every other coach heading to Qatar 2022 – will face in the coming months.Between now and 14 November, Arnold faces the mammoth task of weighing up a complex...
Australia are off to the World Cup. Now we must ask ourselves what we expect when they are in QatarIt is an oft-repeated expression that “opinions are like arseholes, in that everyone has one”. Tim Minchin used this once during a speech to university graduates, and then clarified that “opinions differ significantly from arseholes, in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined”. The comedian-composer said we should be hard on our beliefs, “take them out onto the verandah and beat them with a cricket bat”.It feels like an uncomfortable but worthwhile exercise after the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup, particularly when it comes to opinions regarding the coach. Today, a quick Google search of “Graham Arnold” brings up...