The 26-man team chosen to represent Australia at the 2022 FIFA World Cup is a real depiction of the diversity of the nation, according to experts. Even though the Australian team of this generation lacks a star of the calibre of Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka, or Harry Kewell, Ajdin Hrustic when in form, can stake a claim to being the Socceroos’ best player in 2022. Improving on a terrible prior World Cup record, and baffling their detractors back home, will be the task for Graham Arnold and his squad of Aussie underdogs.
When Australia qualified for Germany 2006, it was only the second FIFA World Cup™ in their history – and their first in over 30 years. Now, with the Socceroos travelling to fifth straight world championships, you could believe that this is being lauded as the continuation of a glorious period. But there is not, in fact, a big lot of optimism or enthusiasm involved in the team headed to Qatar.
Most Australian supporters didn’t expect to be in this situation earlier this year, and some at that time were even demanding that the team’s coach to be dismissed from his job. It would be inaccurate, however, to imply that the fortitude shown in the play-offs has produced a rise of self-belief among Socceroos supporters. With a squad that lacks in the famous names of years gone by, and a record of failing to win any of its six matches at the previous two World Cups, those fans will attend Qatar 2022 with modest hopes and low expectations.
Arnold’s Approach and Methods
Given that his team is not loaded with stunning individual talent, it’s probably no surprise that the Australia coach has chosen a style that can best be defined as utilitarian. Arnold’s Socceroos are not a squad that aims to monopolize possession and they are extremely unlikely to lead Qatar 2022 in goalscoring and opportunity creation. Nor, despite their coach’s early comments that he would want to pattern his Australia squad on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, do they like to push hard, high in the opponent’s half. Shape, solidity and an emphasis on exploiting set-piece scenarios have tended to be the foundations on which this Socceroos squad has been constructed, and more of the same may be anticipated in Qatar.
Star Man: Ajdin Hrustic
“Australia gave me everything. They also provided my parents and dad a life,” he added recently. “They flew from Bosnia in 1995; Australia embraced them, gave them a home, they had work.” That fatal ’95 trip has delivered the Hrustics’ chosen nation with, perhaps, the most talented Socceroo of his generation. The aggressive midfielder was clearly the standout of Australia’s qualification campaign, netting the winner in the AFC play-off triumph against UAE having already struck the goal with a number of magnificent free kicks along the road. Watch out for more of them in Qatar.
One to Watch: Garang Kuol
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He has yet to start a league match for his club and just got into the Socceroos fold a few months ago. Teenager Garang Kuol is, however, one of the most popular and talked-about picks in Australia’s team owing to the evident potential he holds. The gifted attacker, who has already signed a transfer to English giants Newcastle United after the World Cup, is unlikely to start for the Socceroos in Qatar. But Arnold’s assessment of the 18-year-old as “an impact player” indicates his capacity to influence the course of matches.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will begin in less than a month, and here is all the information you need as the Subway Socceroos travel to the world’s biggest sporting event. But although they have gone to every World Cup since, the Socceroos have fallen out at the group stage each time and picked up only one point from a potential 18 throughout Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018. Improving on that terrible recent record will be the task for Arnold and his band of Aussie underdogs in Qatar.
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