The next time we see the Socceroos play, they’ll be in the United States, taking on co-hosts Mexico at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles – and World Cup fever will be in the air.
The players have now dispersed to their clubs after the FIFA Series victories over Cameroon (1-0) and Curacao (5-1) – and they won’t gather again until their club seasons are over.
It’s been 15 months since Tony Popovic took over from Graham Arnold, at a point when direct World Cup qualification was in serious peril. Since then, he’s steered the team back on track, delivered Australia’s first win over Japan since 2009, and sealed our sixth consecutive World Cup appearance.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but it’s been effective.
Popovic will not unveil his final 26-man squad for the World Cup until June 1, two days after their final warm-up clash against Mexico. But a fairly clear picture is emerging of who’s definitely in the final squad, and who’s battling it out for the last few spots.
The following is our read of the lay of the land, with a few major caveats: one, that even one injury could throw these plans out of whack; two, that a lot depends on how Popovic carves up the split between defenders, midfielders and forwards; and three, recent history shows that he is always liable to throw a curveball nobody saw coming.
Goalkeeper On the plane: Maty Ryan, Paul Izzo
In the mix: Patrick Beach, Joe Gauci
It’s pretty simple: Ryan, Australia’s captain, starts every game at the World Cup. Unlike in 2022, he’s playing regularly for his club, Levante, and it’s possibly a good thing that they’re second-bottom of La Liga, because that means he’s seeing a lot of work. Izzo is the clear number two, so the only question here is who goes as the third goalkeeper. It looks like a battle between Melbourne City’s Beach and Gauci, who is on loan at League One battlers Port Vale from Aston
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