Arzani and Karacic the bolters, Cahill in Socceroos’ preliminary WC squad
Daniel Arzani and Fran Karacic have been confirmed as the selection bolters for Australia's preliminary 32-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Melbourne City wing prodigy Arzani has represented Australia at junior level but due to his heritage was also eligible to play for Iran.
Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk has looked to ensure Arzani's future lies with Australia by naming him in his initial squad, which will be whittled down to 23 players by the eve of the World Cup in Russia.
Socceroos' 32-man preliminary squad
Goalkeepers:
- Brad Jones (Feyenoord), Mitch Langerak (Nagoya Grampus), Mat Ryan (Brighton), Danny Vukovic (Genk)
Defenders:
- Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F Marinos), Alex Gersbach (Lens), Matthew Jurman (Suwon Bluewings), Fran Karacic (NK Lokomotiva), James Meredith (Millwall), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney), Trent Sainsbury (Grasshoppers), Aleksandar Susnjar (FK Mlada Boleslav), Bailey Wright (Bristol City)
Midfielders:
- Josh Brillante (Sydney FC), Jackson Irvine (Hull City), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa), Robbie Kruse (Bochum), Massimo Luongo (QPR), Mark Milligan (Al Ahli), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield), Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle Jets), Tom Rogic (Celtic), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory)
Forwards:
- Daniel Arzani (Melbourne City), Tim Cahill (Millwall), Apostolos Giannou (AEK Larnaca), Tomi Juric (FC Luzern), Matthew Leckie (Hertha Berlin), Jamie MacLaren (Hibernian), Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa)
Arzani has enjoyed a prominent rise thanks to his domestic form for Melbourne City which has netted him the A-League's young player of the year award.
Also in the mix for World Cup selection is full-back Fran Karacic, a Croatian youth player born in Zagreb but who has an Australian passport.
Van Marwijk identified right-back as a problem area for Australia, and has brought Karacic in to assess personally, on advice from his assistants.
"Everybody knows that the right defending position, I don't have a lot of choice for that position," van Marwijk said.
"He is already the captain of his team, at 21-years-old.
"He plays only right-back and we don't have a lot of players in that position … it's a position we discuss a lot."
The 26-man squad van Marwijk named for the March friendlies against Norway and Colombia was retained for the preliminary World Cup group, including captain Mile Jedinak and warhorse Tim Cahill.
Cahill will be aiming to become just the sixth player in history to appear and score in four or more World Cups, having made his bow in the 2006 event in Germany.
"He can make a difference, he is a player who will not be nervous to play in front of 80,000 people," van Marwijk said of Cahill.
Van Marwijk will cut the 32-man squad down to 26 or 27 players towards at the end of this week, who will head to a 20-day training camp in Turkey ahead of the World Cup.
That squad at the training camp will then be refined down to a final 23-man World Cup squad.
"I am not a person who changes all the time and we thought for a long time about the first squad that we selected," van Marwijk said.
"I had a good experience with the 26 players in the ten days that I worked with them, so I had no reason not to nominate them again. But we have since seen other players so there will be a few new names in the squad."
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ABC .net
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