Australia
Australia - Group B (Spain, Netherlands, Chile)
Leaving Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006 had been the best decision Australia Football took in terms of the teams World Cup prospects and they have, as a consequence, qualified for their third straight Cup finals. But lack of young talent to replace the aging regulars is hurting their prospects at world stage
Profile - Low Key
Australia is the lowest ranking nation at this tourney and does look like it too. The supposedly "Golden Generation" of players who secured two successful world cup qualifier campaigns, one of those from the nigh impossible OFC, have all but retired and there is a serious dearth in replacements, owing to the fact that most of the probables ply their trade in least competitive leagues in Asia
The current crop of oz can rule skies, capable of scoring from headers as well as defend them. But their otherwise poor defense let most matches slip from their grasp. They have to rely on their flank play which would not do much good in the strong Group B
Confederation: AFC (Asia)
Coach: Ange Postecoglou (AUS)
FIFA Ranking: 59 (8-May-2014)
Nickname: Socceroos
Key Players: Cahill, Jedinak, Oar
Legends: Viduka, Kewell, Warren
History - The Socceroos
Being from a Confederation which has only one playoff position for a World Cup has hurt Australia's ambition many-fold. Although they topped the OFC regularly, they managed to qualify just twice, in 1974 and in 2006. They managed to reach Round of 16 in 2006 and owing to their shift to AFC subsequently, they managed to qualify since then. They also managed to reach finals of Confederations Cup in 1997 and won the third place in 2001
Qualification - Topsy Turvy
Socceroos' qualifiers didn't go as smoothly as their previous attempt. They started with a brace of draws and a loss but recovered in time to secure a second place three wins and a couple more draws in group B in AFC fourth round. Their early season 6-0 losses to Brazil and France resulted in a managerial sacking
Prospects - Toughest Group
They couldn't expect any worse than drawing along with 2010 finalists and Chile, Australia are expected to exit the World Cup without resulting in any head turns. Any unexpected result for Australia may result in changes in fortunes for others in the group
Squad
Goalkeepers:
Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United), Mitchell Langerak (Borussia Dortmund), Mat Ryan (Club Brugge)
Defenders:
Jason Davidson (Heracles Almelo), Ivan Franjic (Brisbane Roar), Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng Taishan), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Hyundai), Bailey Wright (Preston North End)
Midfielders:
Oliver Bozanic (Luzern), Mark Bresciano (Al Gharafa), James Holland (Austria Vienna), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace), Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town), Matthew McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Tommy Oar (Utrecht), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory), Dario Vidosic (Sion)
Forwards:
Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls), Ben Halloran (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Matthew Leckie (FSV Frankfurt 1899), Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets)
May 27: Ange Postecoglou trimmed the provisional squad to 27
May 14: Ange Postecoglou announced a 30-man provisional team
Fixtures
Australia vs Netherlands on June 18 at Porto Alegre
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
No comments :
Post a Comment