Australia Football World Cup: Five Players to Watch

Posted by Xchange Tickets on October 26th, 2022

Australia Football World Cup: This is not, by any measure, a vintage Socceroos team. The days when this team’s World Cup campaigns would be spearheaded by domestic names such as Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, and Mark Viduka now seem a distant memory.

But while Australia’s class of ‘22 lacks star control, there are still some exciting, lesser-known talents who could make a major imprint in Qatar. “I trust in my players,” Coach Graham Arnold told Fifa+ back in June. “I know we don’t have anyone at the moment reliably starring in the world’s biggest leagues, but there is aptitude there.”

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Spirit and togetherness exist in abundant supply, too, and those qualities came to the fore when – after a difficult, Covid-hit AFC qualifying campaign – the Socceroos ground out playoff wins over the United Arab Emirates and then Peru to qualify for a fifth consecutive Football World Cup.

No one in Australia will need to repeat that they have fallen at the first hurdle in the last three of those global finals, and arose winless from the last two. But having prevailed as underdogs against the Peruvians, Arnold’s charges are determined to upset the odds once again – starting with holders France on 22 November. We look at five players whose form and riches will be vital to the Socceroos’ hopes.

Martin Boyle

Position: Forward

Age: 29

Passed over for variety by Scotland, this Aberdeen-born attacker has spent the last few years showing his innate country just what they’re missing. Boyle, who is wedded to Scotland women’s international Rachael Small, had never even been to Australia before being chosen by the Socceroos. As he told Fifa last year, his assortment arose by pure accidental as Graham Arnold visited two of his then-Hibernian colleagues and was warned by them of Boyle’s Aussie parentage.

Once in the green and gold, he made an instant imprint, scoring two goals and laying on another in his first start to upstage Tim Cahill on the Aussie legend’s 108th and final international arrival. Boyle has continued to excite in the time since, contributing goals and assists and stretching opponents’ defenses with his sweltering pace.

That speed will be one of Arnold’s most strong offensive weapons in Qatar and, with Australia sure to be on the back foot at times, is sure to be dominant to any counter-attacking plan. With the 29-year-old back at Hibernian and back among the goals after a spell in Saudi Arabia, he should arrive self-assured and ready to make his mark at this, his first Football World Cup.

Aaron Mooy

Position: Midfielder

Age: 31

A midfield mainstay for much of the past decade, Mooy’s sustained importance was reinforced during those World Cup play-offs. He is inwards in Doha having not played a competitive game in four months, with his only preparation for some individual meetings with Australia’s former strength and conditioning coach. But while this might have pointed to a substitute’s role, and Mooy transporting his experience in the latter stages, he ended up preliminary and seeing out both matches, playing all 120 minutes against Peru before stepping up to slot home a penalty.

Australia Football World Cup

 “What that kid did is just amazing,” said an appreciative Arnold afterward. It showed too that, barring injury, this classy and calm technician is almost sure to be asked to anchor the Socceroos’ midfield in Qatar. Arnold is also confident that a switch from Shanghai to Scotland, where Mooy is now playing under former Australia coach Ange Postecoglou at Celtic, will be crucial to safeguarding that he arrives in peak condition.

“We all know that Ange will get the best out of Aaron,” Arnold has said. “With better appropriateness, with more match rhythm, and under Ange, I imagine that when he walks into Qatar he’ll be the leader that we need on the field.”

Ajdin Hrustic

Position: Attacking midfielder

Age: 26

With the talented Tom Rogic’s future still masked in mystery, Hrustic is without rival as Australia’s most creative midfielder. Elegant and confident on the ball, his ability to both score and create established the Verona playmaker as the breakout star of the Socceroos’ Qatar 2022 qualifying campaign.  To know more about France Vs Australia Tickets click here.

Teammates have been quick to acknowledge as much, with winger Matt Leckie lauding Hrustic’s ability to “at any time of the game, pick a pass or do somewhat special”. World Cup defenses should also be wary of his volume for the spectacular in set-piece situations, which was established more than once during the World Cup beginnings.

The 26-year-old is one of valuable few Australian players operating in one of Europe’s so-called big five leagues, having lately swapped Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga for Serie A’s Verona. The trajectory of his club career has matched his international riches, and last season he was one of the penalty-scoring heroes as Eintracht won their first European trophy in over four periods.

Awer Mabil

Position: Winger

Age: 26

Mabil’s mere presence at this Football World Cup is inspirational. This, after all, is a young man who was born in a Kenyan refugee camp after his parents fled the battle in Sudan, and who survived as a child on one meal a day, playing barefoot with a rolled-up sock as his football.

The skills learned in those awful situations shone brightly when Australia took in Mabil’s family in 2006. His rise since has been the stuff of fairy tales, and the joining to his adopted country was reaffirmed when he slotted home the sixth consequence in the shootout win over Peru that tenable the Socceroos’ World Cup spot. "I knew I was going to score,” Mabil said later. “It was the only way to say thank you to Australia on behalf of my family.”

This talented, elusive winger has donated a great deal more than that coolly dispatched penalty since making an emotional debut in 2018. Now playing in LaLiga with Cadiz after a fruitful seven-year stint with Danish side Midtjylland, he will be one of the players relied upon to deliver the attacking stimulus that Arnold’s team will need against some of the world’s top sides.

Mat Ryan

Position: Goalkeeper

Age: 30

While Andrew Redmayne was Australia’s shootout hero in the playoffs, no one misgiving that the ‘Grey Wiggle’ will be back on the bench for the Football World Cup itself. Mat Ryan is, after all, the team’s captain and the most-capped player of the current generation.

This status has not been given by accident. Though his height (he stands at just 6ft) has often been raised as a potential weakness, Ryan is a marvelous shot-stopper and outstanding with the ball at his feet.

He shone particularly brightly during four years with English Premier League side Brighton, and while a loan move to Arsenal and an enduring switch to Real Sociedad didn’t yield much in the way of playing time, Ryan’s recent move to Danish winners FC Copenhagen should provide him with the necessary pre-tournament match practice. His place for Australia should be certain either way, with Arnold having lauded him as “a fantastic goalkeeper”.

Ryan himself has spoken of being “deficient to shock the world and show that we can match it with the best out there” in Qatar. If Australia is to do that, some big presentations from their skipper are sure to be required.

Football World Cup: Australian activist ‘arrested’ for anti-gay complaint as Qatar hits out at criticism

An Australian-born advance has been arrested and ‘interrogated’ after staging an LBTQI protest ahead of the Qatar World Cup. An Australian-born advance has been arrested and ‘interrogated’ after staging an LBTQI complaint ahead of the Qatar World Cup. They folded up his poster and took photos of Tatchell’s ID and other papers, and those of a man supplementary to him.

Police left after trembling hands with Tatchell, who remained on the roadway. The activist said he was arrested for the protest but later freed. “I’m now released and will be the headline to the airport,” Tatchell said on Instagram. “I was detained and detained for 49 minutes and subjected to questioning about where I was from and where I was going. I have now been free.

“This protest was to shine a light on the rude human rights of Qatar.” Speaking from Qatar before the protest, Tatchell said

 “There can be no normal sporting relatives with an abnormal regimen like Qatar.

“It is a homophobic, sexist, and racist despotism.

“Qatar cannot be allowed to sports wash its status. It is using the Football World Cup to enhance its international image.

Australia Football World Cup

“I did this protest to shine a light on Qatar’s human rights misuses against LGBT+ people, women, refugee workers, and liberal Qataris. I am supporting their brave fight against tyranny.”

Prior to the 2018 Football   World Cup, Tatchell was inside Moscow while staging a protest against the action of gay people in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Human Rights Watch on Monday said security forces in Qatar arbitrarily arrested and abused LGBT Qataris as late as last month. A Qatari official said in a statement that HRW’s allegations “contain information that is firmly and unequivocally false”.

In reply to Tatchell’s protest, Qatar’s Government Communications Office said reports of his capture are “completely false and without merit”.

QATAR SLAMS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ WC CRITICISM

Qatar has been hit by an “unprecedented campaign” of criticism over arrangements for the Football World Cup, its ruler sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said Tuesday, calling the bouts “defamation”. “Since we won the honor of holding the World Cup, Qatar has been subjected to an unparalleled campaign that no host country has faced,” the emir said in a language.

FIFA awarded the Football World Cup to Qatar in 2010 and it has since consumed tens of billions of dollars on arrangements. But the energy-rich Gulf state has faced constant scrutiny over its action toward foreign workers as well as LGBTQ and women’s rights.

“We originally dealt with the matter in good faith, and even considered that some criticism was positive and useful, helping us to grow aspects that need to be developed,” the emir told Qatar’s legislative council. “But it soon became clear to us that the campaign lasts, expands and includes insult and double standards, until it touched an amount of ferocity that made many wonders, inappropriately, about the real reasons and motives behind this campaign,” he said.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said the Qatar World Cup, the first in an Arab nation, will be the “best”. To know more about Tunisia Vs Australia Tickets click here.

IRAN FACES FRESH CALLS FOR WORLD CUP REMOVAL

Iran should be booted from the World Cup and substituted by Ukraine, claims Shakhtar Donetsk CEO Sergei Palkin. The Middle Eastern nation is set to kick off its campaign against Group B rivals England on November 21, previously taking on Wales and the United States. Palkin, however, is leading calls for them to be detached from the competition after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused them of providing drones to Russia.

A statement from Palkin read: “Shakhtar Football Club calls on Fifa and the whole international community to directly ban Iran’s national team from playing at the World Cup for the country’s direct contribution to terrorist attacks on Ukrainians. “This will be a fair choice that should draw the attention of the whole world to a routine that kills its best people and helps kill Ukrainians.

“The vacant place should be taken by the nationwide team of Ukraine, which proved that it is worthy of participation in the mundial. “With unequal situations with other national teams during the playoffs, they played with their heart. “This decision is factually and sportingly justified. I urge everyone to join the pressure on the football government.

Football World Cup in Russia

“It is enough to recurrence the mistakes of the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia, hiding behind the empty thesis about the apolitically of sports. “Facilitating the contribution of terrorists in the World Cup is politics. It’s time to put an end to such a policy.” Ukraine was beaten by Wales in their World Cup succeeding playoff earlier this year.

Zelensky, 44, exposed that seven Russian drones shot down in Ukraine were supplied by Iran. He responded by undressing Iran’s ambassador to Ukraine of his accreditation. Iran has also been accused of sending personnel to Crimea to assist with the deadly attack on Ukraine’s towns and cities with kamikaze drones.

Campaigners have also strengthened calls to ban Iran after more than 200 protesters were killed in a crackdown by the country’s spiritual morality police. Iran has been rocked by a rebellion triggered when a student died in forced custody after she was held for not wearing her headscarf properly.

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