It's Qatar 2022 - What squad do we take?

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So definitely taking some creative liberty with this one as it is literally four years away and the current world cup hasn't even wrapped up yet, but there's no time to waste when looking towards the future. Obviously next we should be looking towards defending the title as Asian champions, but besides a couple of retirements, I see the squad looking similar to the WC squad. Anyway, I've put together what I see as our best options for the next 2022 WC squad(if we qualify), incorporating an injection of youth, experience, and a couple potential match winners. Some of these inclusions rely on younger players moving to Europe (Petratos) or established players gaining match time in higher European leagues (Juric).

I have also updated what each players age will be.


GK Mathew Ryan 8 April 1992 (age 30) Brighton & Hove Albion
GK Mitchell Langerak 22 August 1988 (age 33) Nagoya Grampus
GK Mark Birighitti 17 April 1991 (age 31) NAC

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DF Milos Degenek 28 April 1994 (age 28) Red Star Belgrade
DF Bailey Wright 28 July 1992 (age 29) Bristol City
DF Matthew Jurman 8 December 1989 (age 31) Al-Ittihad
DF Aziz Behich 16 October 1990 (age 31) Bursaspor
DF Aleksandar Susnjar 19 August 1995 (age 26) Mladá Boleslav
DF Trent Sainsbury 5 January 1992 (age 30) Grasshopper
DF Alex Gersbach 8 May 1997 (age 25) Lens

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MF Massimo Luongo 25 September 1992 (age 29) Queens Park Rangers
MF Aaron Mooy 15 September 1990 (age 31) Huddersfield Town
MF Riley McGree 2 November 1998 (age 24) Melbourne City
MF Daniel Arzani 4 January 1999 (age 23) Melbourne City
MF Dimitri Petratos 10 November 1992 (age 29) Newcastle Jets
MF Jackson Irvine 7 March 1993 (age 29) Hull City
MF Tom Rogic 16 December 1992 (age 29) Celtic
MF Ajdin Hrustic 5 July 1996 (age 25) Groningen

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FW Chris Ikonomidis 4 May 1995 (age 27) Lazio
FW Mathew Leckie 4 February 1991 (age 31) Hertha BSC
FW Tomi Juric 22 July 1991 (age 30) Luzern
FW Brandon Borrello 5 July 1995 (age 26) 1. FC Kaiserslautern
FW Jamie Maclaren 29 July 1993 (age 28) Darmstadt 98

Firstly, on the omissions from the current WC squad, I have taken out Brad Jones, Danny Vukovic, James Meredith, Mark Milligan, Mile Jedinak, and Tim Cahill as I believe they will all have retired from international football by the next WC. Josh Risdon hasn't made the cut, as I believe he struggled to keep up with the pace and was a weak link, and unless he moves to Europe and really improves, his development will plateau. Nabbout also didn't make this cut, although being somewhat of a shining light during the last couple of months, I think his skill level was not up to scratch and effort alone isn't enough to get him through. I have also taken Robbie Kruse out of the squad as he will be 33, and will have lost much of his pace.

In defence, we have established names who can be relied on (Sainsbury, Jurman, Behich), in the middle we have our superstars in the peak of their careers (Rogic, Mooy), and up forward we have experience with Leckie and some fresh faces who will hopefully establish themselves in the top tiers of European football (Borello, Maclaren).

This is just my take, and there were some guys who I hope can really move forward with their careers and push themselves in one of the top 5 leagues, because that's the only way the socceroos will be competitive. Guys playing A-League, Asia/Middle-East, or low tiers of Europe really shouldn't be our beacon of hope but I guess time will tell! Let me know what you guys think, or what your predictions/hopes are of four years time.

Cheers

 

[craigos]

Definitely no booze!

The Asian qualifiers will be a good gauge of if we're even going to make it. Goals will be once again, our biggest issue.

 

[ioppolo]

Surely there's a few 18-20 year olds just waiting to be discovered and bolted into Qatar?

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Tim Cahill will get picked again. He will only be 42. I think he'll play for Socceroos until age 50.

 

[eth-dog]

Something like:

Ryan (Langerak, ???)
Risdon (???) - Sainsbury (Wright) - Jurman (Degenek) - Behich (???)
Luongo (McGree) - Mooy (???)
Leckie (Ikonomidis) - Rogic (Irvine) - Arzani (???)
Juric/Maclaren
​

Really underwhelmed by our central midfield prospects coming through. The fact that Susnjar didn't get a gig at all during the WC is telling IMO. I would like to see Karacic though. How long until Fornaroli becomes an Aussie again?