Socceroos Socceroos World Cup Thread-Final Squad Named (Ruka, Triosi, Brilliante, Croatian guy miss out)

[Macpotata]

I can't believe Rukavystya is in ahead of Maclaren, who is a demonstrably better player. Remember's Ruka's last A-League stint?

Dude's gotta have compromising photos of someone. We could have 2 squads of 26 and he still shouldn't be anywhere near them.

Agreed. I didn't even know this campaigner was still in the picture. I just remember him being a talked up somebody that amounted into a forgotten nobody.

Sounds like 90 percent of guys that were talked up and played in the A-League

 

[DIG]

when it gets to the stage where gallop is having to deny cahill is going for sponsorship reasons, we can pretty much confirm he's going for sponsorship reasons.

Possibly! But I think there's something intangible about having Cahill around the squad that's worth tapping into - at least until the next round of cuts.

Plus he's a weapon you can throw on the field in the last 10 minutes if we're 1 down that opponents have to at the very least be wary of from a corner.

Of course when i say he's I could be meaning "he was", not "he is"!

 

[BlueBen]

How did Troisi make the cut again?

It's incredible, isn't it?

The guy makes squad after squad. There is never even any doubt about it. Every manager seems to rate him really highly. And I can never work out why.

As a Victory member I watch him every week, and have never been particularly impressed. I mean, he's all right. He pops up every now and then with a nice goal (when his shots aren't flying into row Z.) But Victory don't get anything close to value out of him, relative to his reputation and status as a "marquee" player.

He's the most overrated player in the A-League and Australian football in general.

Someone convince me that I'm missing something!

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Next 3 to be chopped is:
1. Brillante
2. Rukavystya or Nabbout
3. Troisi or Petratos

 

[ioppolo]

Cahill could be off to his 4th world cup, that's an impressive feat to have in the history books.

If he manages to score (meaning he's scored at all the world cups) he'll be in some very elite company.

If he's off to Russia I really hope he scores.

 

[8Eyes]

Not taking Maclaren is a joke. All of our other striker options are terrible, and that includes a 38 year old clubless Tim Cahill, who couldn't even score once for Milwall.

The A-League is a joke too. If we're going to bring in players on the basis of form from this trash league, we'll never go anywhere.

 

[sydney_gws]

The thought of Nabbout and Rukavytsya possibly being in our squad makes me ill.
By far our weakest WC squad to date

I still think it is better than 2014 squad, apart from the level Cahill still had back then

 

[giggler99]

Best thread to place this article because it relates to the Socceroos! A good article by Richard Hinds about how static the the Socceroos have been as well as the development of future stars!

FIFA World Cup 2018: Tim Cahill's Socceroos selection triggers conspiracy theory after Jamie Maclaren snub
By Offsiders columnist Richard Hinds

Analysis

Updated about 3 hours ago Fri 18 May 2018, 8:31am

In keeping with the Socceroos oddly detached and discordant World Cup build-up, instead of a farewell game we got a Tim Cahill-themed petrol station.

The symbolism of having the team's major sponsor alter its signs to honour the veteran striker was not immediately apparent.

Did this mean the Socceroos intended to pump their opposition? That Australian football was no longer running on the smell of an oily rag? Would we get a 4 cents per-litre discount or two snack bars for $1 if Cahill hit the back of the net?

Regardless, using Cahill's name to promote this World Cup campaign created inevitable conspiracy theories due to his recent lack of game time and the hasty launch of the sponsor's activation.

Not even the swiftest ambush marketeer could have knocked up the "Cahilltex" signs or had Cahill pose in what looks like a banana skin onesie for a giveaway competition in the few hours between the squad announcement and the first sighting of the petrol-related promotional paraphernalia.

Thus the arch conclusion inevitably reached by some — that 38-year-old Cahill's place in the squad had been guaranteed by his marketing value, a theory that went viral when Jamie Maclaren, one of Cahill's rivals for a strikers berth, scored a hat-trick for Hibernian against Rangers and was overlooked.

Six months ago to suggest Cahill would be playing a fourth World Cup as a marketing ploy would have been to spit in the face of the grand legacy of Australia's greatest and most prolific international.

Since then Cahill had left Melbourne City for Millwall, where he spent far more time running up and down the sideline than on the pitch. Was about an hour of football in six months enough to justify his spot?

But as the old saying goes, if the choice is between a conspiracy and a stuff up, assume it was a stuff up every time.

With Cahill retaining the endorsement of most expert observers, you can assume his inclusion was for playing reasons alone.

Cahill's proven record in big games, dressing shed leadership and talisman status make him an obvious exception to any guidelines coach Bert van Marwijk might have set about recent form or match fitness.

Maclaren's hat-trick? On the back of the A-League grand final VAR debacle, just the latest example that anything that can embarrass Australian football right now probably will.

Yet beyond Cahill's enduring value, his selection is further evidence of the harsh and too often ignored reality of Australian football — the parade of stars that was supposed to be inspired by the heroics of the Golden Generation in 2006 has failed to materialise.

The odd talented youngster such as Melbourne City's Daniel Arzani has stepped up. But twelve years later, the new Tim Cahill is the old Tim Cahill.

Which in turn highlights a lesson Australian football is yet to learn. Reaching the World Cup finals is merely the chicken or the egg or whichever comes second. Not a cure-all for the game many believed it would be.

Australia's long and desperately frustrating absence from the World Cup between 1974 and 2006 entrenched the notion that a few weeks on the game's grandest international stage would be the answer to all the games domestic woes.

Only that shocking upset by the Kiwis, those awful second half goals by Iran or that sleepless night in Montevideo caused by drum-thumping Uruguayan fans had held the game back. Qualify for the World Cup and all the problems with the national league, player development and fan engagement would be fixed.

Three World Cups later, it is now obvious Australia's appearances in Germany, South Africa and Brazil provided no more than a brief sugar hit for the sport.

This time? The FFA will bank an eight figure cheque from FIFA that it uses to pay bills that weren't covered by a less-than-satisfactory A-League media rights deal. Huge audiences will watch Australia's games. Even more kids (participation is far from the game's greatest problem) will kick a ball in the playground.

And then … we return to business as usual. In this case, the squabble between the FFA and the A-League clubs for control of the domestic league.

Which is not to say the Socceroos' appearance — and, as unlikely as it seems this time — a stellar performance at the World Cup could not provide considerable momentum. But the game needs to be in a position to leverage the feel good factor into palpable gains.

The most obvious way in which Australian football can do that is to move rapidly to extend the A-League to a second tier and to find the money — the greatest challenge — to help fund the clubs beneath them.

This would require an acknowledgment that the game's prosperity should not rely solely on attempting to fill five large A-League arenas each weekend, but having vibrant crowds in 10,000 or even 5000 capacity stadiums operated by clubs with a deep connection with their local communities.

This would broaden the participation base of professional and semi-professional players and, in turn, the ranks from which the long-awaited next generation of stars could emerge.

Given its perfect prime-time kick-off, Australia's World Cup opener against France in Kazan on June 16 at 8:00pm (AEST) should be one the most watched Socceroos games in history.

Yet whether Australia's hopes are fuelled by Tim Cahill or someone else, such occasions will have no long-term impact until the game has sorted out its own backyard.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-...ill-world-cup-selection/9771336?section=sport

 

[juss]

Think wel escape with 1 Draw 2 losses.
I cant see us scoring more than 2 goals from the 3 games.

 

[Mningasimisonda]

Interesting to see Fran Karacic called up. From all accounts he's never set foot in Australia...

I thought this was weird at first, but read his dad was born in Sydney and grandad lived in Australia for over 25 years. So he's basically the son of an expat.

 

[Redalert]

It's incredible, isn't it?

The guy makes squad after squad. There is never even any doubt about it. Every manager seems to rate him really highly. And I can never work out why.

As a Victory member I watch him every week, and have never been particularly impressed. I mean, he's all right. He pops up every now and then with a nice goal (when his shots aren't flying into row Z.) But Victory don't get anything close to value out of him, relative to his reputation and status as a "marquee" player.

He's the most overrated player in the A-League and Australian football in general.

Someone convince me that I'm missing something!

Couldn't agree more. Just wait until we lose Leroy George and stick him on a marquee contract instead.

 

[ioppolo]

When is the final 23 named?

 

[corbies]

When is the final 23 named?

4th of June is the official cut-off date for FIFA but it could be before then.

 

[Jeremias]

Jamie Maclaren has now joined the training camp in Turkey.

https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/jamie-maclaren-joins-caltex-socceroos-turkey

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Stoked for him but not if it means Juric is injured.

 

[Redalert]

Juric was probably better suited to the style that BWM wanted to play - we'll get a much clearer view around it when the final squad of 23 is announced.

 

[corbies]

I've noticed in the photos being released from the Socceroos camp:

Petratos is #24
Brilliante is #25
Arzani is #26

Guide to who is getting cut?

 

[ioppolo]

Was #17 Rukavytsya there?

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Didn't realize the game against the Czechs is 9pm tomorrow. Keen to see Arzani get a run, surely he does so BVM can make a decision on him.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Live on FTA too which is good. Will be interesting to see how I go asking my local bowling club to change one tv to it when I'm down there for Chase the Ace tomorrow night.

 

[ioppolo]

Something to look forward to after work, beats 4th vs 18th on a friday night

 

[nobbyiscool]

Had no idea it was on free to air. SBS, or one of the commercials?

 

[corbies]

Had no idea it was on free to air. SBS, or one of the commercials?

Channel One.

 

[Mningasimisonda]

Players cut
James Troisi
Josh Brillante
Nikita Rukavytsya
Fran Karacic

 

[BlueBen]

Troisi missed out

Spectators behind the goal, rejoice!