Ipswich Town’s Massimo Luongo, the only Australian outfielder to have featured in the Premier League this season, is back in green and gold.
Tony Popovic has wasted little time in shaking up the Socceroos, naming eight fresh faces in his first squad since being appointed national team boss – including the return of midfielder Massimo Luongo from retirement.to focus on his push for promotion to the Premier League with Ipswich Town. He had played down the chances of reversing that decision in recent months.
MIDFIELDERS: Keanu Baccus, Ajdin Hrustic, Jackson Irvine, Massimo Luongo, Riley McGree, Connor Metcalfe, Aiden O’Neill Eight players from Arnold’s final Socceroos squad have been cast aside: the injured Alessando Circati, who hurt his ACL at training with Serie A club Parma last week, plus Martin Boyle, Awer Mabil, Josh Nisbet, Cameron Devlin, Adam Taggart and John Iredale, who were all omitted. Portsmouth striker Kusini Yengi, who was replaced in that squad by Iredale due to suspension, is also unavailable due to injury.
Popovic’s biggest immediate challenge will be re-energising the Socceroos and addressing their long-standing issues with creativity in the final third, particularly against teams who sit back in numbers and force them to be the ball-dominant team, as China is expected to do. The returns of Luongo, Riley McGree, Ajdin Hrustic and Jordy Bos, the latter three who also missed the last window due to injury, should help.
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