Australia Chooses Preliminary Squad

May 13, 2010

The Australian preliminary squad for the World Cup was announced by Pim Verbeek today. It needs to be trimmed to 23 by 1 June. The big challenge that this squad faces is to at least match the efforts of the 2006 squad which made it to the round of 16 before being knocked out by eventual champions, Italy.

Mark Schwarzer will be the number one keeper and he is backed up by Brad Jones and Adam Federici.

At the back, the side is going to be led by the likes of Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Luke Wilshire and Jade North. Scott Chipperfield was included as were David Carney, Michal Beauchamp and Mark Milligan. Rhys Williams and Shane Lowry were both named but its hard to see them getting any game time.

The midfield will field the likes of Tim Cahill, Jason Culina, Vince Grella and Brett Emerton. Additionally there is Marco Bresciano, Brett Holman, Carl Valeri, Nicky Carle and Mile Jedinak. Richard Garcia has a spot as do Dario Vidosic, James Holland and Tommy Oar. Oar is the rookie of the squad and his inclusion is testament to the way he has been playing for the Brisbane Oar and Utrecht. The uncapped player could be a star of the future and his journey to stardom could begin in South Africa.

Up front Harry Kewell, Josh Kennedy, Scott McDonald and Nikita Rukavytsya will lead the charge. There are questions over the fitness of Harry Kewell and the condition of his groin. His selection could prove to be a gamble as would his non-selection.

McDonald has been a goal scoring machine for his clubs but never found the back of the net for his country after 15 matches. He would love nothing more than to break the duck at the World Cup. Scoring goals is going to be the key for the Socceroos and this time round they don’t have the likes of Mark Viduka and John Aloisi to rely on. Tim Cahill will be the key but he needs to be well assisted by his forwards. They may not have that many chances against Germay, Ghana and Serbia and will have to make the most of them. The first game against Germany is going to be crucial and not many people are expecting Australia to do anything here. Certainly most of the live bets at the start will be towards the Germans.

The side will come together next week and will then have a farewell match against New Zealand they week after. Then its off to South Africa where they will have warm-up games against Denmark and the USA. Then it will be all systems go for June 13 where they will meet Germany.

Darren Albert writes for this blog. He also writes about betting odds.

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