Competition for spots in Australia’s starting team heating up at Asian Cup

The Socceroos can seal a round-of-16 Asian Cup berth by beating Syria on Thursday night.

Kye Rowles (left) rises high to head the ball during the Socceroos’ 2-0 win over India. Picture: Hector Retamal/ AFP

Socceroos players remain “on edge” ahead of Australia’s Asian Cup clash against Syria as competition for starting spots heats up.

The Australians – 2-0 winners over India last Saturday – can guarantee themselves a place in the round-of-16 with another victory on Thursday night (AEDT) at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.

Memorable performances off the bench against India from attacking midfielder Riley McGree and left-sided utility Jordan Bos has both of them in contention for elevation in Australia’s starting 11.

And despite the Socceroos having kept a clean sheet in the win, the battle between Kye Rowles and Cameron Burgess to be Harry Souttar’s partner in the heart of Australia’s defence remains alive.

Ipswich Town centre-back Burgess started in the Socceroos’ 2-0 tournament warm-up win over Bahrain before being displaced by Scotland-based former Central Coast Mariners star Rowles for the game against India.

Despite starting in Australia’s tournament opener, Rowles isn’t taking selection against Syria for granted.

Kye Rowles isn’t taking his spot in Australia’s team for granted. Picture: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

“If you have one bad day at training you’re on edge, because you’re (thinking) ‘well, am I going to be in the team now?’,” Rowles said.

“(It’s) just to be always on your toes … competition is never a bad thing.

“It’s a great thing to have for not only myself but for everyone involved.

“You’re just pushing each other to get into that team and it can only make the team better because you know that you’ve got to be on your game every day, not only in the games, but at training you’ve got to be on it.”

Midfielder Keanu Baccus is relishing the battle for spots in the Socceroos’ engine room.

He too didn’t start against Bahrain, with Belgium-based former Melbourne City star Aiden O’Neill getting the nod for the friendly.,

However, Baccus was reinstated, at O’Neill’s expense, for the win over India.

“There are 26 players (in the Socceroos squad) that can all play, so in national team football nothing’s guaranteed,” St Mirren man Baccus said.

“I wasn’t think too much about (not starting against Bahrain). I just trained hard and tried to do my best and that’s all I really do to be up for selection.”

Baccus insisted the Socceroos were in the same frame of mind as they were at the 2022 World Cup – which was also played in Qatar – despite the Australians having been underdogs then as opposed to now being among the Asian Cup favourites.

“I don’t think there’s too much difference – it’s still tournament football,” he said.

“We won’t get ahead of ourselves and think about (later) stages. We’ll just take each game in the group stage as they come, do our absolute best, and that’s all we can really do.

“We can handle whatever comes our way well, (but) to win any football tournament or any game of football, people might think it’s easy but it’s tough out on the pitch.”

AFC Asian Cup

Group B

Australia v Syria

Thursday, 10.30pm (AEDT)

Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

TV: Network 10

Possible Socceroos line-up: Mat Ryan, Gethin Jones, Harry Souttar, Kye Rowles, Aziz Behich, Jackson Irvine, Keanu Baccus, Riley McGree, Martin Boyle, Mitch Duke, Craig Goodwin.

Head-to-head: Played 3 – Australia won two, one draw

Previous meetings

October 5, 2017: Syria 1 drew with Australia 1 (FIFA World Cup qualifier)

October 10, 2017: Australia 2 d Syria 1 (FIFA World Cup qualifier)

January 15, 2019: Australia 3 d Syria 2 (AFC Asian Cup)

Originally published as Competition for spots in Australia’s starting team heating up at Asian Cup