Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says he has not been spoken to by Football Australia about his future at the helm of the national team, despite reports suggesting he could be removed before the World Cup play-offs in June.
Arnold has been heavily criticised after poor results in the group stage of the Asian qualifiers, in particular, a draw away to Oman and last week’s 2-0 defeat at home to Japan, the Socceroos’ first home defeat in a live World Cup qualifier in more than four decades.
Those results consigned the Socceroos to a third-place finish in their group, missing out on automatic qualification for the Qatar finals and forcing them to go down the play-off route against the third-placed team in the other Asian group. If they win that, a clash against South America’s fifth-placed side will follow.
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald revealed Arnold could be sacked as early as this week, after their final group match against Saudi Arabia. That came despite Football Australia chief James Johnson publicly stating Arnold’s position was safe last month. Arnold said he had not spoken to Johnson or Football Australia about his future and denied being told he’s under any additional pressure to keep his job.
“No, not at all,” Arnold said. “As I said, the reality is today we sit in the same place as where we were four years ago and other times with play-offs. My expectations and my way of pushing the players to the limit was to qualify directly, that didn’t happen. The fact is we are in third spot and the fifth highest points tally in Asia. Where we finished last time, fifth, was exactly the same.”
Arnold said he had paid no attention to the public scrutiny following the defeat to Japan. “I am sorry, I don’t read what you guys write, I don’t do any social media. I block out all the external noise and I focus on the players,” Arnold said.
The Socceroos face Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Wednesday morning (AEST) and are set to hand a debut to Hearts fullback Nathaniel Atkinson. Toulouse midfielder Denis Genreau is another who could come into the first team, while striker Bruno Fornaroli could make his starting debut having come off the bench last week in his first appearance in a green and gold shirt.
“I think it is a good chance to see if Bruno - against a World Cup opponent - is ready. Bruno has brought a lot of energy into camp, he’s a top guy,” Arnold said.
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