Last-ditch bids for inclusion in Australia’s World Cup squad

A host of A-League players will this weekend make their final cases for selection in Australia’s 2022 World Cup squad.

Teenage sensation Garang Kuol is pushing hard for World Cup selection. Picture: Hannah Peters / Getty Images

Has Macarthur FC star Daniel Arzani done enough to be picked in Australia’s World Cup squad?

Will Central Coast Mariners teammates Garang Kuol and Jason Cummings be heading to Qatar?

We will soon know, with Socceroos coach Graham Arnold to next week name his 26-man squad for the World Cup, which begins November 20.

It means those A-League players named in Arnold’s preliminary 55-man squad last month have one final chance this weekend to convince the national coach they should be going to Qatar.

While that 55-man list wasn’t released publicly, we can take a good guess which A-League players were on it.

Of them, the certainties to go the World Cup – barring any disasters this weekend – are Melbourne City attackers Mathew Leckie and Jamie Maclaren, and Sydney FC goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne.

While he won’t be Australia’s first-choice gloveman, Redmayne’s penalty shootout heroics in the World Cup playoff against Peru won’t be forgotten and he will be among the Socceroos’ three custodians in Qatar.

Andrew Redmayne (left) and Jamie Maclaren are two A-League players set to be named in the Socceroos’ World Cup squad. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Maclaren’s A-League goalscoring record speaks for itself, and while he’s yet to prove he’s worthy of a spot in Australia’s best 11, he has done enough to be in the 26.

The experience of Socceroos stalwart Leckie can’t be sneezed at, and his early season form for City will have him going to his third World Cup.

For the rest of the A-League World Cup hopefuls, their form this weekend could prove decisive, particularly with a host of Australia’s overseas-based players not playing due to injury or being out of favour with their coach.

Adelaide United star Craig Goodwin has done well enough in his comeback from osteitis pubis to deserve World Cup selection, but fellow winger and recent Western Sydney Wanderers recruit Brandon Borrello has perhaps left his run too late.

City’s Marco Tilio’s selection cause wasn’t helped by limited game time early in the season, but he has worked his way back into Patrick Kisnorbo’s starting 11.

Still, that may not be enough to get him to Qatar, considering the emergence of fellow attackers Kuol and Cummings.

Teenager Kuol’s rise has earnt him a contract with English Premier League club Newcastle, and he could be the wildcard in Arnold’s Qatar mix.

World Cup hopeful Daniel Arzani (right) celebrates with his Macarthur coach Dwight Yorke after scoring for the Bulls. Picture: Jenny Evans / Getty Images

Scotsman Cummings, who is eligible to play for Australia via his mother’s heritage, scored in his only game for Australia, and was superb for the Mariners last weekend against Western United. He has made it very hard for Arnold to leave him out of the Socceroos’ World Cup plans.

And then there’s Arzani, the former Melbourne City prodigy who, as a teenager, played at the 2018 World Cup.

Things went pear-shaped for Arzani after that as he bounced from club to club in Europe, not playing enough due largely to injuries.

Now back in the A-League with Macarthur, Arzani has started the season well enough, but will need a huge game on Sunday against Wellington Phoenix to convince Arnold to take him to Qatar.

“It’s something I’m desperate to do,” Arzani told The Back Page.

“That was the idea of coming back to Australia (when) I did, to try to get myself back into that national team and push myself back into that World Cup squad.

“It would be an incredible experience for me to be at 23 years of age and having played at two World Cups.

“It’s something that I’m hopeful I do, but ... it comes down to the coach’s preference, and how he wants to play.

“I have to perform and show what I can do.”

Other A-League players with slim World Cup selection hopes include Victory quartet Nick D’Agostino, Ben Folami, Chris Ikonomidis and Jake Brimmer, City pair Andrew Nabbout and Aiden O’Neill and Western United’s Josh Risdon.