ARNOLD TO ASK CLUBS FOR STARS
SOCCEROOS coach Graham Arnold will do his best smoothtalking over the coming months in a bid to convince clubs to release Australia’s star players for the Copa America.
Australia will take on Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile at the prestigious South American championship, which starts in June.
But because the Socceroos are an invited nation and its a tournament outside of their confederation, they won’t be afforded the FIFA protection that forces clubs to release players for international duty.
Instead, Arnold will have to convince clubs to release Australian players — and the veteran coach is vowing to do everything within his powers.
“I will do my best to get all the best players out at the Copa America,” Arnold said.
“But that’s got to come with a lot of conversations and planning. I’ve got a great assistant — Rene Meulensteen — who knows a lot of the coaches over in Europe.
“I’ve also got a lot of their phone numbers. We speak over the phone and they’re great people.”
If Arnold is unable to cobble together his first-choice Socceroos, he is expected to field a large number of Olyroos players in a bid to give them biggame experience ahead of the Olympics. A-League players would also be in the mix, he said.
Arnold was in Perth yesterday promoting the coming World Cup qualifier clash with Kuwait, which will be played at HBF Park on March 26.
Australia sits first in its group with four wins from as many games and Arnold is confident of coming away with the goods against secondplayed Kuwait.