Socceroos selection bringing Mac back

FORMER Brisbane Roar striker Jamie Maclaren’s search for his first Socceroos goal will bring him back to Suncorp Stadium after he was named in Australia’s 23- man squad for Saturday week’s friendly against South Korea.

Maclaren, who scored 40 goals in two years for the Roar before leaving for Europe after the 2016- 17 A- League season, missed the Socceroos’ 4- 0 win over Kuwait last month through injury.

But both Maclaren and Japan- based attacker Andrew Nabbout have been recalled for the Brisbane battle by Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, who has overlooked Apostolos Giannou, despite the AEK Larnaca marksman scoring against Kuwait.

“I spoke to Giannou and explained to him why he wasn’t in the squad for this one,” Arnold said. “He did great for me in Kuwait but it’s more about me getting the opportunity to look at Jamie Maclaren and Andrew Nabbout, about me being able to tick every box with these players ….

“I look forward to working with Jamie. I know what his qualities are: his qualities are scoring goals and I expect that to happen.”

Maclaren is joined in the squad by his Hibernian teammates Mark Milligan and Martin Boyle, the Scotland- born winger who recently received his clearance to represent Australia via his Sydney- born father.

“I’ve watched him at Hibs. He’s an exciting player. You can give him the ball and leave him free, and he will always have the positive attitude to try to go past players and he scores goals,” Arnold said of Boyle.

“He’s got a lot of speed, and he gives us a great addition in the front half of the field that we’ve been looking for.”

The 23 players plus train- on A- League quartet Thomas Deng, Rhyan Grant, Craig Goodwin and Dimitri Petratos, will gather in Brisbane from Monday.