Arnold turns to youth
AUSTRALIA’S next generation of football talent has been given the nod to start the Socceroos’ path to the 2022 World Cup.
Coach Graham Arnold has picked 12 players with 10 caps or less in his 23-man squad for the opening qualifier against Kuwait on September 10. One of those is attacking midfielder Brandon Borrello, long earmarked as a future star for the national team.
The 24-year-old ruptured his ACL last year before joining German Bundesliga side Freiburg from Kaiserslautern.
It meant Borrello missed January’s Asian Cup but after finally debuting for the Socceroos in June’s 1-0 friendly defeat to South Korea, he’s one of the new faces that Arnold is hoping will take Australia to Qatar in three years.
“Brandon Borrello is really exciting for me. He’s doing great in the Bundesliga at the moment. I spoke to him just the other day, he feels great,” Arnold said. SOCCEROOS SQUAD TO PLAY KUWAIT: Mustafa Amini, Aziz Behich, Brandon Borrello, Milos Degenek, Apostolos Giannou, Craig Goodwin, Rhyan Grant, Ajdin Hrustic, Jackson Irvine, James Jeggo, Mitchell Langerak, Mathew Leckie, Massimo Luongo, Awer Mabil, Jamie Maclaren, Mark Milligan, Aaron Mooy, Andrew Redmayne, Mathew Ryan, Trent Sainsbury, Brad Smith, Harry Souttar, Adam Taggart. BOOMERS assistant coach Mark Bradtke has confirmed Andrew Bogut is expected to play in Australia’s opening World Cup game against Canada tomorrow despite straining his right ankle.
Bogut fell awkwardly on his ankle in the closing stages of Australia’s 74-64 exhibition loss to Germany in China on Wednesday night.
The Sydney Kings big man went straight to the locker room for further diagnosis.
Despite the setback, Bradtke believes Bogut will be fit to take on Canada from 5.30pm tomorrow.
“He [Andrew] is walking just like normal,” Bradtke said.
“All positives from what I can see. Probably manage his court time in training and be ready for Game 1.”
Canada tuned up for the tournament opener by training at the 16,000-seat Dongguan Basketball Centre yesterday, with NBA guard Cory Joseph finally joining his team after missing their Australian leadup tour.
Canada coach Nick Nurse’s side split their two-game series in Perth 1-1 with Australia — which finished its four-game exhibition series with a maiden victory over the United States on Saturday.
Sacramento Kings talent Joseph is easily the biggest name in a squad that is missing a swathe of NBA stars, but will still pose a tricky test under Toronto’s NBA title-winning coach Nurse.
The sides join Senegal and European fancies Lithuania in a tough four-team pool where only two can emerge from with a chance of winning the tournament.
“One hundred per cent, we’re treating this like a knock-out,” Nurse said of tomorrow’s game. “We had great competition [in Australia] but leading into this I don’t think they [exhibition games] mean a damn thing. It’s about what your game’s like when the lights really come on.”