Italiano sees funny side of Arnold’s banter

“Kiwis!?” Strewth, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold can’t believe Wellington Phoenix are leading Australia’s A-League Men.

Australia’s senior men’s national team coach has poked fun at the New Zealand football club for occupying No 1 spot on the competition standings.

After the Socceroos beat Lebanon 5-0 during the latest round of World Cup qualifiers, Arnold revealed that only players involved in the grand final would be considered for selection from the A-League when the Socceroos return to action with two matches against Palestine in June.

With the competition heading towards its conclusion, he was reluctant to pick anyone who has not played for a few weeks.

There is only one problem with that criterion, which a reporter quickly pointed out to Arnold during the post-match press conference following their big win over Lebanon.

Wellington could be one of the two teams in the grand final. The Phoenix sit three points clear at the top of the table with only five games left, starting with Brisbane Roar in Wellington tomorrow.

“That shows you where we’re at,” Arnold quipped. “Wellington are winning it. Kiwis!”

He was at pains to point out that his comments were just “banter”. “Please! I don’t want to see it as a headline tomorrow!”

Too late. Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano saw the funny side of it, though, and suggested he could always pick midfielder Nicholas Pennington, a former Australia under-23 international.

Italiano was asked about Arnold’s comments as he prepared for the Brisbane match but said it was “all fun and games”.

“Arnie’s always full of banter so he would have done it tongue-in-cheek and wasn’t being serious,” Italiano said. “But it’s a good thing when everyone is talking about us.’’