The 2019 Asian Cup will see the next generation of Australian footballers attempt to carve out their legacy in green and gold as Graham Arnold leads a new-look outfit into the first major test of his second stint as Socceroos manager.
The team will be missing key lynchpins from the 2015 tournament victory on home soil; Tim Cahill and Mile Jedinak have since retired and Aaron Mooy will miss the Asian Cup through an injury sustained with his club side Huddersfield Town.
It also remains to be seen whether Mathew Leckie will feature as he battles a hamstring injury sustained in the week before joining up with the Socceroos squad in the United Arab Emirates. All four players were also key members of Bert van Marwijk’s World Cup squad in Russia just six months ago. But there are players ready to emerge in their absence.
Furore reigns in Scotland over Arnold’s decision to draft Tom Rogic into the squad earlier than necessary, allowing him to play in Celtic’s Boxing Day clash with Aberdeen but not in the Old Firm derby against Rangers. One must sympathise with the Socceroos manager though, who will be relying on Rogic to be the creative focal point through the centre of the park – especially in the absence of Mooy.
While he has never quite dominated at international level as one might have expected, the added responsibility might be the making of the 26-year-old, who is enjoying another productive season at club level. How far forward his base position will be within Arnold’s system is as yet unknown, but with the lack of proven high-volume scorers in the squad giving Rogic license to intermittently interchange with the striker may be a tactic worth considering. Staggeringly, no player named in Arnold’s squad has scored more than Rogic’s eight international goals.
But there are some less heralded unknown quantities that Arnold will have to rely upon if Australia are to become the first nation to successfully defend the Asian Cup since Iran in 1976.
In recent months, Awer Mabil has bolted into the forefront of Arnold’s plans. After another excellent performance in the Socceroos’ 5-0 demolition of Oman in their final hit-out before the Asian Cup gets underway, the 23-year-old looks poised to claim a starting berth for Australia’s opener against Jordan.
It would be a remarkable achievement for Mabil, who has revamped his game since leaving Adelaide for Denmark in 2015. While at Adelaide United the winger was clearly talented, but at times was wasteful in the final third. Now, he tops the Danish Superliga assist charts halfway through the season with eight, while also bagging five goals in the 16 league games he has played this season.
In the potential absence of Leckie for a portion of the tournament, the speed, dynamism and incisiveness of Mabil seems an excellent replacement and a necessary foil for Robbie Kruse should Arnold persist with him on the opposite wing.
Kruse’s spot, though, must be under pressure. After Daniel Arzani went down with an ACL tear a few months ago, one might not have imagined the wealth of attacking options the Socceroos would have coming into this tournament. But two unforeseen options have stood up in recent times to stake a claim for a starting berth.
Chris Ikonomidis is lighting up the A-League after an unsuccessful stint in Europe, with several key goals catapulting Perth Glory to the top of the A-League. His positional flexibility presents him with a strong chance of earning minutes, although they are likely to be off the bench.
Perhaps the most intriguing new addition to the attacking mix though is Scottish-born Martin Boyle. The 25-year-old, who had never even visited Australia until this year, barged into contention for meaningful minutes at the Asian Cup with two goals and an assist in his first start for the Socceroos in November, but a late impact injury during the game against Oman appears to have ruled out Boyle for the tournament, with Arnold’s injury curse continuing. Apostolos Giannou has been handed another chance to impress, coming into the squad in Boyle’s place.
There is undoubtedly potential for any of these players to use this tournament to springboard into a long and successful Socceroos career with so many spots in attacking positions up for grabs.
Contrastingly, the Socceroos look fairly set at the back. But as Thierry Henry once said, “sometimes in football, you have to score goals”. In the absence of Tim Cahill, Australia have a lot of potential goal-scorers but none of them are sufficiently proven at international level. Graham Arnold will need to find at least one amongst his 23-man squad should the Socceroos harbour hopes of going back-to-back at the Asian Cup.
