As promised on Wednesday, here’s the talk on the second half of the Socceroo’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers.
- Mathew Leckie (Forward, 25, 28 caps (2 goals), plays for FC Ingolstadt 04 (Germany)): I saw Leckie’s performance during the 2014 World Cup against Chile, and that told me that this guy’s potential is absolutely brilliant. Watch him.
- Massimo Luongo (Midfielder, 23, 16 caps (2 goals), plays for Queens Park Rangers (England)): The breakout player at the 2015 Asian Cup, Luongo has a big career ahead of him. Will be looking to further boost his visibiliry.
- Ryan McGowan (Midfielder-Defender, 26, 16 caps, plays for Henan Jianye (China)): To be perfectly honest with you, I’d never heard of Ryan McGowan. Turns out he provided the assist for Tim Cahill’s wonder goal at the World Cup.
- Mark Milligan (Midfielder, 30, 47 caps (4 goals), plays for Bainyas SC (UAE)): Milligan is an Asian Cup winner and a former Sydney, Newcastle, and Victory player. He was in the World Cup squad in 2014 and played in the warm up against Croatia.
- Aaron Mooy (Midfielder, 25, 11 caps (4 goals), plays for Melbourne City): His strike rate when it comes to international goalscoring is proof of his boundless talent. Possibly the best at taking free kicks in all of Australia.
- Josh Risdon (Defender, 23, 1 cap, plays for Perth Glory): One of the new players in the Squad, Risdon made his debut against Bangladesh in November of last year. He played against Manchester United in the A-League All Stars game of 2013.
- Tom Rogić (Attacking midfielder, 23, 13 caps (1 goal), plays for Celtic (Scotland)): Rogić (yes, proper accents are important) has an interesting story, playing for the Futsalroos at the 2010 AFC Futsal Championship. He’s now playing on full-sized pitches.
- Mathew Ryan (Goalkeeper, 23, 21 caps, plays for Valencia (Spain)): Ryan has succeeded his idol, Mark Schwarzer, as the first choice goalkeeper for the Socceroos. He has a large trophy cabinet, winning three domestic Goalkeeper of the Year awards, the A-League Young Footballer of the Year twice, and the AFC Asian Cup Golden Glove.
- Trent Sainsbury (Defender, 24, 15 caps (2 goals), plays for Jiangsu Suning (China)): Sainsbury has a rather laidback attitude, but don’t mistake that for a lack of commitment, as he was Man of the Match in the Asian Cup final.
- Brad Smith (Defender, 21, 4 caps, plays for Liverpool (England)): One of the youngest players in the squad, Brad Smith was plucked from the suburbs of Sydney in 2008 to go to Liverpool’s academy. Scored a goal that saved them against Exeter City in the FA Cup.
- Matthew Spiranovic (Defender, 27, 30 caps, plays for Hangzhou Greentown (China)): Spiranovic has played for loads of teams, from 1. FC Nürnberg in Germany to Al-Arabi in Qatar, and now China. Can also be spelled Špiranović.
- Bailey Wright (Defender, 23, 8 caps (1 goal), plays for Preston North End (England)): Wright made his debut in a friendly against Saudi Arabia, and scored a headed goal in it, not bad for a defender. Was at the Lilywhites when they got promoted.
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Excellent! As a QPR fan, I’m really enjoying watching Luongo and hope he continues his development with us for a while yet!
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Yep. If you’d asked me eighteen months ago, I’d say something like ‘Who the hell is Massimo Luongo?’ Certainly not now 😄
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Great stuff! You should do a profile from an Aussie’s point of view on him and his development. Tie in with how/if popularity of the game has increased since the Asia Cup game. The move to Asian confederation has been great for Australia hasn’t it?
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Moving to the AFC has been the best thing that’s ever happened to Australian soccer. We get to test ourself against opposition so good we lose to them sometimes.
I’ll have to do something on Luongo soon, you’re right. Good luck to QPR.
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Cheers Nick!
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