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06
Jun

Graham Arnold Confident of Coping with Packed Fixture List

Australia national team coach Graham Arnold says that the national team is very confident about keeping up with the tight schedule that is expected as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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21
Dec

Arnold Challenges Australia to Continue Winning Run

Graham Arnold has set his Australian national team the ambitious target of winning every game left in the World Cup 2022 qualification campaign. The team managed to pick up a fourth consecutive victory, as they beat Jordan 1-0 at the King Abdullah International Stadium. An early goal from Adam Taggart provided a victory for Australia, who were dominant in possession. However, they were unable to create more shots on target. The solitary goal was more than sufficient since it put Australia on top of the group with a two-point advantage over Kuwait.

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19
Oct

Arnold praises Aaron Mooy after fine performance against Kuwait

Australia head coach Graham Arnold has heaped praise on midfielder Aaron Mooy after he orchestrated the proceedings during the World Cup qualifier against Kuwait. The 29-year-old has barely earned any gametime at the club level with Brighton & Hove Albion but that has not hampered his performances with the Socceroos.

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14
May

Graham Arnold to try new players

Australia football team head coach Graham Arnold said that he will be using the next friendly game against South Korea to try some new players. He said that this will be a great opportunity for him to test the depth of the squad and to try some new things in the team.

Graham Arnold said that the objective of the Australian team is to make it to the 2022 World Cup and for that they have to go through the qualifiers that will be starting soon.

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17
Apr

Financial Reasons behind Australia’s Lack of International Action

Graham Arnold and Australia’s national team seem to have missed out on a valuable opportunity in order to get back to winning ways, as the team would not be involved in the international break for the first time since 2004. After exiting the AFC Asian Cup 2019 in the quarter-finals, Graham Arnold indicated that there was a lot of scope to improve the team. However, the national team have elected to opt against playing in the international window for March. The national team’s next match will be in the summer when the fixtures are out.

The decision not to be involved in the international window is surprising, as Australia have been a regular when it comes to FIFA windows for the last 15 years. Australia would have gained valuable experience in the Tokyo 2020 qualifiers, but Arnold seems to be comfortable not to be part of the window. There is also a huge financial decision behind opting against playing in this window. The Australian football Federation has been struggling with finances for the last four years.The decision to skip the window will also benefit players like Mark Milligan, Mat Ryan, and Aaron Mooy. These names have been able to benefit from a break just as in the season heads into the business end.

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21
Jan

Graham Arnold Admits Jordan Defeat Comes As a Shock

Australian national team was at the end of a shock 1-0 defeat by Jordan in the Asian Cup and manager Graham Arnold claimed that it was one of those days that should be used as a wake-up call for the team. Meanwhile, Jordan manager Vital Borkelmans was in full praise of his players for executing a plan to perfection. This was the opening match in the group B and Australia where overwhelming favourites for a victory. However, defender AnasBani-Yaseen scored from a header in the first half to provide the decisive difference between the two teams.

Now, Australia are facing the risk of getting out of the Asian Cup at an early stage. Australia have every reason to be worried at this result taking the focus away from the team. The national team are up against Palestine on Friday and they are once again favourites to get a victory. Even though Australia had an incredible 77% of the ball against Jordan, they were unable to make much of an impact with the same. On most occasions, Australia were sluggish and did not create many chances.
Furthermore, Jordan were in a compact shape that made it harder for the opposition to break them down. After the game, Arnold claimed that Jordan need to be praised for coming up with a strong defensive performance.

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12
Dec

Australia Still Have Six Positions Open for Asian Cup, Claims Arnold

Graham Arnold says that he still has to fill up six spots in order to complete the Asian Cup squad. Even though the Socceroos manager has been able to finalise most of the positions, he says that the final few spots will be decided based on the recent performances. Australia go into the Asian Cup looking to defend the title that they won recently. The remaining candidates have time left to impress the manager and cement their position in the squad. It is clear that Arnold will not be making the decision based on reputation and it will be made based on form.

Speaking ahead of the squad announcement, the Australian national team manager said that he has been happy with the display put up by his players in the games against Lebanon and South Korea. He has decided to leave one position vacant in every aspect of the pitch so that players can still show that they are capable of being taken for the Asian Cup. There is a possibility that some of the six spots will include players who did not feature in the recent friendly matches against South Korea, Lebanon, and Kuwait. It is expected that Perth Glory winger Chris Ikonomidis may be in line for a call up, as he has been in excellent form of late.

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29
Sep

Neil Lennon believes Martin Boyle deserves Australia call-up

Hibernian boss Neil Lennon believes winger Martin Boyle deserves an international call-up with Australia and the exposure would help him develop into a better footballer. The 25-year-old has only represented Scotland at the under-16 level but he has the qualification to represent the Socceroos with his father hailing from Sydney.

Speaking in a press conference, Lennon revealed that Socceroos coach Graham Arnold had a close watch on the attacker during the recent league game against Kilmarnock and hinted that he could receive a maiden call-up for the international friendly against Kuwait next month, he said: “An Australia call-up would be thoroughly merited for Martin.

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