Much was expected of Ross McCormack at Aston Villa when he joined from Fulham in the summer of 2016. The former Leeds United striker was a massive success at Elland Road and Craven Cottage, and the £12 million that Villa paid for him was going to be money well spent, it was presumed. The Villans were planning to make an instant return to the Premier League following relegation, and McCormack’s extensive experience in the Championship was going to be a key factor.

McCormack, though, failed to make an instant impact at Villa Park. The 31-year-old Scotland international striker fell out with manager Steve Bruce and was sent out on loan to Championship rivals Nottingham Forest in the January transfer window. The former Leeds star was able to make only three starts in the Championship for Forest last season, scoring one goal and providing one assist in the process.

Syria midfielder Mohammed ZaherMidani is hopeful of overcoming Australia in the fourth round play-off of the AFC qualifiers.

The politically unstable country has played its home games in Malaysia, and they will entertain Australia in the first-leg of the play-off from the Hang Jebat Stadium on Thursday.

The Syrians have previously registered wins over Uzbekistan and Qatar at the Hang Jebat Stadium while drawing the remaining games in the third round of the qualification phase. As a result, Midani is optimistic of securing a positive result against the Socceroos to take into the return leg in Sydney five days later.

Aaron Mooy failed to make an impact in English football when he was at Bolton Wanderers, but the Australia international central midfielder is taking the Premier League by storm at the moment. Now on the books of Huddersfield Town, the 27-year-old has been one of the best and most instrumental players in the English top flight so far this season.

Huddersfield have made a stunning start to the 2017-18 Premier League campaign, and the early signs are that they will stave off the drop to the Championship at the end of the season. The Terriers have picked up some important points in the opening weeks of the season, with Mooy playing a key role.

Australia's World Cup hopes are in dire straits following their disappointing performance in the World Cup qualifier against Japan last week.

The Socceroos were convincingly beaten by a 2-0 scoreline by their Far East opponents, and they must register a convincing win over Thailand in their final group game in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup.

Premier League newcomers Huddersfield have secured the services of midfielder Aaron Mooy from Manchester City for a fee of around £10m.

The Australia international has inked a three-year deal with the Terriers after he impressed on his season-long loan with the club last term.

The Australian national football team crashed out of the recently concluded 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup without a single victory as the team of Ange Postecoglou failed to make it past the group stages after losing to Germany and having to settle with draws against Chile and Cameroon.

Overall, it was not a memorable tournament for the Australian national side but there actually was a positive thing to take away for AngePostecoglou and his team.

Australia’s chances of reaching the semi-final stage of the Confederations Cup received a blow after they settled for a 1-1 draw against Cameroon.

The Socceroos were condemned to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Germany in their first game as they struggled to cope with an inexperienced German squad which held on their own for most part of the clash. The draw to Cameroon sees Australia amass their first points of the tournament, and they will now have to beat Chile by two clear goals in three days’ time which looks like a hefty task for the Asia champions.

South American giants Chile are straight to the last four of the ongoing FIFA Confederations Cup after playing a draw against Australia.

The Group B fixture needed to end in a victory for Australia for them to stand a chance at qualifying.

Australia may have failed to qualify for the Semi-Finals of the Confederations Cup but Ange Postecoglu's side can hold their heads high following their unexpected 1-1 draw with Chile.

They may feel a little disappointed however with their failure to pick up more points from their opening two contests against Germany and Cameroon. Their next major assignment is a crucial match-up with Japan at the end of August and lessons must be learnt from this tournament.

There was plenty of encouragement in Australia's opening game against Germany. A 3-2 defeat against Joachim Low's side doesn't seem too bad and they provided plenty of nervous moments for the World Champions but this was far from a full strength German outfit!

The head coach of Australia, AngelosPostecoglou has a number of important matches in the upcoming few weeks which will decide Australia´s chances of not only qualifying for the 2018 edition of the FIFA World Cup but is also going to determine how far Australia goes in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Australian national football team was pitted in group for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and they have to compete against the likes of: Chile, Germany and Cameroon. Every of these nations will be trying to secure a top 2 position which is enough to advance into the knockout stages.