Tim Cahill Makes Australia's 23 Man World Cup Squad Whilst James Troisi Misses Out

Tim Cahill Makes Australia's 23 Man World Cup Squad Whilst James Troisi Misses Out
13:50, 04 Jun 2018

Bert van Marwijk has named his 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, with former Newcastle United winger James Troisi missing the cut.

The Socceroos have trimmed their 27-man squad down to 23 for the tournament. Veteran Tim Cahill has been included, along with boy wonder Daniel Arzani and Hibernian striker Jamie Maclaren. Troisi, with 37 caps for Australia, was the biggest name to be left out. Nikita Rukavystya, uncapped defender Fran Karacic and midfielder Josh Brillante also have been omitted.

The inclusion of Arzani and Maclaren, along with Cahill, Tomi Juric, Andrew Nabbout, Dimi Petratos, Robbie Kruse, Tom Rogic and Mat Leckie means the green and gold have a wealth of attacking options. Only six members of the 2018 squad have previous World Cup experience though. Cahill is going to his fourth tournament, after debuting in Germany in 2006, while captain Mile Jedinak will play in his third World Cup. Van Marwijk has chosen only one recognised right back, Josh Risdon, and only three recognised central defenders.

“I think everybody must be very happy that this team has a few more players," the Dutch coach told the media.

“I look to solve problems, [defensively] I think we have enough players. Now I have more options in front, several types of central forwards and number nines. I have more players who can play in more positions.

“[Arzani's] improving but he has to learn a lot. [Maclaren] was for me, the first combination. I got him because of the injury to Juric. I’m satisfied with him, because he’s the type of player who always gets the chance. I wanted to give him a real chance. We trained very intensive, so it was very difficult – not really fair to him. I think I need him.”

van Marwijk admitted the decision to leave out footballers on the verge of World Cup selection is the most difficult part of his position.

“That’s always the hardest decision," he said.

"I told them as we started that this moment will come. It’s always an emotional day for everybody. I will not tell about every player, how I speak with him. That’s individual. The fact that he is with the last 23 says enough."

The Socceroos warmed up for the World Cup with a dominant 4-0 victory over the Czech Republic on Friday. Leckie scored a double with further goals to Nabbout and Milos Degenek. Van marwijk was pleased but not getting carried away with his first win as Australia coach.

“In the first 20 minutes we couldn’t find our free man – Rogic was free all the time but we didn’t have the right solution,” he said.

“But we spoke about it at half time and sometimes we found the solution which is very important. In the end, I must say I am satisfied because we won 4-0 but we have a long way to go. As a team we must learn to play close to each other so you can influence the game when the opponent has the ball but you must not run back too much and sometimes in the first half we ran too much back while it wasn’t necessary.”

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