Ahead of the World Cup, what is Australia's predicted finish and who will be made a scapegoat in the event of failure?
The other candidates for scapegoats: I think the troubles at board level will cop as much blame as anything that occurs on the pitch if it all goes pear shaped for the Socceroos. Predicted finish: Last in the group (lucky if we scrap out a draw with someone).
SOCCEROOS’ PRELIMINARY SQUAD FOR 2018 WORLD CUP Goalkeepers Mat Ryan (Brighton and Hove Albion FC, England), Danny Vukovic (KRC Genk, Belgium), Brad Jones (Feyenoord, Holland), Mitch Langerak (Nagoya Grampus, Japan) Defenders Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F. Marinos, Japan), Matthew Jurman (Suwon Bluewings, Korea), James Meredith (Millwall, England), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney), Trent Sainsbury (Grasshoppers Zurich, Switzerland), Aleksandar Susnjar (FK Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic), Bailey Wright (Bristol City, England), Alex Gersbach (Lens, France), Fran Karacic (Lokomotiva Zagreb, Croatia) Midfielders Josh Brillante (Sydney FC), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa, England), Mark Milligan (Al Ahli, Saudi Arabia), Robbie Kruse (Bochum, Germany), Jackson Irvine (Hull, England), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers, England), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield, England), Tom Rogic (Celtic, Scotland), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory). Attackers Tim Cahill (Millwall, England), Tomi Juric (FC Luzern, Switzerland), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds, Japan), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa, Israel), Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle Jets), Jamie Maclaren (Hibernian, Scotland), Daniel Arzani (Melbourne City), Apostolos Giannou (AEK Larnaca, Cyprus).
Trimmed: The 26-man squad: Goalkeepers: Brad Jones (Feyenoord), Mat Ryan (Brighton), Danny Vukovic (Genk) Defenders: Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F. Marinos), Matthew Jurman (Suwon Samsung Bluewings), Fran Karacic (Lokomotiva), James Meredith (Millwall), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney Wanderers), Trent Sainsbury (Grasshoppers) Midfielders: Josh Brillante (Sydney FC), Jackson Irvine (Hull), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa), Robbie Kruse (Bochum), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers), Mark Milligan (Al Ahli), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield), Tom Rogic (Celtic), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory) Forwards: Daniel Arzani (Melbourne City), Tim Cahill (Millwall), Tomi Juric (FC Luzern), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin), Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds), Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle Jets), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa)
Opposition squads to date: DENMARK (Preliminary squad) Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester), Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield), Frederik Ronow (Brondby), Jesper Hansen (Midtjylland) Defenders: Simon Kjaer (Sevilla), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Mathias Jorgensen (Huddersfield), Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Andreas Bjelland (Brentford), Henrik Dalsgaard (Brentford), Peter Ankersen (Copenhagen), Jens Stryger (Udinese), Riza Durmisi (Real Betis), Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich), Nicolai Boilesen (Copenhagen) Midfielders: William Kvist (Copenhagen), Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen), Lukas Lerager (Bordeaux), Lasse Schone (Ajax), Mike Jensen (Rosenborg), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham), Daniel Wass (Celta Vigo), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Southampton), Mathias Jensen (Nordsjaelland), Michael Krohn-Dehli (Deportivo La Coruna), Robert Skov (Copenhagen) Strikers: Pione Sisto (Celta Vigo), Martin Braithwaite (Bordeaux), Andreas Cornelius (Atalanta), Viktor Fischer (Copenhagen), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig), Nicolai Jorgensen (Feyenoord), Nicklas Bendtner (Rosenborg), Kasper Dolberg (Ajax), Kenneth Zohore (Cardiff)
FRANCE Goalkeepers: Alphone Areola (PSG), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille) Defenders: Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Adil Rami (Marseille), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) Midfielders: Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Steven N'Zonzi (Sevilla), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich) Forwards: Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Florian Thauvin (Marseille), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
PERU Goalkeepers: Pedro Gallese (Veracruz), Jose Carvallo (UTC), Carlos Caceda (Municipal) Defenders: Luis Abram (Velez Sarsfield), Luis Advíncula (Lobos), Miguel Araujo (Alianza Lima), Aldo Corzo (Universitario), Nilson Loyola (Melgar), Christian Ramos (Veracruz), Alberto Rodriguez (Junior), Anderson Santamaria (Puebla), Miguel Trauco (Flamengo) Midfielders: Pedro Aquino (Lobos), Wilmer Cartagena (Veracruz), Christian Cueva (Sao Paulo), Edison Flores (Aalborg), Paolo Hurtado (Vitoria Guimaraes), Sergio Pena (Grenade), Andy Polo (Portland Timbers), Renato Tapia (Feyernoord), Yoshimar Yotun (Orlando City) Forwards: Paolo Guerrero (Flamengo), Andre Carrillo (Watford), Raul Ruidiaz (Morelia), Jefferson Farfan (Lokomotiv Moscow). Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...UADS-players-called-nation.html#ixzz5GKGZjmO4
Click on any of those images to make them bigger. We're good to go when we get to the knockout rounds and it gets to penalties! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-stats-make-grim-reading-ahead-World-Cup.html
Love your work Bert! https://www.news.com.au/sport/footb...t/news-story/57a7566582e9c82f30dced0876ef7786