Three get Socceroos call-up
Today, new Socceroos head coach Pim Verbeek picked 22 players from the A-League for a training camp to be held in Sydney next week. While not a final squad for the Qatar match, it makes for interesting reading. Three Victory players got the call up, being Muscat, Thompson and Vargas who has been rewarded for his consistency over his two seasons in the league. Disappointment must have been felt by Michael Theoklitos, who along with Covic have been the outstanding keepers of the season in the A-League.
To be honest I am a little surprised at some of the selections, with names such as Corica, Durante, Coyne, Talay, Matt Thompson and Pondeljak springing to mind. It is also worth noting that Graham Arnold has also called up fifteen players from the Olyroos squad for a camp as well. Players such as Milligan, Djite, Vukovic and Musalik in that squad would also be under consideration for the full squad. It would also provide them with excellent preparation for the Olympics. The absence of Craig Moore from the squad raises a few questions, as one would expect a player of his experience to be an automatic selection. This is reported to be the first of two camps before our first qualifying match. It will be something of interest to see if the squad changes between camps as Verbeek sees them first hand and takes in more A-League matches.
It is also interesting to read that Verbeek thinks that an all A-League squad for the Socceroos may not be up to the task of beating Qatar on February 6 and will most likely call up European-based Australians for the game. It is good to seek Verbeek not taking the Qataris lightly and demanding improvement in the local competition.
Squad: John Aloisi (Central Coast Mariners), Clint Bolton (Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Sydney FC), Simon Colosimo (Perth Glory), Steve Corica (Sydney FC), Ante Covic (Newcastle Jets), Jamie Coyne (Perth Glory), Travis Dodd (Adelaide United), Andrew Durante (Newcastle Jets), Adam Griffiths (Newcastle Jets), Joel Griffiths (Newcastle Jets), John Hutchinson (Central Coast Mariners), Matt McKay (Queensland Roar), Kevin Muscat (Melbourne Victory), Jade North (Newcastle Jets), Lucas Pantelis (Adelaide United), Tom Pondeljak (Central Coast Mariners), Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC), Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory), Matt Thompson (Newcastle Jets), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne Victory), Alex Wilkinson (Central Coast Mariners)
To be honest I am a little surprised at some of the selections, with names such as Corica, Durante, Coyne, Talay, Matt Thompson and Pondeljak springing to mind. It is also worth noting that Graham Arnold has also called up fifteen players from the Olyroos squad for a camp as well. Players such as Milligan, Djite, Vukovic and Musalik in that squad would also be under consideration for the full squad. It would also provide them with excellent preparation for the Olympics. The absence of Craig Moore from the squad raises a few questions, as one would expect a player of his experience to be an automatic selection. This is reported to be the first of two camps before our first qualifying match. It will be something of interest to see if the squad changes between camps as Verbeek sees them first hand and takes in more A-League matches.
It is also interesting to read that Verbeek thinks that an all A-League squad for the Socceroos may not be up to the task of beating Qatar on February 6 and will most likely call up European-based Australians for the game. It is good to seek Verbeek not taking the Qataris lightly and demanding improvement in the local competition.
Squad: John Aloisi (Central Coast Mariners), Clint Bolton (Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Sydney FC), Simon Colosimo (Perth Glory), Steve Corica (Sydney FC), Ante Covic (Newcastle Jets), Jamie Coyne (Perth Glory), Travis Dodd (Adelaide United), Andrew Durante (Newcastle Jets), Adam Griffiths (Newcastle Jets), Joel Griffiths (Newcastle Jets), John Hutchinson (Central Coast Mariners), Matt McKay (Queensland Roar), Kevin Muscat (Melbourne Victory), Jade North (Newcastle Jets), Lucas Pantelis (Adelaide United), Tom Pondeljak (Central Coast Mariners), Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC), Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory), Matt Thompson (Newcastle Jets), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne Victory), Alex Wilkinson (Central Coast Mariners)
posted by Neil at
1/02/2008 04:27:00 pm
1 Comments:
Great to see Vargas get the heads-up. He has certainly been one of our most solid players over the past two seasons.
Why Verbeek picked Bolton over Theoklitos is beyond me... I suppose if Verbeek has only seen Theoklitos last two games, he's seen him let through 5 goals. But then, Bolton's let through 5 as well.
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