Graham Arnold: Socceroos in top leagues will again raise profile of Australian football
Graham Arnold sat down with Socceroos.com.au ahead of the June window to share his thoughts on the recent success of several Subway Socceroos in club land, who won titles and simultaneously secured promotion.
Arnold also provided an update on his plans for the two remaining FIFA World Cup 2026™ Second Round Qualifiers away to Bangladesh on Thursday, 6 June and at home against Palestine on Tuesday, 11 June.
READ MORE: Subway Socceroos to hold Open Training Session in Perth
Arnold began by reacting to a number of Aussies winning league titles and in the process earning promotion to top-flight leagues.
Cameron Burgess and retired Socceroo Massimo Luongo will play in the English Premier League next season with Ipswich Town, as too will Harry Souttar and Leicester City, while Jackson Irvine and Connor Metcalfe won the 2. Bundesliga with St. Pauli to feature in the top-flight for the first time since 2011.
Meanwhile, in Italy Alessandro Circati won Serie B with Parma to guarantee a spot in next year's Serie A. Elsewhere, Kusini Yengi and Alex Robertson helped Portsmouth return to the Championship after finishing first past the post.
Arnold believed having Socceroos playing consistently in the top tiers of European football will only serve as a benefit for the national team.
He added the same principle applies at an international level, suggesting the Socceroos will only improve by playing against the stronger teams in the world which came to fruition last year against the likes of Argentina, England and Mexico.
"... There's a purpose of also the national team and what it can bring for those type of players and improve the quality of them as well like by playing against top opposition with the national team," he said.
"They then take that back to club land and it's something that we've been building over the last few years. But most of all, it's just fantastic for their clubs and you the fact that they're going to be playing next year in the top leagues."
The 60-year-old is expecting this positive will have a knock on effect, similar to what transpired during the 1990s where a plethora of Australians ventured to Europe and plied their trades at some strong clubs.
"It'll raise the profile again of Australian football and players, that happened in the mid 90s," he explained.
"Once you had one or two players playing in the Premier League. All of a sudden, Premier League clubs are looking at Australian players.
"And they all know that Australians have a very good work ethic, good mentalities, easy to speak to in terms of the language. So I think it will raise the profile again, of Australian youth and football."
On the upcoming squad Arnold is scheduled to announce next week, the boss reiterated he is keeping his options open with regards to selection.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we're still searching for that number nine," he said.
"And I've given plenty of players that opportunity at number nine and to see Kas (Kusini Yengi) go there and do very well at Portsmouth in his first season.
"He played a lot of football in his first season, and to get promoted to the Championship... You can see the difference in the Riley McGree's, Sam Silvera's since they've been in the Championship at Middlesbrough playing a lot of football, how much they've improved."
Arnold intimated a number of members in the A-League could also be called up for June, pending fitness and how they pull up after the A-Leagues All-Stars match and A-League Men's 2023-24 Grand Final.
The squad will then convene in Bangkok for a pre-camp before making the journey to Dhaka.
"Obviously, this week there's a grand final and there'll be probably players in camp that'll obviously win that, so this camp I'm really excited to get ready for because there'll be a lot of energy in this camp with excitement from what they've done at club level," he said.
"I'll be going down to watch the All Star game on Friday night where I need to look at some players that are on our long list at the moment to see how their fitness levels are because they stopped the A-League pretty much four weeks ago to see how they are.
"There'll be players coming into camp that have finished at different times, and there's ones still playing at this moment in time. So we're having a pre camp in Bangkok, for pretty much the players who'll get there on the 29th (of May).
"I'll pretty much announce the squad after this weekend, and players will get across there to acclimatise to the conditions before we go into Bangladesh."
For the matches against Bangladesh and Palestine, Arnold only has one thing on his mind - win. The boss explained the importance of collecting maximum points in both fixtures to help with their FIFA Ranking and seeding for the next Round Three Qualifiers.
Should Australia triumph in both games while Korea Republic drop points, the Aussies will more than likely usurp the Taegeuk Warriors as the third-highest AFC ranked nation and avoid Japan and IR Iran in the next qualification phase.
"There's only one thing in my mind and it's always, 'we've got to win both games', get on that winning roll again'," he affirmed.
"We've won four out of the first six games, so it's about our FIFA ranking points as well. When you win those games, obviously you've got a better chance of going higher up the ranking list."
The Subway Socceroos will also honour the memory of Dylan Tombides in the lead up to and during the game against Palestine at HBF Park.
Tombides – a former Australian youth national team player – was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2011, following a random drug test at the U-17 FIFA World Cup which uncovered a tumour in one of his testicles.
He fought the illness bravely for three years, even managing to make his professional debut for West Ham United FC during that period but passed away with his family by his side in April 2014 at just 20 years-of-age.
"It was a devastating thing that happened to young Dylan and the family.
"Some of the boys probably don't know him, but they know of him and know exactly how testicular cancer works and probably didn't know about it, and woke up a lot of kids who have got tested and Dylan was a fantastic footballer, a great person and we're here to support."
Match Details - FIFA World Cup 2026™ Second Round Asian Qualifiers
Bangladesh vs Australia
Thursday, 6 June 2024
Bashundhara Kings Arena, Dhaka
Kick-off: 8.45pm AEST
Broadcast: Paramount+
Australia v Palestine
Tuesday, 11 June 2024
HBF Park, Perth
Kick-off: 8:05pm AWST / (10:05pm AEST)
Broadcast: Channel 10, 10 Bold, Paramount+ and 10 Play
GET TICKETS NOW