National team boss Graham Arnold has unveiled his 25-man squad to take on Bangladesh and Palestine, with plenty of new faces, let's look at some of the talking points.
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READ MORE: Our past two matches against Palestine
The Subway Socceroos continued their perfect record in FIFA World Cup qualifying, back in March, with two comprehensive victories on home soil against Lebanon, first a 2-0 win in Parramatta, and then a 5-0 rout in Canberra.
An enormous amount of club football has been played between international breaks, with a number of Aussie players rewarded for a strong finish to their season, many anointed with silverware and others, a league promotion.
First Call-ups
18-year-old Nestory Irankunda may have been involved in past camps as a train-on player, but now the South Australian gets his first official call-up to the senior national team, following a phenomenal end to his final campaign at hometown club Adelaide United, producing 7 goal involvements in his last 6 matches of the A-League men's season.
The young star will join an expanding group of Australian internationals in the German top-division next season, having signed with giants Bayern Munich, joining Jackson Irvine and Connor Metcalfe in the Bundesliga.
Another expert A-League marksman given his first Subway Socceroos call-up is 25-year-old Apostolos Stamatelopoulos from the Newcastle Jets.
Having ventured across Australia and in Greece, Stamatelopoulos found his place as a Novocastrian, with 17 goals across a campaign in which the striker forged his leadership qualities, eventualing ending the season as the Jets' captain.
Both Stamatelopoulos and Irankunda have experience in the green-and-gold, with the two forwards spending time in national youth set-ups, Apostolos in Australia's Young Socceroos and Nestory in Australia's U17s.
Returning Players
There will be a number of new faces in the June window, however all but one, in this case Stamatelopoulos, possess previous experience in senior international squads. Here are the players who have been recalled for Socceroos duty.
AFC Asian Cup stars Lawrence Thomas, Aziz Behich and Martin Boyle make their return to the squad, while Parma central defender Alessandro Circati and St Mirren full-back Ryan Strain regain selection for the first time since November's return qualifiers against the same two opponents.
20-year-old Circati enters camp as a top-flight footballer, having starred in 32 matches this past season en-route to a Serie A promotion for the Emilia-Romagna football club.
Members of Australia's famous 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign, Mathew Leckie and Cameron Devlin, rejoin their first squad since September 2023. The former will certainly be relied on for his experience during next week's qualifiers, with a raft of young talent selected for the two qualifying matches.
Despite defeat in the 2024 A-League Mens grand final, Melbourne Victory duo Paul Izzo and Daniel Arzani remained immense, both in that game, and throughout the second half of the season, having now been dually rewarded for their strong showings, with a first Socceroos selection since September 2021.
Arzani was a consistent attacking spark for former Socceroo Tony Popovic's side, while Izzo shone with his crucial stops in big matches for the Victorian outfit, most notably, producing a number of penalty shootout saves against rivals Melbourne City, then backing up that effort with a similar stop in the semi-final against Wellington Phoenix.
Potential Debutants
Goalkeeper Paul Izzo, winger Nestory Irankunda, and striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos are currently without a senior international cap heading into qualifiers against Bangladesh and Palestine.
However, coach Graham Arnold has been keen to give opportunities to his entire squad, having provided debuts to John Iredale, Patrick Yazbek, and Josh Nisbet during the March window.
Match Details - FIFA World Cup 2026™ Second Round Asian Qualifiers
Bangladesh v Australia
Thursday, 6 June 2024
Bashundhara Kings Arena, Dhaka
Kick-off: 4:45pm local / 8:45pm AEST
Broadcast: Network 10, Paramount+, 10 Play
Australia v Palestine
Tuesday, 11 June 2024
HBF Park, Perth
Kick-off: 8:05pm AWST / (10:05pm AEST)
Broadcast: Channel 10, Paramount+ and 10 Play
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