Congratulations to Aaron Mooy who has, as expected, been named in the Socceroos squad for the World Cup in Qatar. However former Celtic legend Tom Rogic, now at West Brom, has NOT been included in the squad. Oh and Jason Cummings, remember him, has been named in the Australia squad for Qatar alonhside numerous Aussies playing in the Scottish Premiership.
You would have to think that Rogic, who has won 53 caps and is perhaps the most talented player Australia has at its disposal would have been a certainty to be included in the Socceroos squad heading to Qatar, had he stayed on at Celtic.
For whatever reason Tom Rogic fancied a change but as so many players have discovered after leaving Celtic, the grass isn’t always greener. After going off the radar for much of the summer, Rogic eventually signed for Steve Bruce at West Brom as a free agent. However Bruce’s side was not in good form in the Championship and a few bad results later he was sacked on 10 October.
The new boss coming in Carlos Corberan then warned Rogic that his past glories at Celtic would count for nothing under his regime as it’s all about what his players do in the here and now. With such a trigger happy board you can’t really blame the new West Brom boss for taking that approach.
It’s a real shame that such a talented footballer like Tom Rogic is going to miss out on the World Cup. In contrast Aaron Mooy, who was also training on his own this summer as he looked for a new club (as he was in Glasgow at the time that shouldn’t have been too difficult a task!) has been given the game-time by Ange Postecoglou and there has been a steady improvement in the Celtic midfielder’s fitness and form over the past few months.
And even at the weekend, after talking about the danger in a mid-season World Cup, of players picking up a knock that would keep them out for a few weeks and them ending up missing out on a World Cup, a career highlight for footballers, Postecoglou showed his class as a top coach in his team selection. So against Dundee United it was no surprise that Mooy, Josip Juranovic (Croatia) and Daizen Maeda (Japan) were all on the bench with only the Japanese forward being introduced from the bench in a needs must moment.
You wonder if Tom Rogic has regrets about leaving his own footballing Paradise in the East End of Glasgow – where he was adored and appreciated – only to end up experiencing harsher climates elsewhere?
Graham Arnold has numerous Australians from Scottish Premiership clubs in his squad, other than Aaron Mooy. On a statement on the official Socceroos website the squad information was released.
“Socceroos’ Head Coach Graham Arnold has named his 26-man squad to represent Australia at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
“Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan will captain the side in Qatar at what will be his third FIFA World Cup, with Mathew Leckie the other player in the squad selected to represent Australia at a FIFA World Cup for the third time.
“This year’s tournament will be the second FIFA World Cup for Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek, Jackson Irvine, Jamie MacLaren, Aaron Mooy and Bailey Wright, with seventeen players selected in a FIFA World Cup squad for the first time.”
Australia boss Arnold thanks each of the 68 players he called up during the last four-year cycle in the build-up to this World Cup.
He said: “It’s been a unique and difficult qualification campaign and we now arrive in Qatar with an exciting squad which will do everything to make Australia proud on the world stage.
“Over the past four years, 32 players have made their debut for the national team. I want to thank every player who has helped the team over this journey. We have called upon 68 players during the qualifying campaign and every one of them has played a part in getting us here.
“The make-up of our team reflects Australia’s multicultural landscape. Our boys come from all over the world, they all have different journeys, but we are united by one jersey.”
The 2️⃣6️⃣ players heading to our sixth @FIFAWorldCup 🫡✈️
#GiveIt100 #Socceroos pic.twitter.com/7G6A6KbEpk— Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 8, 2022
🇦🇺🏴 | The Scottish Aussies
Congratulations to Martin Boyle, Jason Cummings & Harry Souttar who have been selected by @Socceroos for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Boyle from Aberdeen, Cummings from Edinburgh & Souttar from Luthermuir all qualify through a parent. pic.twitter.com/SucV3VwGaW
— Everything Scotland 🏴 (@AboutScotlandd) November 8, 2022
