Subway Socceroos will take on Bahrain in the early hours of Sunday morning in a prelude to their AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ campaign.
Bahrain ended 2023 on a high note, winning three of their last four matches against Australia.
The team started their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 win against Yemen, but lost to Asian powerhouse United Arab Emirates 2-0 at the end of last year.
Juan Antonio Pizzi’s side boasts several attacking weapons, including creative frontman Komail Al Aswad.
The three-time Bahrain Premier League champion scored two goals and provided two assists in this season’s AFC Cup, helping his team top their group and advance to the knockout stages.
Ali Madan is also part of the attacking team and is having a productive season with Ajman club in the United Arab Emirates, scoring five goals and providing four assists.
Mohamed Marhoun provides further quality with his versatility from midfield to the front.
The 25-year-old scored against Yemen in November and will be looking to do more damage against Australia.
The Socceroos have announced their competitive squad ahead of the cup competition, with just 12 members of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup squad recalled.
Among the first new signings Socceroos fans will be looking at is Bolton Wanderers defender Gethin Jones, who has confirmed he will start.
Jones is the mainstay of Wanderers’ rearguard as they aim for promotion to the EFL Championship, currently sitting in second place.
Tweet: https://twitter.com/Socceroos/status/1742747717900939677
Exciting forward John Airdale could also get his first taste of Socceroos action after a promising performance at Wehen Wiesbaden in the second round of the Bundesliga.
Iredale scored in their final match before flying to Qatar, with Jackson Irvine and Conor Metcalf scoring the equalizing goal in a 1-1 draw with St Pauli.
There is plenty of competition for the striker position, with in-form Bruno Fornaroli scoring 13 goals in 10 A-League men’s games.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Duke will play in a game in 2023, lifting the J.League 2 trophy.
Keanu Backus and Aiden O’Neill will be options in midfield having received extra minutes with European clubs St Mirren and Standard Liege respectively.
Graham Arnold confirmed this at the team announcement. Maity Ryan should recover in time for the opening cup game, but will miss the game against Bahrain.
This means one of the A-League duo, Joe Gauci and Lawrence Thomas, will be playing between the sticks on Sunday.
Sunday will be a key test for Australia as they look to finalize their plans ahead of their Asian Cup appearance.
Current FIFA ranking
Australia: 25
Bahrain: 86
Head to head vs Bahrain
Number of plays: 5
Wins: 5
Draw: 0
Loss: 0
Number of points: 9
Number of goals conceded: 1
insight
Insight provided by: Jack George
- Bruno Fornaroli has scored an incredible 13 goals in 10 games this season, equating to an average of 1.35 goals per game, with eight of those goals coming from two separate four-goal hits.
- Fornaroli scored 13 goals from just 37 shots, with a conversion rate of 35.14% and 5.07 goals over expected goals.
- Martin Boyle created 1.82 chances per 90 for Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership, making 1.88 successful dribbles and 1.25 successful crosses per game.
- Craig Goodwin has been involved in seven goals in 14 Saudi Pro League games in the 2023/24 season, averaging one goal or assist every other game.
- Jordan Voss has completed 1.83 successful dribbles per game for Belgian side Westerlo this season, achieving a high success rate of 57.1%.
- In the Scottish Premiership, Lewis Miller leads all duels won (128), interceptions (27), successful dribbles (17) and fouls won (35) compared to other full-backs. .
- Lawrence Thomas kept five clean sheets in nine games for the A-League men and conceded just 10 goals all season.
what they said
Graham Arnold talks about team selection for match against Bahrain
I think I can honestly tell you right off the bat that we’re probably going to start Gethin Jones because we need to see him in games where he needs to connect with the players. Obviously he’s never played with boys before. But I would say that the role he plays at the club will make things a lot easier. Yesterday in training, he did 11-on-11 twice, 15 and 16 minutes, and he was very good. So even if I say this as a surprise, it’s probably the only thing that will really surprise you. As a result, there are some players who clearly need game time and haven’t played in recent weeks, such as Japan’s Mitchell Duke, whose J.League ended when it was canceled at the end of November. But we have 26 very good players here and it’s already a headache of who to start and who not to start, but we’re all fit and ready to go. It will be fun to pick the team not only for this match against Bahrain but also for future Asian Cups.
Graham Arnold confirms Maity Ryan will miss friendly
Maty is on board with this. But he’s doing full training. But again, the question is, what happens if Maity gets sick? Or if something happens with Maity’s injury, what happens next? Who’s next?…As I said, he has one more training session left today and today’s discussion will naturally be about his starting eleven with the staff. . And as I always say, John Crowley has a huge role to play on that side and in goal.
Graham Arnold talks about the fitness of Riley McGree and Marco Thirio
I saw him (Riley McGree) yesterday, probably freshening up after the injury in the last six or seven weeks. He seems to be doing very well. Once again, there will be competition for those spots. And while he may end up sharing game time with other players tomorrow, at the end of the day, he’s in great form.Thirio looked very sharp yesterday and he came in with a lot of motivation, I expect that
Sam Silvera
For the first few days, I think we just mixed in with the boys, had a lot of laughs, and developed friendships. But I think we have a great team here, and with the talent of this team, I think we can do really well in this tournament.
Gethin Jones
I know Ernie (Graham Arnold) and (Rene Meulensteen) have been coming to Bolton games for the last few months. A few months ago, I got a call from Rene after a game and I met him and then out of the blue I got a call from Ernie and he asked me if I wanted to play for the Socceroos.
In terms of position, Jones has said he is best at right-back, but he also has experience across the backline and is willing to step in wherever he is needed. “Over the years I’ve played in multiple positions, especially at Bolton as left wing-back, left-back, right-centre back in a back three and of course right-back, so I’m versatile,” he said. Ta. . But obviously my main position is right-back, but as long as the manager puts me on the pitch, wherever he wants me to play, I’ll give my 100%. Masu.
craig goodwin
When we come to these camps, everyone says the same thing, it’s like a second family coming here. It’s easy to get along with everyone and we feel very comfortable, so I think it’s very important to maintain that kind of environment, especially for new players.
We have ambitions to win the Asia Cup and for that we have to have a ruthless mentality and focus on what happens next. We are very happy with what we have done here (Qatar) in the past, but that is in the past and we need to focus on the here and now so that we can host the Asian Cup again. Australia.
How to watch
Match details
Bahrain v Subway Socceroos
Saturday, January 6th
Baniyas Stadium, Abu Dhabi
kick off: 6pm local time / 1am AEDT (Sunday 7 January)
broadcast: Paramount+
Subway Soccer AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ Match Schedule (Group B):
Australia v India
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Al Rayyan’s Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
kick off: 2:30pm local time (10:30pm AEDT)
broadcast: Network 10 and Paramount+
Syria v Australia
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha
kick off: 2:30pm local time (10:30pm AEDT)
broadcast: Network 10 and Paramount+
Australia v Uzbekistan
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Al Janob Stadium, Doha
kick off: 2:30pm local time (10:30pm AEDT)
broadcast: Network 10 and Paramount+
All AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 matches will be broadcast live on Paramount+