The reporter reported coldly Yesterday morning, Australia announced their 26-man squad for the March round of 18, with 12 players changed compared to their November squad, largely due to a serious injury stagnation. At least five of the main players of the Popovich era in the Round of 18 are absent, including defenders Zikati and Souttar, midfielders Bosch and McGreen and striker Duke. Popovich called up four newcomers who had never been selected for the national team and two "semi-newcomers" who were not selected after 2022 to fill the hole.

Australian media said that the main central defenders Zikati (Parma, Serie A), Souttar (Leicester City, Premier League) and Matthews (Portsmouth, Championship), Boss (Westerlos, Championship), and midfielder McGgreen (Myburgh, Championship) were all selected due to injury, and Popovich had to recruit 31-year-old Grant (Sydney FC), 23-year-old Triwin (Melbourne City), 23-year-old Chinese mixed-race defender Tiger (Melbourne Victory) and 21-year-old Greek defender Triantis (Irish, Soviet Super League) into the list. They were all selected for the first time.

Grant played for the Tigers last year and joined Sydney FC at the start of the year and quickly became the heart of the defence. In addition, 33-year-old Greek centre-back Davidson (Pan Serre, Greek Super League) and 28-year-old Croatian right-back Francec (Lokomotiv Zagreb, Croatian First Division) have also returned to the national team after more than two years. Davidson was part of Australia's 2015 Asian Cup winning squad, while Francec played in the 2022 World Cup. After the absence of Soutar and Bos, Popovich valued the experience of these two central defenders.

There has also been a lot of change in the Australian midfield, with main midfielder McGring missing due to injury, and Bosnian-Romanian attacking midfielder Hrustic completely reduced to a substitute in Serie B Salernitana since the New Year. It is worth mentioning that among the four newcomers to the national team this time, there is a 23-year-old Chinese mixed-race defender Tiger. At the beginning of this year, the Australian media once rumored that he was one of the naturalization targets of the national football team, which eventually proved to be a false rumor. Popovich said at the press conference to announce the squad that he would not start first because some players might choose other countries' teams, and called up Tiger because he had 3 goals and 2 assists in 20 games in the Australian Super League this season, and he performed well. Tiger will join Triantis, who is 1.91m tall, as a midfield replacement for Owen and O'Neal.

Tiger

On top of last November's squad, Popovich added three players up front. The 34-year-old Duke has just one unqualified appearance in the first five games of the J1 League this season. Duke's replacement is 31-year-old centre-forward Tagart, who has scored seven goals and two assists in 19 appearances in the Australian Super League this season. In addition, Melbourne City's right winger Tirio, who entered the national team again after a year, also performed remarkably in the season.

The most controversial choice up front is Iranian-born right winger Al Sani, who has scored just one goal and provided three assists in 19 games in the Australian Super League this season, failing to perform in seven consecutive games. Popovich publicly criticised Alsani's training attitude during the round of 18 last October, and in January he stressed again that he was not fit enough to make it to the national team. In addition, South Sudanese striker Yanji has been recuperating from a knee injury for three months, and has only returned to play 2 games and has successfully qualified. However, Croatian striker Berdych (10 goals, 4 assists), the top scorer in the Australian Super League, was not available, and Tagart and Borriello were both in the squad with fewer goals.

Arsani

Due to the absence of a large number of main players or regular internationals playing for Europe, the total value of the Australian team has dropped to 23.7 million euros. The 30-man squad of the Indonesian team, which has newly naturalized three players, is worth a total of 36.8 million euros, which is 1.5 times that of the Australian team. In fact, as many as 10 Australian Super League players have been selected in the Australian squad, which is also rare in recent years. There are too many injuries and many people have lost their main positions at the club.

In the Australia-China battle in October last year, the 15 players in the Australian team included goalkeeper Gauci, central defenders Suta, Thomas Deng, forwards Duke, Ilankunda, and substitutes McGreen, Bosch, and Hrustic 8 people failed to be included in the squad.

Speaking at the press conference, Popovich admitted that the large number of injuries and poor form of the main team has made the Australian team a huge challenge, "I know very well that the upcoming game is going to be very tough, but I am sure that the newcomers will overcome the difficulties. ”