Socceroos' preliminary World Cup squad announced
Australia manager manager Bert van Marwijk has named his preliminary 32-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Van Marwijk named all 26 players from the Socceroos squad that faced Norway and Colombia in March, plus Hyundai A-League youngster Daniel Arzani, who made the cut after his impressive breakout season for Melbourne City.
Fran Karacic also earned a maiden call-after the 21-year-old right back cemented himself as a regular starter for Lokomotiva Zagreb in the Croatian first Division.
“I am not a person who changes all the time and we thought for a long time about the first squad that we selected,” van Marwijk said.
“I had a good experience with the 26 players in the ten days that I worked with them, so I had no reason not to nominate them again. But we have since seen other players so there will be a few new names in the squad.”
The 32-man squad will be whittled down to 26 next week before the team travels to Turkey for a 20-day training camp before the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on 16 June.
