Bahrain Squad

Pim Verbeek has named one of the strongest Socceroos squads we’ve had available in his tenure for the World Cup Qualifier against Bahrain, although it’s unclear whether certain key players will be fit. Nevertheless, here’s the complete group he’s called up in his initial squad list:

Goalkeepers:

Adam Federici (Reading)
Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor)
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)

Defenders:

Chris Coyne (Colchester Utd, Centre Back)
Craig Moore (Queensland Roar, Centre Back)
Lucas Neill (West Ham, Centre Back/Right Back)
Matthew Spiranovic (Nurnberg, Centre Back)
Shane Stefanutto (Lyn Oslo, Left Back)
Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow, Right Back)

Midfielders:

Mark Bresciano (Palermo, Attacking Midfielder/Right/Left Winger)
Jacob Burns (Unirea, Central Midfielder)
Tim Cahill (Everton, Attacking Midfielder)
David Carney (Sheffield Utd, Left Winger/Left Back)
Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Central Midfielder)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers, Right Winger/Right Back)
Richard Garcia (Hull City, Right Winger/Striker)
Vincenzo Grella (Blackburn Rovers, Defensive Midfielder)
Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar, Attacking Midfielder/Striker)
Harry Kewell (Galatasaray, Left Winger/Attacking Midfielder)
Mile Sterjovski (Derby County, Attacking Midfielder/Right Winger)
Carl Valeri (Grosseto, Defensive Midfielder)

Strikers:

Bruce Djite (Genclerbirligi)
Josh Kennedy (Karlsruhe)
Scott McDonald (Celtic)

As ever, I’m pleased to see Spiranovic in the squad, though I expect he’s there as the team’s emergency backup central defender, in case something should happen to both Neill and Moore. I assume Chipperfield is injured. At any rate, I expect to see a four-man defence as usual, and probably two strikers. Grella is now certain to miss out through an injury sustained playing against Chelsea, so the lineup I might expect is this:

- – - – - – Schwarzer – - – - – - -
Wilkshire – Neill – Moore – Carney
Bresciano – Culina – Cahill – Kewell
- – - – McDonald – Kennedy – - – - -

The midfield positions are fairly open, and it’s always possible that we could even see a slightly different formation, but I’m inclined to think this is the most likely one. Valeri has played in Grella’s place a few times in the past, but I think Culina has tended to be an automatic inclusion in many Australia squads, and not selecting Cahill is like throwing away goals.

Kewell’s fitness isn’t absolutely certain, but it’s hoped that he can play. The team is fairly short on left-sided players, so if Kewell can’t play, we could possibly see Carney on the wing with Stefanutto in at left back, or, perhaps more likely, Bresciano switching to the right and Sterjovski or Emerton coming in on the right.

McDonald and Kennedy seem to be Verbeek’s preferred choices up front, and with McDonald in good form after scoring a very nice goal against Manchester United, we could hope to finally see an international goal out of him. Pim is also, we should remember, no stranger to playing Holman and/or Kewell up front if it suits his plans, though I doubt Kewell will play there in a team with so few left wingers available.

I know little about the Bahrain team aside from the fact that they have four players suspended and that Verbeek says he plans to beat them rather than play for a draw. I think, with the strength of this squad, we should do so comfortably.

Update: Grella is definitely ruled out. Spiranovic picked up an ankle injury in training at Nurnberg and is ruled out also. Craig Moore has been diagnosed with testicular cancer (!) and has also withdrawn.

As a result, Mile Jedinak has been called up to sit on the bench in midfield, and Jade North and Mark Milligan can do likewise in the centre of defence. We can presumably expect the now-familiar Neill-Coyne pairing at centre-back.