Uruguay-born Bruno Fornaroli is one of five uncapped players that have been called up to the Socceroos' threadbare squad ahead of this month's must-win World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The 34-year-old Fornaroli represented Uruguay at under-17 level, but changes to FIFA's eligibility rules have allowed him to nominate for Australia after recently being granted citizenship.
The striker has become one of the A-League Men's most lethal attackers after arriving in 2015, scoring 81 goals across 138 games for Melbourne City and, currently, Perth Glory.
It's a similar process that FA undertook with fellow uncapped player Gianni Stensness, who represented New Zealand at the Olympics but switched allegiances late last year.
While Fornaroli's clearance has not yet been confirmed by FIFA, Football Australia (FA) are confident that he will be eligible to play in Australia's first crunch match against Japan in Sydney next Thursday.
Joining Fornaroli and Stensness are three other uncapped players that Graham Arnold has called up in the absence of several veterans including Aaron Mooy, Adam Taggart, and Tomi Juric.
Melbourne Victory and Olyroos striker Nicholas D'Agostino has received his maiden call-up following his scintillating form in the A-League Men, alongside fellow Olyroos graduate Nathaniel Atkinson, whose talents at Melbourne City saw him recently sign with Scottish side Hearts.
Central Coast Mariners defender Kye Rowles rounds out the debutants, but Arnold's squad is still filled with several more players with ten or fewer caps such as Denis Genreau, Fran Karacic, Connor Metcalfe, Andrew Redmayne, and Marco Tilio.
Arnold will also be without star striker Jamie Maclaren for the second must-win match against Saudi Arabia, with the Melbourne City attacker departing camp early to attend his wedding, while Mathew Leckie has been named in the squad but is fighting to return to fitness after spending the past month sidelined with a groin injury.
The Socceroos' desperate situation has been compounded by the late arrivals of several players from club duty overseas, particularly goalkeepers. The 21-year old Adelaide gloveman Joe Gauci has been invited into camp for the first week in the absence of Mathew Ryan and Danny Vukovic, who will arrive late on Tuesday, two days before the first match.
Australia currently sit third in Group B of Asian qualifiers, and need to win both matches against second-placed Japan and leaders Saudi Arabia on March 29 to have any real chance of automatic qualification to November's World Cup in Qatar.
The Socceroos haven't defeated Japan since 2009, while Saudi Arabia have only lost one game in their past eight qualifiers, which included a 0-0 draw with Australia in November.
If the Socceroos finish third, they will enter the two-stage play-off route to the finals, which will involve a one-off match against the third-placed team from the other Asian qualifying group, likely the United Arab Emirates.
They will then have to face the fifth-placed finisher from South America, which is currently a wrestle between Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, or Colombia. However, Australia's last win over a South American side came in 2010 against Paraguay, and they've lost five and drawn twice in the 12 years since then.
Australia take on Japan at 8:10pm AEDT on Thursday March 24 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Socceroos squad:
Name |
Club, Country |
‘A’ Caps (Goals) |
|---|---|---|
Nathaniel ATKINSON |
Heart of Midlothian, Scotland |
0 (0) |
Aziz BEHICH |
Giresunspor, Turkey |
48 (2) |
Martin BOYLE |
Al-Faisaly, Saudi Arabia |
14 (5) |
Nicholas D’AGOSTINO |
Melbourne Victory FC, Australia |
0 (0) |
Milos DEGENEK |
Columbus Crew, USA |
35 (1) |
Mitchell DUKE |
Fagiano Okayama, Japan |
17 (7) |
Bruno FORNAROLI |
Perth Glory FC, Australia |
0 (0) |
Denis GENREAU |
Toulouse FC, France |
1 (0) |
Craig GOODWIN |
Adelaide United FC, Australia |
7 (1) |
Rhyan GRANT |
Sydney FC, Australia |
20 (1) |
Ajdin HRUSTIC |
Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany |
14 (2) |
Jackson IRVINE |
FC St. Pauli, Germany |
45 (6) |
James JEGGO |
KAS Eupen, Belgium |
13 (0) |
Fran KARACIC |
Brescia Calcio, Italy |
7 (1) |
Joel KING |
Odense Boldklub, Denmark |
1 (0) |
Mathew LECKIE |
Melbourne City FC, Australia |
69 (13) |
Awer MABIL |
Kasimpasa SK, Turkey |
23 (6) |
Jamie MACLAREN* |
Melbourne City FC, Australia |
21 (8) |
Connor METCALFE |
Melbourne City FC, Australia |
2 (0) |
Andrew REDMAYNE (Gk) |
Sydney FC, Australia |
2 (0) |
Tomas ROGIC |
Celtic FC, Scotland |
53 (10) |
Kye ROWLES |
Central Coast Mariners FC, Australia |
0 (0) |
Mathew RYAN (Gk) |
Real Sociedad, Spain |
69 (0) |
Trent SAINSBURY |
KV Kortrijk, Belgium |
58 (4) |
Gianni STENSNESS |
Viking FK, Denmark |
0 (0) |
Marco TILIO |
Melbourne City FC, Australia |
1 (0) |
Daniel VUKOVIC (Gk) |
NEC Nijmegen, Netherlands |
4 (0) |
