Three days before the Socceroos' World Cup qualifying play-off game against the United Arab Emirates in early June, head coach Graham Arnold gathered all his players and staff in a meeting room at the team hotel.
He'd arranged the chairs into two sections: one for those who had been to a World Cup before, and one for those who hadn't.
Only 9 of the 28 players sat in the first section: veteran goalkeepers Mat Ryan and Danny Vukovic, defenders Trent Sainsbury, Milos Degenek and Aziz Behich, midfielders Aaron Mooy and Jackson Irvine, and forwards Mat Leckie and Jamie Maclaren.
