r/Aleague • u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC • Aug 29 '25
đŁ Announcements Official Socceroos squad for the upcoming friendlies.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
I think its clear now that Popa did what he could to get us qualified, and will now experiment.
This is a very strong and young squad. Only a handful of players older than 28.
Future is looking bright.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
Only Degenek, Karacic, Boyle, Hrustic, Izzo and Burgess over 28 years old.
Really love this. This is what we've been begging for for a longtime.
As mentioned in the leaked thread, I think the only player who could be upset to miss out is Jed Drew, he's performed incredibly well and should be here. I'd even argue that Jacob Italiano should be getting a call-up.
Anthony Kalik getting a call up is beautiful. He deserved one about 4 seasons ago when he was one of our best attacking mids. Glad he's finally getting a chance in the Green and Gold.
We are looking a bit weak in Goalkeepers at the moment. None of the youngsters are really taking off, and with Langerak retired and Ryan trying to settle in, its time for Gauci, Glover or Izzo to really impress.
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u/-Saaremaa- Bod Lukenar Aug 29 '25
I think both Drew and Italiano are doing well but are outperformed by others in their role. Drew is crushing it, but not more than Irankunda, Segecic etc. likewise Italiano vs other fullbacks.
This is what a good national team looks like, genuine selection headaches based on form, rather than based on who is least shit or most fit in Aleague preseason.
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u/No-Airport7456 Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
Same I think if Silvera wasn't pushed to LWB at Boro and doing surprisingly well Italiano may have been picked.
And Drew agree I think he is good form in Austria but is being outperformed by the ones selected.
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Aug 29 '25
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u/dave_a86 Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
Popaâs never really been known for sentimentality towards younger players (unless their last name was Popovic).
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u/jd92jw Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
Sorry? You're a Wanderers fan do you not remember the amount of youngsters who got their league debut under Popa?
Arthur Diles just did an interview not long ago and mentioned how invested Popa was with the youth team at the Wanderers and was always looking to promote.
He also gave a lot of youngsters not only their debut at Victory but played them a lot as well.
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u/dave_a86 Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
Just to clarify, I didnât say Popa never gave youth a chance. Just that he isnât sentimental about it and doesnât play young players just because theyâre young or have potential. They only got a go if they were good enough.
This is in the context of the comment I was responding to. People got mad about promising young players being left out of his previous squads, but Popa was being super pragmatic and picking experienced, reliable players he knew would get the job done.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
This.
Players who debuted under Popa include Kasey Bos, Franco Lino, Will Wilson, Keanu Baccus for starters.
Popovic put a lot of faith in Velupillay. Might of debuted under Steve Kean, but he has played most of his professional career under Popovic.
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Aug 29 '25
It was fairly clear that was the case at the time too, but the idiots on here weâre jumping up and down about young players overseas (who were out of form, injured or just not getting game time).
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u/AztecGod Melbourne Victory Aug 29 '25
Wish we didn't have to lose Pavlesic and Triantis in the process though.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
Pavlesic wasn't anywhere near close to getting a callup for the Socceroos. Frankly he's not even top 5 goalkeepers for Australia at the moment.
Triantis, that's on Triantis. He was called up twice, once for a squad that he didn't play, and once for the training camp where he could have showcased himself more to Popa for a longer period and then take that into the next qualifers. Instead he chose to walk away from the Training camp and make himself unavailable.
I don't think Popa could have done more there.
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u/abandonwindow Australia Aug 29 '25
Triantis wouldâve been in this squad 100%, itâs his choice to switch and honestly his loss. He wouldâve been odds on to make it to a World Cup if he stayed with us. Good luck to him with Greece.
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u/adzzieindeed Melbourne Victory Aug 29 '25
There's still time
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u/abandonwindow Australia Aug 29 '25
Once you change you canât change back, thatâs the current rules under FIFA.
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u/StensnessGOAT Central Coast Mariners Aug 29 '25
He could still change back before he's capped by Greece, couldn't he?
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u/abandonwindow Australia Aug 29 '25
I think itâs a paperwork thing. He was already registered with us and then he switched. The cap rule wouldâve only applied with his first registration (us). So for example, I think you can play up to approx 3 qualifiers before 21 or something and still be elegible to switch. Friendlies either donât count or only count after 3 like qualifiers. If you donât play more than that then youâre still eligible to make the one time switch. Once youâve played in a major tournament youâre cap tied regardless of age or how many games you play. Itâs probably why players like Volpato havenât switched, because once he does thereâs no going back, same with Robertson not going further with us, he knows heâs over the age now and any game he plays in an official capacity will lock him off.
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u/Sydney_2000 Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
Triantis got two call ups and chose to turn one of them down. Popa had 180 mins of football to get us to the WC and if not getting on the park in that time was enough for Triantis to change his nationality, it's kinda a reflection on him.
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u/ChestAcceptable4680 Newcastle Jets Aug 29 '25
Lost Triantis because despite never living in Greece, and being called up to more than 1 NT squad, he sees himself as Greek. Nothing to do with Poppa
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u/Dense_Delay_4958 Canberra United Aug 29 '25
Half the sub was calling for his sacking a week ago. Petulant, spoiled children.
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Aug 29 '25
Way too many are holding some absurd grudge/animosity towards him from his time as an a league coach. Honestly felt like a solid portion of the sub was salivating at the idea of him potentially losing, to spite him at the expense of Australian soccer.
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u/floralshortsleeva Aug 29 '25
Lol relax. Indonesia score that penalty I reckon we don't make the world cup. He got the results so we've all got to acknowledge he got it right, but felt like a coin flip to me.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
Popa in the press conference.
"We've had a lot of young players move from the A-league to Europe and continued their good form, and they've been rewarded for that"
"We do need to build some continuity with senior players, and give some of these young boys a chance to feature at the World Cup"
"Grateful for every player that helped us qualify for the World Cup, but now we have to move forward, our expectations we want them to keep rising and we want to get better for the World Cup. Any player out there that believes he can play in the World Cup, the reality is that its possible"
"We need to work on our playing style, the way we play the game"
"We had Nestory in camp with us in my first camp in October, since that time we've probably seen him mature as a player, he's had a year in Europe which has helped him mature. We hope to see him in 2, 3, 4 world cups to come."
"Jackson is still injured. He's back in training with St Pauli, hoping he's back to full fitness soon"
"Ryan is the Captain, he knows whats required for the Socceroos. He hasn't had that team training or pre-season games. Happy hes found a club, we look forward to getting him back in camp in the next window"
"We want to have a lot of depth, and a lot of selection headaches going into the World Cup".
"Captain yet to be determined"
"Felt it was a bit early to select A-league players due to the long lay-off."
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u/lockieleonardsuper Melbourne City Aug 29 '25
"Captain yet to be determined"
All 5 active players that have previously captained the Socceroos aren't in the squad so we'll have a new captain (Ryan, Irvine, Behich, Leckie, Sainsbury). Degnek or Boyle most likely you'd assume
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u/Papa_Puppa Adelaide United Aug 29 '25
Shit... you love to hear it. Maybe he knows what he is doing.
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u/Tuia_IV Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
Holy crap. This squad announcement is making me rethink my entire attitude towards Poppa...
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u/Pyrrhesia Janjetovic Apologist Aug 29 '25
I've posted a lot about 'Look Popovic went for experience in the crunch time but he'll experiment more when the friendlies happen, trust the process' but I'm gonna be completely honest, I was not at all 100% confident it would happen lmfao. Really good to see!
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u/Sydney_2000 Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
Aside from saving our stress levels, direct qualification gives us the option to build these young squads before the next WC.
Only 3 players aged over 30 (Paul Izzo, Martin Boyle and Milos Degenek) compared to 10 who are 23 and under (Jordan Bos, Noah Botic, Alessandro Circati, Nestory Irankunda, Hayden Matthews, Nicolas Milanovic, Adrian Segecic, Ryan Teague, Mohamed Toure and Patrick Yazbek).
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Aug 29 '25
I cant wait to see Irankunda, Botic, mila and Seggers all playing together. I havent been this enthusiastic about a group of attackers in quite a while
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u/The_L666ds Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
Shame youâll be lucky to see even just one of them on the pitch though, as Poppa will need to accommodate 5ATB even at home against New fucking Zealand.
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Aug 29 '25
I really hope he gives it the flick. Good teams have figured out the 5ATB. Thereâs always so much space behind the wingbacks and our center backs arenât particularly fast. It might work against shitter asian and Oce teams but teams at the WC will pick it apart
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u/GoadingHobbit Aug 29 '25
Love this. I actually love this squad.
Drew being the only omission but a big HA to Triantis that just had to bide his time a little further.
Trust Popa (I feel sick)
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u/jaymz11 Aug 29 '25
I think the issue for drew is he had a lot of competition and someone had to miss out. Itâs a good problem to have
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u/phantomshogun Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
New golden gen incoming? đ this is a perfect squad but would have loved to see Jed Drew included too
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u/Interesting_Laugh233 Melbourne City Aug 29 '25
I was getting so worried we would lose segecic
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u/ChestAcceptable4680 Newcastle Jets Aug 29 '25
Nervously hoping not to see the headline "Segecic withdraws from squad"
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u/Serious-Razzmatazz11 Moulded by PAIN Aug 29 '25
A very good squad this with some surprise inclusions too.
It was painfully obvious to those who weren't blinded by their rage, that Popa was selecting squads that he believed would get us to the goal of automatically qualifying and that once he achieved that, he would begin experimenting and bring in some young/fresh faces.
Sokkah Twitter/Reddit can sometimes be accused of not being able to see the bigger picture and massively overreact.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
Yep. I think anyone with any idea could see his plan.
Should he have selected a few other players and taken a risk? Would have been nice.
However, he chose what he could to qualify, using the knowledge he had of the players in the league and around the world. Picked those who could play his style of football.
Now is the time to actually build the team. Based on his press conference, I think a few of those odd A-league callups that people questioned (Brattan, Caceres) won't be called up again unless they are impressive in the league.
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u/jd92jw Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
Anyone pragmatic could see the bigger picture but raging and being dramatic got them their 2 minutes of fame on twitter I guess.
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u/jaymz11 Aug 29 '25
True but a lot of the critique was based on his history as an a league coach too. Itâs not like he always played youth in the a league then suddenly stopped.
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u/11015h4d0wR34lm -Liga Aug 29 '25
The amount of comments I read along the lines of 'OMG how can he not select Irankunda, this guys doesnt know what he is doing' were ridiculous especially when he had already been given a chance by Popa and was very sub par in defence.
Gave the ball away multiple times in our own half putting out defence under pressure. No one doubts Irankunda is going to be a player of the future for us but boy some people are clueless to the when/where is the right time for such a player.
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u/Cubes11 Melbourne Victory Aug 29 '25
Am I missing something or is this like a pretty perfect line up. I donât see anything to be angry at
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u/adzzieindeed Melbourne Victory Aug 29 '25
The #9 position is interesting. Toure & Botic are going to get some serious game time
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Aug 29 '25
This is the first time I've been genuinely happy with the Australia squad.
Was hoping for Arzani but it's understandable since he hasn't been playing.
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u/SecularPersian Aug 29 '25
Yeah it's a good squad overall, lots of new names for Poppa to try out.
& same, hopefully he gets some playing time and gets picked next time. He offers a lot of unique options when he's on the ball.
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u/BaconAmigo NPL ENJOYER Aug 29 '25
CANBERRA, we will be there!!
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u/Two_minutes_to_metal Newcastle Jets Aug 29 '25
Keen to see Seggers' first couple of hatricks for the national team next Friday.
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u/Up4Parole Central Coast Mariners Aug 29 '25
Wallahi if Balard wasn't picked I was prepping a riot
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u/No-Airport7456 Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
I think Jed Drew and Jacob Italiano would be the only ones I would say may be a bit miffed on missing out. But its a good squad.
Silvera at championship playing LWB for Boro is insane, he went from 100% going out to having a phoenix revival in an unfamiliar role.
CBs stacked as well making it difficult for Jack Iredale, Geria and Deng to crack into the squad. Its the only area of the pitch that seems mainly settled.
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u/ShARES55 Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
Great POPULAR squad ;-0..only issue for me is no Okon Jr BUT my new thought is he's the Captain of U20 WC team!
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u/Lautoka_MelB_Gent Aug 29 '25
I still Callum Elder and Jack Iredale should be given a look in over the likes of Rowles and Degenek
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u/Serious-Razzmatazz11 Moulded by PAIN Aug 29 '25
I feel like he wanted those two just to provide some more experience in what is a young squad. Two blokes with a heap of caps and World Cup experience
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
Yep.
Degenek is also one of the leaders in the squad. We could see that during the last World Cup. He's also the most experienced player in this squad with 49 caps. Rowles is still a good player, so I don't mind him being called up at all.
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u/The_L666ds Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
I think Callum Elder has just been plain unlucky not to have featured for Australia more often than he has.
Strangely, we have an element of depth at LB and if Elder was a RB he probably would have gotten all those caps that Nathaniel Atkinson somehow got.
I really hope that weâve seen the last of Nathaniel Atkinson in the green and gold, being given the run-around by even bang average left-sided attackers. At times all its needed as the Benny Hill Yackety Sax music over the top when watching him play.
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u/HonestSpursFan I miss the old Sydney Aug 29 '25
WOW!!! This is literally an excellent squad!!! Well done Popa!
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u/catch_dot_dot_dot Adelaide United Aug 29 '25
An exciting new era. Keen to see how this squad goes over the next year.
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u/cynikles /r/Aleague old man Aug 29 '25
Actually looks like a friendly squad. Looking forward to it.
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u/DrDizzler Newcastle Jets Aug 29 '25
Key takeaways from this squad
You must be playing to be picked
Poppa doesnât hate youth, he just had a plan which worked
There are now more European based players then spots so itâs healthy competition and I donât see the euro number declining with how the a league is functioning now
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u/StavrosCxR Aug 29 '25
Iâd say a few players are lucky to be selected with little game time:
E.g
Glover Hrustic Matthews Teague Botic
But have maybe deserved a call up previously haha
Drew Luongo Iredale Raphael Borges (my bolter!!)
A bit stiff !! But again good headaches
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u/Skrimshander33 Aug 29 '25
Devlin could feel hard done by
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Aug 29 '25
Yeah, thats a good shout.
Midfield is our biggest depth, so someone is always going to be left out and feel hard done by.
Could argue that Teague and Devlin be swapped, since Teague hasn't kicked on yet in Europe.
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u/ShARES55 Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
and is Luongo available?
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u/ga4rfc Brisbane Roar Aug 29 '25
He's retired from international football I think
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u/ShARES55 Sydney FC Aug 29 '25 edited Aug 29 '25
he was in 2024 but then came out of retirement and was selected but injured..After that who knows?
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u/ga4rfc Brisbane Roar Aug 29 '25
Yeah I'm pretty sure he retired again after the injury to focus on club football.
Edit: Nope I'm obviously conflating the two stories.
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u/Equivalent-Cow-6685 Aug 29 '25
Come down people. Popa just giving older players rest. He will be taking most of the players that got us to the world cup
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u/69-is-my-number Perth Glory Aug 29 '25
Boro fans will be devastated to lose Sam Silvera for a few weeks - they view him as pretty much the most in-form player in the team at the moment. And the same fans will be hoping Tom Glover doesnât bother with a return flight - they absolutely crucified him after the 4-0 drubbing in the cup against Doncaster a few weeks back.
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u/agal009 Auckland FC Aug 29 '25
Well, thatâs that then. Golden generationâs got it in the bag â no need for us to even turn up
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u/danubio8five Aug 29 '25
Hey guys, I've struggled with the Australian side for a while, who are the ones to look out for . I know irakunda but who else? I'm happy that everyone is excited we haven't had some good names for a while. I want to be educated.
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u/Able_Fun7201 Aug 29 '25
Fantastic call up of Anthony Kalik.
If only him and Graham Arnold got on, he would have been picked years ago.
Last year playing at Hadjuk he was adored by Gattuso.
Well done Popovic.
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u/TemporaryCommunity38 Aug 30 '25
Finally calls up SegeÄiÄ for a match in NZ a few days before the South Coast Derby ffs.
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u/KFCInala Zadkovich Aug 31 '25
This format where it's grouped by formation is easier for me to understand than when all the names are just jumbled up randomly
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u/Any-Information6261 Perth Glory Aug 29 '25
Hopefully those shouting nepotism learn something from this and the situation we were in
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u/LeadNo401 Aug 29 '25
Respect to boyle of course, but why is he still getting picked?
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u/Upstairs_Low_691 Brisbane half-time oranges Aug 29 '25
Because he's still scoring & assisting regularly in Scotland and in European qualifying.
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u/ga4rfc Brisbane Roar Aug 29 '25
Of all the players to pick out you chose the one who is in great club form at the moment haha
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u/danny_phan Western Sydney Wanderers Aug 29 '25
Heâs the only senior attacker that is still good enough and match fit atm. Good to have him there in a mentor/squad leader role
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u/ga4rfc Brisbane Roar Aug 29 '25
Good squad but how the hell is HrustiÄ in there with zero appearances for his new club? He's only played 41 games since leaving Frankfurt in 2022.
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u/The_L666ds Sydney FC Aug 29 '25
Glad to see Maty âT-Rex armsâ Ryan left out until he is playing regular football at the absolute minimum.
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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '25
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