FIFA World Cup 2018: Australia

The preparation for the World Cup this summer in Russia has been anything but straightforward for Australia, the last side to qualify for the tournament they then had their coach Ange Postecoglu stood down immediately after securing qualification. Since then the coaching situation has been made anything but clear. The appointment of experienced Dutchman Bert Van Marwijk for the tournament was followed by the announcement of the Australian Graham Arnold as the permanent coach for after the tournament. Essentially the replacement for Van Marwijk was announced before the Dutchman had even named his first squad.

To date Australia have played two matches under Van Marwijk, a humbling 4-1 defeat away to Norway followed by a 0-0 draw away to Colombia. These results have served to further dampen expectations and enthusiasm of the Australian public ahead of the tournament. We have also see a relatively radical change in tactical structure with the expansive 3-4-2-1 of Postecoglu being replaced by a more structured 4-2-3-1.

With the squad at their disposal Australia promise to be functional rather than free flowing. Indeed getting through a group stage containing France, Denmark and Peru may be a step too far for them this summer.

Australia Squad

Coach  Bert Van Marwijk

If nothing else the Dutchman at least offers experience and a safe pair of hands going in to the World Cup. He had previously managed club sides of the calibre of Feyenoord, Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg SV as well as holding national team jobs for his native Holland as well as Saudi Arabia, indeed Van Marwijk was the coach of the Saudis as they qualified for this tournament before leaving due to a contract dispute.

A largely pragmatic coach we should see Australia favour a highly structured tactical approach with players assigned set roles and responsibilities with little in the way of freedom to play put with these parameters even in the final third. In truth though a more structured and defined approach may well suit the players in the Australia squad with genuine star quality at something of a premium.

Expect the attacking phase to flow through the Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic who has a genuine creative spark. Flanked by the pace of Matthew Leckie and Robbie Kruse this will be the best chance that Australia have to put their opponents on to the back foot.

(At the time of writing the final squad has yet to be named)

Goalkeepers

Mat Ryan, Brad Jones, Danny Vukovic

Defenders

Matthew Jurman, Mark Milligan, Josh Risdon, Trent Sainsbury, Bailey Wright, Aziz Behcic, Milos Degenek

Midfielders 

Jackson Irvine, Mile Jedinak, Massimo Luongo, Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic, James Troisi

Forwards

Tim Cahill, Matthew Leckie, Tomi Juric, Jamie MacLaren, Robbie Kruse, Andrew Nabbout.

Tactics

Normally for the purposes of writing these previews I would watch at least five of the teams matches in qualification in order to get a sense of their tactical framework. With the appointment of Van Marwijk in June of this year however we have a much smaller sample size to work from.

Above I have highlighted the structured approach from Australia with a compact and organised back four with two central midfielders screening ahead of them and then the three more advanced midfielders ahead of that. The horizontal lines in this system are limited suggesting that Australia will favour a passive defensive block before playing direct from back to front when entering their attacking phase.