30 Aug Fresh faces among Graham Arnold’s maiden Socceroos squad

A slew of a fresh faces have been included in Graham Arnold’s first Socceroos squad since taking over as head coach.

Ben Garuccio, Kenneth Dougall, Awer Mabil, John Iredale and Denis Genreau have earned their first call ups as part of a new look Australian side.

There were also recalls for Bailey Wright, Mustafa Amini, Mitchell Duke, Apostolos Giannou, Ajdin Hrustic, Mitchell Langerak, Alex Gersbach and Aleksander Susnjar.

Arnold says he is excited at the prospect of working with the 31-man squad and ushering in a new era after the winless World Cup campaign under Dutchman Bert van Marwijk.

“Next week’s camp in Turkey marks the start of a new phase for the Socceroos,” said Arnold.

“While we will have numerous field, tactical, and video sessions during the seven days that we are together in Turkey, we will also spend plenty of time off the pitch discussing our individual and team objectives and identity.

“As an organisation we’ve made the decision to take this camp close to the bulk of the players involved. This will lighten the travel load on the majority of the group, ensuring that they arrive in camp and back at their clubs as fresh as possible.

“The 31 players we have invited to Antalya will be the first to receive an opportunity to work with us, however we have a long list of players that we are monitoring and we will continue to assess them as we seek to add to the depth of the team.”

The Socceroos will play a friendly in the Middle East in October before two home friendlies in November against Korea Republic in Brisbane and Lebanon in Sydney.

CHECK OUT THE SQUAD BELOW

Mustafa AMINI: Aarhus Gymnastikforening, Denmark

Daniel ARZANI: Glasgow Celtic FC, Scotland

Aziz BEHICH: Bursaspor, Turkey

Milos DEGENEK: Red Star Belgrade, Serbia

Kenneth DOUGALL: Barnsley FC, England

Mitchell DUKE: Shimizu S-Pulse, Japan

Ben GARUCCIO: Heart of Midlothian, Scotland

Denis GENREAU: PEC Zwolle, Netherlands

Alex GERSBACH: Rosenborg BK, Norway

Apostolos GIANNOU: AEK Larnaca, Cyprus

Ajdin HRUSTIC: FC Groningen, Netherlands

John IREDALE: SC Heerenveen, Netherlands

Jackson IRVINE: Hull City AFC, England

Mile JEDINAK: Aston Villa FC, England

Brad JONES (Gk): Al-Nasr Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Tomi JURIC: FC Luzern, Switzerland

Matthew JURMAN: Al-Ittihad Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Robbie KRUSE: VfL Bochum, Germany

Mitchell LANGERAK (Gk): Nagoya Grampus, Japan

Massimo LUONGO: Queens Park Rangers FC, England

Awer MABIL: FC Midtylland, Denmark

Jamie MACLAREN: Hibernian FC, Scotland

Mark MILLIGAN: Hibernian FC, Scotland

Aaron MOOY: Huddersfield Town AFC, England

Dimi PETRATOS: Newcastle Jets, Australia

Josh RISDON: Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia

Mathew RYAN (Gk): Brighton & Hove Albion FC, England

Trent SAINSBURY: PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands

Aleksandar SUSNJAR: MŠK Žilina, Slovakia

Daniel VUKOVIC (Gk): KRC Genk, Belgium

Bailey WRIGHT: Bristol City FC, England