Irankunda to debut as Arnold extols Socceroos to put on a show against Bangladesh.
Emphasising an attacking intent, Graham Arnold wants the Socceroos to put on a show against Bangladesh, with nearly every member of his 25-player squad to feature in coming World Cup qualifiers.
With a cadre of explosive attacking talents at his disposal, Graham Arnold wants individual quality to shine and the goals to flow in the Socceroos' coming World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh, with the coach also confirming a senior international debut for Nestory Irankunda and a Socceroo return for Daniel Arzani will come across the coming window.
Set to face off with the Bengal Tigers on Thursday evening, Arnold and his fully-fit squad flew into Dhaka yesterday, having spent the past several days in Bangkok acclimatising to the steamy South Asian conditions that await them at the Bashundhara Kings Arena.
Though still seeking to keep the pressure on South Korea in the race for FIFA ranking points and seeding in the next phase of qualification, the Socceroos are somewhat playing with house money across the coming games; four wins from four – without a goal conceded – ensuring they have progressed through to the next round of qualifiers regardless of results across the coming week.
This run of wins started with a thumping 7-0 triumph over Bangladesh in Melbourne last November and while the conditions that await them in the return fixture will be significantly more oppressive than that evening, Arnold wants his side to assert themselves once again come tomorrow evening.
“One of the reasons I'm so grateful is that the players have come in before a FIFA window,” he said. “The FIFA window only opened yesterday but they came into Bangkok on Friday for us to acclimatise to the conditions here. That was the most important thing for me.
“We've been working on those attacking patterns and getting men in the box to score. All the statistics and all the data worldwide show that to score those goals, you've got to get players in the box and good numbers in the box. Then it gets down to the calm finishing.
“That's all the stuff we've been doing, we haven't worked on defence at all. It's been all about the build-up and our attacking patterns and in shape.
“We'll do a little bit of work today on defence but not too much because I expect us to control this game tomorrow with a lot of the ball and not just show our team qualities… releasing them to show their individual qualities and for them to go out there and enjoy the game.”
With a new-look unit at his disposal – there have been 11 changes from the side that downed Lebanon in back-to-back games in March – Arnold is anticipating that nearly every member of the extended 25-player cohort will see the field at some point in the coming week, either against Bangladesh or in next week’s meeting with Palestine in Perth.
Two different starting centreback combinations will be deployed as a result, with Arnold seeking to navigate the glut of options that is Harry Souttar, Cameron Burgess, Kye Rowles, and Alessandro Circati – highlighting that, in the future, he may seek to switch up his system to better take advantage of Australia’s depth in the position.
Senior bows for the likes of Irankunda and Newcastle Jets striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos will also be forthcoming, as well as the much-anticipated return to the national fold of Arzani.
Irankunda set the discourse ablaze when he acknowledged the possibility of a switch to Burundi or Tanzania last month – an ultimately moot declaration given that work to call him into the Socceroos behind the scenes had already taken place. And laughing off that episode, Arnold confirmed the attacker would see the field against Bangladesh.
“He's been very good,” said Arnold on Irankunda. “He's fit into our culture extremely well. He's hanging around a lot of the senior boys, which is good to see and he's been training very, very well. And you will see him on the park at some stage tomorrow.
“[Arnold wants to see him] go out there and play to your strengths and your skills. I'm not going to try and control him and get him to do things that it's not his specialty. What he's very, very good at is doing what Nestor does and we will fit that into our style of play, but also into our system.
“He just has a couple of little things around, obviously, his defensive side of things, but at the same time, that's why we need the senior boys on the field, some of them, to help coach and lead those younger boys. To make them feel comfortable on the pitch.
Arzani, meanwhile, will end a nearly six-year absence from the Socceroos setup when he plays in the coming window, the now-Melbourne Victory dynamo having last pulled on a Socceroos shirt as the youngest player at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
“He's been great,” said Arnold. “He's brought in some energy, everywhere he sits, everyone's laughing which is great. But on the training pitch, he's been very good as well. His role will be pretty similar to what he's doing at Melbourne Victory.
“We don't have the time to change his complete style of game. It'll be very similar to Melbourne Victory and he will get game time. It's been four years or so since he's been with the Socceroos and you can see he has the real commitment and the hunger to get back to it and be with us on the long journey ahead.”