Irvine, Goodwin, and McGree return in overhauled Socceroo squad
Tony Popovic has swung the changes for November friendlies with Venezuela and Colombia; Jackson Irvine, Riley McGree, and Craig Goodwin headlining the eleven additions made to the penultimate unit the Socceroo boss will name before he selects his final squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Irvine, who hasn’t featured since March, McGree, who last featured in June, and Goodwin, who last played in March, make their long-awaited return from injury at the same time that several of their teammates have been forced to the sideline: Jordy Bos, Alessandro Circati, and Jacob Italiano all dropping out side that played Canada and the United States last month.
Daniel Arzani, Mitch Duke, Joe Gauci, Ajdrin Hrustić, Hayden Matthews, Alex Robertson, and Patrick Yazbek have also been left out of the squad, replaced by Patrick Beach, Callum Elder, Craig Goodwin, Jack Iredale, Deni Jurić, Paul Okon-Engstler, James Overy, Al Hassan Touré, and Kai Trewin.
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Having increasingly established themselves atop the Socceroos attack over the past two windows, Nestory Irankunda and Mohamed Touré have once again earned call-ups, while Max Balard, Aiden O’Neill, and Cammy Devlin retain their places in the midfield alongside the returning Irvine and Okon-Engstler.
Cameron Burgess and Milos Degenek are back and shape as the most likely to anchor the defensive line, with Jason Geria, who returned from injury last month, the most likely replacement for Circati. After not seeing the field in the October window, Iredale will serve as another central option, as will Lewis Miller, who has been playing as a centre-back for Blackburn.
Beach, Iredale, Juric, Okon-Engstler, Overy, Touré, and Trewin are all in line to make their Socceroo debuts should they see the field, with just eleven members of the 26-player squad named by Popovic possessing ten or more senior international caps.
With a wave of injuries being particularly felt on the flanks, Manchester United youth prospect Overy, who represented Australia at the recently completed U20 World Cup in Chile, is the most surprising call-up: coming into the side despite having yet to play a senior competitive game of football.
The youngster has, however, been training with the Red Devils senior side as of late after catching the eye of Ruben Amorim.
Jurić, the younger brother of former Asian Cup winner Tomi, comes into the side having scored eight goals and added a further assist across 14 fixtures with Slovenian side FC Koper and Polish outfit Wisla Plock this season. The 28-year-old last represented Australia in 2018, when he played for the Olyroos at the AFC U23 Asian Cup.
After starring for Melbourne City in the opening weeks of the A-League Men season, Beach comes into the side at the expense of Guaci, who had supplanted Maty Ryan early on in Popovic’s tenure but who now looks to have fallen behind Paul Izzo on the depth chart, amid a loan stint at 21st-placed League One side Port Vale.
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The City keeper, alongside Goodwin, Okon-Engstler, Toure, and Trewin, represents the first domestic-based players called up by Popovic since June, with the two previous windows having occurred in the A-League Men’s preseason.
“It’s another opportunity to expand the depth and introduce players who have not yet been exposed to the Socceroos environment or senior international football,” Popovic said.
“We also welcome back some familiar faces, from Australia and abroad. I’ve had the chance to closely observe the opening rounds of the A-League season, and we believe this is the ideal time to integrate domestic players into the squad.
“We are delighted to be back in the United States to face strong South American opposition as we continue our preparations for the World Cup.”
Beyond looking to expose players to international football and zero in on their squad for next year’s global showpiece, the coming window also represents the last chance Australia will have to overhaul one of Austria, Ecuador, or South Korea for a spot in pot two of December’s World Cup draw.
Possessing 1584.02 ranking points heading into the window, the Socceroos trail Austria on 1586.98, Ecuador and their 1589.72, and South Korea’s tally of 1593.92 points heading into the window.
Realistically, Popovic’s 25th-ranked side will need to win both games against the 50th-ranked Venezuelans and 13th-ranked Colombians to move into the higher pot, as well as hope the Austrians, who face Cyprus and Bosnia and Herzegovina in European qualifiers, Ecuadorians, who meet Canada and New Zealand, or Koreans, hosting Bolivia and Ghana, slip up.