Aussie Bruno!

Didn’t see that coming. Good selection. Adds quality to hopefully some younger players around him

I guess you had to select him if he was available, but gee it shows how desperate we are. 

It's   good   to   see   Arnie    already    preparing   for  a  likely   play-off   against   a   south   american   team...

Sat in the stands for months at City yet is good enough for our national team.

What a clown Warren Joyce was

Got to say it - his diving and flopping, while in keeping with much of the Asian competition we face, is not an asset to our football. We saw a really fine example of a referee sucked in last night around the 75th minute when he stepped out into the path of Nisbet who was running past him not at him and flopped.

I would rather win or lose without that (and yes, probably lose).

On the positive side, he is a quality player of both the person and the ball and does add an individual danger element that we need badly. Very much in the Timmy model of someone to kick the ball to and hope. If he plays I hope we can pass to his feet and don't just bomb it in high.

fuck me things just don't change with aus football.....

Arnie's desperation is clear. Doesn't have faith in current crop of players (fair) to get it done when it comes down to must win games. 

besides for small periods we've been doing this for decades tbh

I like it, will finally add some mongrel... guy is a serial winner.

8 years in Australia for one trophy. 

81 goals from 138 games with that 1 trophy though 

If he helps us get to Qatar, then I’ll happily wear his number on my Socceroos shirt in Qatar. But honestly at 34, i don't think he's any better than McLaren or Taggart (although far better than Mitch Duke who must have incriminating photos of Arnold or something).

Duke, no offence, gives 100%, but everything that is wrong with the Socceroos is explained here in his selection. Just does not do it for me as a footballer, though he tries.

Agree. Duke is a hard worker but not international striker material by any stretch. Would much rather Boyle as striker than Duke

Who else was there to pick? Which Aussie strikers are getting gametime and scoring goals?

Hmmm last throw of the dice for Arnold..... you know what, as much as I have bagged him at least he is trying something different this time around and if he pulls it off, I will be the first to say "well done"

Agreed. 

yeap

Doesn't mean he will change his starting line-up or put him on the pitch before the 85th minute though.

Arnie has often had new faces in his squads but still ran with his regular favourites - which has been one of the most common complaints about his style of management.

If Maclaren did not have his wedding scheduled I do not think Arnie would have done this.

Not a bad idea for a one-off occasion where he have so many players unavailable.

I do see a lot of chat about how this is happening only because our youth development sucks blah, blah, blah but I don’t think that is fair.

I think we do have a lot of talented strikers coming through but when you look at their ages most are under 20. I can definitely see a lot of these players like Mo Toure, Wood, Kuol, etc being Socceroos but they have a lot more development in them.

D’Aggers, DWH and Yengi are at good ages but unfortunately D’Aggers is the only one playing regularly. DWH comes off the bench every week while the most talented of the trio by far in Kusini Yengi is made of glass and can’t get on the pitch.

of all those that you mentioned i can only see Kuol having what it takes to be a decent international level striker and even then he has a LOT of development to get there. Kuol has more raw talent than Daggers, DWH, Taggart or Jmac had at that age (though Taggs probably had a bit more technical skill), at the moment i dont think any of them are anywhere near being good enough to be international level strikers.

What Bruno brings is something that we have not had in a striker in a long time. a striker that is capable of holding the ball up, creating chances in the box and knows how to poach a goal. 

Fornaroli would bring another dimension to our attack. Yeah, he's old but Maclaren, Taggart and the likes can't protect the ball and bring others into play like Bruno. D'Agostino should really look to model his hold-up play on him. 

People are focussing on Bruno's age but fail to notice that this season, he has scored 7 goals out of 14 matches in a struggling Perth Glory side at the moment. Perth's other strikers aren't really performing and he's keeping them competitive in games. If he were anglo like Mclaren, he would have been called up a while ago. The guy has shown over multiple seasons how he can create his own chances and finish when others put it to him. If we had someone like that in the Roos for a while, we would have qualified by now. Don't expect him to slaughter the Japanese but as someone else has said, he will add a dimension to the attack.

On a side note, Aussie Bruno leading the line against Uruguay in a do or die world cup qualifier, that would be a good story if that happens.

He only became an Aussie the other day.

He got his citizenship in 2017?

https://melbournecityfc.com.au/news/bruno-becomes-aussie

That being said, seems FIFA changed the rules excluding him in 2020, wonder why he wasn't considered after that...

That was an April fools joke.

Lol, consider me fooled then

7 years in the country an a citizen since 2017... if you go back to the 74 side... most were not born in Australia...

Issue as I see it why not earlier... he is far better than Duke...  and he can hold the ball .... 

better late than never, I'm in the admiration of Duke's workrate and presence but he lacks the class that a aging Forno has....
For all the people whinging Arnie do something here's one that ticks the box's.
Hope he starts up look forward seeing him fronting the line whilst I'm in the stands next week.

Regardless of the flaws in the development system here, its great to see him selected and we wish him the best for us.

He's clearly a capable player with his different set to other No.9s we got, so im happy for him.

This is a very exciting selection at the very least. I’ve seen more discussion about this on Twitter today than anything else Australian Football related in a long time. 

Now that I didn't expect, not a bad choice
Tend to agree however that it comes across as desperate. He should have been considered earlier, for the last international window at least.

Became a citizen days ago

I hope Bruno does the speech when Australia lift the Cup in Qatar 2022!

Go Bruno!

Is it too late to get him to Qatar.......