Wow that's a bit of a bombshell but great!

Squad is 26

Ryan Gauci Redmayne 

Atkinson Wright Deng Degenek Rowles Souttar Behich Bos

Irvine Metcalfe Baccus Robertson Mooy O'Neill Devlin 

Borrello McGree Kuol Mabil Goodwin Tilio 

Cummings Duke 

Irankunda as a train on member

Leckie, Boyle, Hrustic, Maclaren injured. Karacic omitted. Congrats and welcome to the new guys. Surprised Strain didn't get called up. Atkinson very fortunate I think. 

Not surprised by the Robertson inclusion, seemed like it was a hinted for a while. All signs pointed towards him wanting to represent Australia just depended on if we pulled the trigger. I do expect the same thing to happen for Volpato and Circati in the future but I don't think they were approached this time. Nevertheless, really happy with inclusions of O'Neill and Bos and delighted to see Irankunda get a training call-up. As far as I see it, Nestor wasn't going to play in either game, so him being selected for training is the same experience he would've gotten if he was chosen outright. 

The Olyroos selection are flying the other way for a camp in Europe.

Australia’s Under-23 team gather in Europe for a training camp during the FIFA men’s international window between March 20-28, where they will meet the Switzerland U21 side and Cesc Fabregas’ Serie B outfit Como in Varese in Northern Italy.

Excellent two games! Originally read like a camp only which would seem senseless. What a shame the U20 didn't have a tournament in May to go to. The U17 have the Asian Cup in June. Pot 2 for the draw with host Thailand and Tajikistan in pot 1 die to good U16 tournament result. 

Great news in regards to Robertson & I hope Volpato and Circati follows suit.

Great news on Bos, Bordello & O'Neill getting a call up after their A_League form.
Smart move on Irankunda.

Good squad. Keen to see what Robertson brings to the table. Volpato really does look silly knocking back a WC squad spot now after barely playing for Roma and all the Italy talk having cooled.

Should have dropped Redmayne 

At least he is on the older side but he may go until 40! Also thankfully AMB is totally on the radar having played at youth level. Would've liked AMB and Gauci to have a half each in the second game. 

I don't think Robertson has done anything to earn a call up

Thomas should have replaced Redmayne on form alone

I agree, but I think this match Arnie has said, it's a thank you for your WC effort.

Redmayne has been poor for SFC & deserves to be replaced.

Agree on Strain on Atkinson.

On Robertson, that is debatable, yes he's not played many matches, but he's in the squad of one of the best clubs in the world.
I agree Arnie saying lets have a look in a friendly & how well he trains & plays.

On that basis Vukovic should have retired after this series.

You ask yourself what the plan will be. Atkinson's confidence is down. There's plenty of evidence he's a wing back. Maybe Deng will get a run at right back.

I wouldn't mind trying a back 3 at some point which would also benefit Metcalfe and McGree not needing to venture too wide and playing their quality short pass game. 

Karacic dropped is mystifying. Atkinson nowhere near his level atm. Potentially later
Strain should have been considered.
I wonder who was in the initial selection of 50

Surely the bloke who ran his private lessons/manager must be coming up with some more press releases about now to keep him in the press...

Hw far away is robertson from the first team?

Yes I agree.

In the Australian squad, 8 players are currently playing in the A-League & only 4 players did not cut their teeth in the A-League.

So many young talent coming, its a shame that the under 20 team missed out by a single kick to make the World Cup otherwise that was the best under 20 team since 2013's version, plus throw in the already talented under 23 group and now some of the names in the Socceroos team.
This should be a very exciting future ahead and now its on the national team staff to mould in which should be our best team since 2006 if you look not only at the quality coming through but the key for me is the depth.

That for me is the exciting part, the depth is scary!

Also with Robertson in there is a great feat for him hut now we can see what kind of player he is too as I never seen him play, we just need to cap Volpato and Circati and we are set! 

Why wasn’t Botic called up? Two strikers in the squad and they are both rubbish. We need to start developing some strikers.

Also Arnie, by picking Crapkinson, is just showing off his loyalty. He couldn’t cut it in the World Cup, he can’t cut it at Hearts , he shouldn’t be in the squad. His confidence is down because he’s realised he’s out of this depth . 

From Vince Rugari on twitter;

"People who don’t watch the A-League or don’t spend their downtime indulging in the Robertson/Volpato/Circati debate will be sleeping on how exciting this squad is and the 3.5 year ride ahead for the Socceroos. Wake up. We are going to have an insane team in 2026"

I'm excited.

Someone who drops his son in law who is getting regular game time in belgium isn’t a coach who just pocks their favorites

For a second I thought he finally dropped Maclaren. 

would prefer Yazbek over Roberston,,,, the MC midfield is quite average atm and he cant even get a run at all even the round Perrone got a run ahead of him lol like wtf?

Wheres Yazbek? Botic? Would love to see what Irankunda can do.

ages away.... I dont get it... Perrone is ahead of him and he's been in Manchester just a few months. His contract ends at end of season.... guess if your going to pick him its now.

Arnold must have received advice that Robertson is destined for the top, whether it is with City or elsewhere. Maybe he watched him play reserve fixtures and that was enough. If he’s been in various City match day squads he’s obviously got something, but City arent gonna take punts on youth while 5 points behind Arsenal.

Yes MC such a poor midfield, KDB, Bernado Silva, Gundogan, Grealish, Foden, Rodri, such a horrible midfield.

yes city see him as a future player when they didn't renew his contract over the WC break and they brought in a midfielder from Argentina..

He will be back in Australia next year lucky to get a run in an NPL team.

What I meant was Rodri has played almost all game this year, Pep has preferred to start Perrone ahead of Robertson.

All the other youngsters have gone on loan except him.... Pep literally called Philips fat and out of shape, yet still robertson never got a run even in the cup.

If your a good player good clubs will sign you to long deals look at all the other young players.

Couldnt get a run at Ross County now hes destined for the top? lol wtf ... turns out Peru were going to pick him for next squad.

The thing which I am astounded about is only 8 of the squad have played more than 20 games for the Socceroos, and Goodwin has only 14 games. The fact we got so far in the WC is truly amazing given how reliant we were on relatively young/new players. This coming WC cycle will be fantastic. And, as others have said, there are numerous players outside the squad that have genuine chances of forcing their way in.

Lol dude he’s 19 ffs, He was 17 when he went out on loan. The expectations that you place on this young kid, because he can’t get a run in the first team, he must therefore be barely NPL level. What a moronic thing to say.

Arnie wouldnt have picked him unless he had some sort of feedback that he was a prodigy. That doesn’t guarantee you he will be a future star, also doesn’t guarantee ANY game time at City, but if you’re banging on the door of senior squad of City at 19 then clearly you have something , something worth exploring in Arnie’s opinion.  Your pessimism is unjustified, i cant wait to see what he has to offer.