@scout_aussie For me Okon is one of those players who gets better with every game and capable of raising his game to match the opposition
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Mark Conyers
1.3K posts
Mark Conyers
@conyers7777
Melbourne boy who loves all sports!!
Melbourne, Australia Katılım Haziran 2009
72 Takip Edilen31 Takipçiler
Tony Popović made two extremely gutsy selections. He dropped Australia’s two most senior players for a 21 year old and a 22 year old - both playing in the A-League and with 8 caps combined.
They both totally vindicated the decision. Paul Okon-Engstler and Pat Beach were immense.
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@scout_aussie You always know teams have no idea and don't respect the opposition when they say you are a physical team!!
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Australia haven’t scored from a set-piece in more than a year. I think Turkey need to watch more of the Socceroos.
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@scout_aussie Is this a case of trying to lock him in so he doesn't switch to Australia?
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Quite incredible to see that 17 year old Melbourne City defender Mathew Baker (2009) has been called up to Indonesia’s senior team.
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@AustraliaFut I didn't think he would make the squad to be honest, but thought he would at least remain with the team in case of any more injuries. The biggest mystery Borrello still being with the team
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Es extraño de explicar pero si Alex Robertson tuviese dos pies izquierdos y fuese más tosco y duro hubiese estado en el Mundial
Pero es que en su momento Popovic no apostó por Triantis. Yo de verdad que no entiendo nada
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Alex Robertson's Socceroos omission for the World Cup is very, very interesting.
CommBank Socceroos@Socceroos
🇦🇺🔒 CONFIRMED: Eight more players are set to join the CommBank #Socceroos’ train-on squad as we close in on the #FIFAWorldCup. ✈️🇺🇸 Another eight have been released from the pre-camp in Sarasota, Florida: Daniel Bennie, Raphael Borges Rodrigues, Anthony Caceres, Mitch Duke, Dylan Leonard, Alex Robertson, Gianni Stensness and Ante Suto. 📰 More details: bit.ly/Soc-Update-May…
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@scout_aussie That's the hard thing about Australia, 90% of players are eligible for other countries! Ideally we could have U15, U16 and U17 to get all these players playing internationally earlier and loving the idea of representing Australia.... more overseas tours etc
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@conyers7777 Re: Kutleshi, I was honestly blown away by his performance vs. Auckland. It was spectacular. The continued rumours about his links to play for Albania should be of significant concern for Football Australia.
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To mark one month until the Socceroos' World Cup opener against Türkiye in Vancouver, I'm going to do a little Q+A in the comments.
Ask me a question below, and I'll get back to you.
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@scout_aussie I think going forward, NZ will definitely cause a few headaches. Given their junior teams always qualify for World Cups and now Oceania have direct qualification to the World Cup, it would be very appealing for a young player who is not sure they could make the Australian team
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@conyers7777 Agreed.
The three NZ reps mentioned on the list are less well-known but they should also be priorities. NZ has become concerningly effective at recruiting our top prospects very early in the cycle. In recent years, they’ve sent their U17 coach to our Nat Champs to scout.
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Gülaşi is one of 15 dual-national players provisionally tied to other nations who, as I wrote in a recent article, I believe have potential to represent Australia at senior level.
The full list can be seen in the next tweet.
AussieScout@scout_aussie
Ayman Gülaşi (2006) has rejected suggestions that he has turned his back on representing Australia, labelling them “incorrect”. The Schalke winger is one of Australia’s most talented 2006-born players, but most recently represented Türkiye.
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@scout_aussie Hopefully switches back to playing for Australia
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Pictured with Leonard is WSW academy product and Australia U17 representative Ayman Gülaşi (2006).
Gülaşi is one of Australia’s most talented attacking prospects and had broken into Schalke’s first-team before tearing his ACL earlier this season.
Football360.com.au@football360au
Aussie wonderkid Dylan Leonard is heading to the Bundesliga with Schalke at just 18 YEARS OLD 🤩🤯 Germany's third largest club has been without top-flight football for 3 years but now that drought is over! And if you want to know how much that means, look at the scenes 👏 AUSSIES ABROAD: tinyurl.com/4u2hs27a
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@scout_aussie Multiple sports is nice in theory, but logistically is getting harder and harder with the amount of training and tournaments. If your kid is playing kangas level by 9, then they are already playing 12 months of the year now.
Multiple sports is more common in footy and basketball
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It could of mutual benefit to see football’s development programs integrate other sports like Aussie rules or rugby league.
NRL and AFL stars like Nathan Cleary and Lachie Neale grew up playing football while Ale Circati and Mat Leckie grew up playing Aussie rules.
AussieScout@scout_aussie
Playing different sports was also described as influential in development. It develops functional movement skills at a young age that cannot be developed playing just one sport. The report’s authors suggested pursuing a partnership with Scottish Rugby to this end.
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@AUSFUTNews Arena & Okon are the priority above anyone else!! Raised in Australia and could be generational talents that could shape the future of the Socceroos! Plus if you get them on board it will convince other players to choose Australia above any other nation
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The Socceroos need to be doing everything they can to win over the next generation of dual-national talent for the next Cycle of the World Cup 🇦🇺👀
The names that should be high on the priority list:
• Liam Chipperfield
• Naven Chipperfield
• Antonio Arena
• Gianluca Okon
All four have serious upside and could be important pieces for Australia’s future if we move early.
Who should be the biggest priority for Football Australia? 🤔👇
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@scout_aussie It is becoming a bit of a joke these days! I would like to see FIFA tighten the eligibility rules to only go back to your parents. I think anyone who is a 3rd generation shouldn't be allowed to represent another country.
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This is another instructive story for Australia.
Three of the best footballing nationals in the world are seeking the commitment of Nicolò Tresoldi, including two of the last three World Cup winners.
Football Italia@footballitalia
The highly sought-after Nicolo Tresoldi still has three senior national team options available to him, but reports in Germany claim that Argentina are making attempts to pin down the talented 21-year-old, who was born in and is eligible to represent Italy.
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@joeylynchy Can someone tell Josip Skoko and Paul Okon that theirs sons need to start playing for Australia!!!!
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@scout_aussie @SrSittingBull I think the ID camps that run in Australia should be blocked 🚫 I know they currently run them in Canada and the USA as well. We should not allow different federations to come here and poach players at such a young age
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You're definitely right about the contacts/proximity of diaspora - but Croatia are running diaspora talent ID camps in Australia every year, and picking a team to tour and play in Croatia. The captain of that team last year later won MOTM in the final of the U15 Emerging Socceroos Championships.
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Revealing insight into Croatia’s approach to dual national talent. They spoke to Segečić and his family repeatedly over a long period.
And the critical line: “We need to fight and appreciate every player we gain—especially when someone else has essentially developed them."
TheCroatian@TheCroatian_
Ivica Olić on Adrian Segečić’s switch to Croatia: "There’s quite a bit of coincidence in all of this. We talked a lot about the problems in the national team regarding injuries and the lack of playing time for our players abroad. We followed and analyzed all possible options across Europe. That’s how we came across Adrian Segečić, who had both an Australian and Croatian flag next to his name. Assistant coach Marko Krnjić asked me about his situation. I said I didn’t know and that we would check. I got in touch with director Stipe Pletikosa, who told me they had already contacted him, that he hadn’t played for the senior national team, and that there was a possibility. Through Joe Šimunić, we got in touch with his father. I called him and asked if there was a chance. Honestly, I became hopeful when I saw that his dad had a Croatian flag as his WhatsApp profile picture—I thought it might be a good story (laughs). During our conversation, I realized he lives just 15 kilometers from my village, Davor, and that he moved to Australia a long time ago. But he still follows everything and visits his village several times a year. His father wanted his son to play for Croatia, but in the end, we agreed that Adrian would make the final decision. Adrian was, of course, very happy. He said he needed a few days to think, as he was a potential candidate for Australia’s World Cup squad. That was one of the things that slightly tempered my excitement after speaking with his father. But after three or four days, while we were in Munich, we received great news—he said he was happy with his decision and couldn’t wait to join the national team. Adrian plays in a serious league, the Championship—practically the sixth-strongest league in Europe. He has solid statistics there and a few years of senior football experience. I’m glad he chose Croatia; he speaks Croatian very well. We are a very small country, but a big football nation. We need to fight and appreciate every player we gain—especially when someone else has essentially developed them." [SN]
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@DanielGarb @Socceroos Well spoken!! I think he would love to have gone harder as well
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Tony Popovic on Adrian Segecic’s defection to Croatia and having to sell the @Socceroos shirt:
‘If you’re getting called up for Australia through the junior levels and then called up for Socceroos isn’t that enough to be wanted? Should I promise a player at 20 or 21 that he’ll play and if they don’t I fear that he’ll leave? It’s probably better for Adrian now that he’s gone because I won’t hold him back from where he really wants to be.
When I was 20 or 21 and I got called up and didn’t play all I thought was I want to play for Australia and I’ll keep fighting. I wouldn’t walk out.”
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@suitedbootedtv The weird thing is it seems to be the 3rd generation Aussies that switch. 1st and 2nd generations seem to respect what Australia has given them and their families, while the next generation take what Australia has given them and think the old homeland has more to offer
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The Socceroos may have lost Adrian Segecic, but we've gained plenty of other players at the expense of other nations in recent years 🇦🇺⚽️
Given the multicultural nature of Australia, it is no surprise the national team continues to be locked in international tug of wars.
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@scout_aussie Very unusual decision!! Would have been a chance to make the World Cup Squad. Can he ever switch back, or is this one of those one-time moves?
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Adrian Segečić (2004) has officially changed his association to play for Croatia.
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