Olyroos Lack Teeth

The Olympic team was announced today and I must say I am disappointed. Greame Arnold has left out Djite, Burns, Williams, Vidosic. He has bizarrely used age as a reason for the decision not to take Djite or Burns. These are the same players that have played against the likes of Kevin Muscat and Craig Moore week in week out. In Djite’s case the same player who was being selected for senior Socceroo games and Arnold believes they are too young for a Under 23 competition. As I said bizarre !

You might be forgiven for thinking that his explanation was a smoke screen to cover for the fact that their clubs had applied pressure to not select them but this article from Nathan Burns seems to indicate otherwise.

The full squad is
Mark Bridge – Striker (Sydney FC)
Nikita Rukavytsya – Striker (Perth Glory)
Archie Thompson – striker (Melbourne Victory) – overage player

Billy Celeski – Midfielder (Melbourne Victory)
Neil Kilkenny – Midfielder (Leeds United, England)
Stuart Musialik – Midfielder (Sydney FC)
Kristian Sarkies – Midfielder (Adelaide United)
James Troisi – Midfielder (uncontracted)
David Carney – Midfielder (Sheffield United, England) – overage player

Adrian Leijer – Defender (Fulham Athletic, England)
Trent McClenahan – Defender (Hereford United, England)
Mark Milligan – Defender (uncontracted)
Matthew Spiranovic – Defender (FC Nurnberg, Germany)
Nikolai Topor-Stanley – Defender (Perth Glory)
Ruben Zadkovich – Defender (Derby County, England)
Jade North – Defender (Newcastle Jets) – overage player

Tando Velaphi – Goalkeeper (Perth Glory)
Adam Federici – Goalkeeper (Reading, England)

With seven defenders named and only three strikers it seems we are shaping to play on the counter for the entire tournament. With the inclusion of North, a back three is almost certain and potentially we will again see a lone striker. On first sight a likely lineup may be :

----------------------Federici-----------------
---------North--------Leijer----------Spira----
--------------Musialik------Milligan-----------
Mclenahan--------------------------------Carney
----------------Sarkies------Troisi------------
---------------------Thompson------------------

The lack of goal scoring options is a real concern and with Archie Thompson still recovering from his recent knee problem its hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

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