Australia vs The Leprechauns

Although it is only a friendly and the result itself will mean little, I am genuinely excited by the upcoming match against the Irish on Thursday morning (even if I am not looking forward to getting up at 4:30am to catch it live). Pim Verbeek has picked, whether by design or need, an extremely youthful side and hopefully some of these fringe players can get a starting run.

It is difficult to remember when an Australian squad had 50% of its players 25 years old or under. The question for Verbeek is how many of these players does he start.

In defence Matthew Spiranovic must be a real chance of starting alongside Lucas Neill. Spiranovic has been developing quite well with Nuremberg and is hoping to win a starting spot this year with the side in the Bundesliga. Ange Postecoglou has called in him to be given an extended run of games to prove his worth and I agree wholeheartly.

With no Grella or Valeri, Rhys Williams may also get a chance to start with a role at either Right Back (if Wilkshire is used in a more central holding role) or as a defensive midfielder. Williams has been in stellar preseason form for Middlesbrough with four goals in four preseason games and I am sure Verbeek wants to take another look at the 21 year old.

Carney is also likely to get the nod at Left Back. He still appears out of favour at Sheffield United and desperately needs a move. To be honest anywhere else that will give him some first team football would be better than the situation he currently has as Sheffield. I am not how much longer Verbeek can afford to carry him in the Australian Team if he is not part of a first team.

I doubt that Verbeek will start any of Holland, Bozanic and Vidosic but hopefully at least 1 of these outstanding young players gets a decent amount of time as a substitute. I think it likely that Verbeek will start Carle, Cahill and Kewell in the middle of the park.

Up front Scott Macdonald is an almost certain starter but if Verbeek did do something crazy like start with two strikers we might just get to also see Nikita Rukavytsya. Rukavytsya is getting game time with FC Twente in the Eredivisie, coming off the bench in their season opener, and provides some genuine pace.

All this youth is making me giddy and makes for an interesting match where the result is less important than the actual performances. We can only hope that Pim will be adventurous and allow some of these players the starting roles they need to showcase where they are at in terms of their development.

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