Squad for Kuwait

Australia's final squad for the Asian Cup qualifying match against Kuwait has been announced, solely comprising players from the A-League.

Adelaide's Travis Dodd, Queensland's Matt McKay and Sydney's Iain Fyfe are the flyers, with Fyfe gaining selection over recent pre-World Cup trainee Adrian Leijer. Dodd was one of the best wide midfielders in the competition last year, while McKay had a solid season and spent some time on loan in the K-League.

On paper, Australia looks lightest in midfield, where Steve Corica is likely to anchor a central unit featuring youngsters Kristian Sarkies and Stuart Musialik. Arnold may line up with a rear guard of four, as he did in the successful second-half against Bahrain, or, considering the home venue, opt for a more attacking lineup with wingbacks on either side of three central defenders. The former will put a lot of emphasis on the wing play of David Carney, Alex Brosque and perhaps Dodd, while the latter orientation featuring the likes of Alvin Ceccoli, Mark Milligan or Jade North on the flanks would aim to take pressure off the core midfielders. In either case, both Kevin Muscat and Michael Valkanis should start, quite an intimidating pairing.

Up front, the Socceroos suprisingly look quite strong. Archie Thompson and Joel Griffiths provide a finishing threat under pace, with Sasho Petrovski able to handle a lone striker role if called upon.

Clint Bolton will start between the posts, with long-term national team prospect Danny Vukovic backing up.

Unlucky to miss out are the injured Spase Dilevski, Tom Pondeljak, Richard Johnson and Ruben Zadkovich. Also unfortunate is Nick Carle, whose silky skills and possession oriented approach to the game are out of favour with national team coaches at the moment. Paul Okon declared himself unavailable for the match, presumably a decision indicating his desire to retire from international football. New Zealand Knights first-choice goalkeeper Michael Turnbull may also count himself a touch unlucky to miss out.

Squad Reports Up

As the start of the Pre-Season Cup approaches, it's about time the HAL teams close in on their final squads for the 2006-07 regular season. Only Melbourne has assembled a full complement of players so far, but incoming transfers are thick and fast at the moment. To help keep up, I've compiled at-a-glance squad lists for each team.

Who's looking strong?

NB: I'll shift these over to the right sidebar once they fall out of the recent posts and keep them updated through the season (so we can stay on top of all the inevitable short-term injury replacement signings).

Sydney: Squad Report

Out: Bingley, Laurie, Packer, Salazar, Yorke

In: Brockie, Brosque, Zadkovich

Required for a full squad: Who knows?

GKs:

Clint Bolton
Justin Pasfield

DEFs:

Alvin Ceccoli
Iain Fyfe
Mark Milligan
Wade Oostendorp (U-20)
Mark Rudan
Jacob Timpano

MIDs:

Jeremy Brockie (U-20)
David Carney
Steve Corica
Terry McFlynn
Ufuk Talay
Ruben Zadkovich (U-20)

FWDs:

Alex Brosque
Adam Casey
Robbie Middleby
Sasho Petrovski
David Zdrilic

Short-Term Signings:

Matthew Bingley (Defender)
Tallan Martin (Striker)
Jonas Salley (Midfielder)
Joel Thiessen (Midfielder)
Nikolas Tsattalios (Midfielder)
Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Defender)

"Guest" Players:

Benito Carbone (Striker)

Queensland: Squad Report

Out: Baird, Brosque, Brownlie, Carro, Dodd, Gava, Higgins, Moon, Richter, J. Simpson, T. Simpson, Shin, Tollenaere

In: Lynch, Milicic, Ognenovski, Packer, Reddy, Vidosic, Wedau

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

Head coach Miron Bleiberg resigned mid-season. Frank Farina signed for two and a half years as his replacement.

GKs:

Liam Reddy
Tom Willis

DEFs:

Remo Buess
Spase Dilevski
Chad Gibson
Ben Griffin (U-20)
Josh McCloughan
Stuart McLaren
Sasa Ognenovski

MIDs:

Andrew Packer
Seo Hyuk-soo
Matt McKay
Massimo Murdocca
Marcus Wedau

FWDs:

Simon Lynch
Ante Milicic
Damian Mori
Reinaldo
Dario Vidosic (U-20)
Zhang Yuning

Short-Term Signings:

Steve Fitzsimmons (Midfielder)
Chris Grossman (Midfielder)
Robbie Kruse (Striker)
Griffin McMaster (Goalkeeper)
Carl Recchia (Midfielder)
Tim Smits (Striker)
Tando Velaphi (Goalkeeper)

Perth: Squad Report

Out: Caceres, Celeski, Deane, Fa'arodo, Horsley, Ishida, Jovanic, Mc Mahon Jr, Miller, More, Teggart, Ward, Vasilevski

In: Bertos, Christie, Glavas, Lazaridis, Magdic, Robertson, Saric, Townsend, Vrteski, Webster

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

GKs:

Jason Petkovic
Alex Vrteski (U-20)

DEFs:

Jamie Coyne
Jamie Harnwell
Ante Kovacevic
David Tarka
Ryan Townsend

MIDs:

Leo Bertos
Jeremy Christie
Simon Colosimo
Stan Lazaridis (Marquee)
Josip Magdic
David Micevski (U-20)
Mark Robertson
Adrian Webster

FWDs:

Bobby Despotovski
Luka Glavas
Mimi Saric
Naum Sekulovski
Stuart Young

Short-Term Signings:

Andrew Crews (Goalkeeper)
Mark Lee (Midfielder)
Andy Petterson (Goalkeeper)
Paul Pezos (Defender)
Tyler Simpson (Defender)
Tommi Tomich (Goalkeeper)

New Zealand: Squad Report

Out: Bright, Brockie, Bull, Caravella, Christie, Collet, Fitzsimmons, Hay, Imaya, Maguire, Moss, Rose, Tambouras, Tinkler, Yeo, Zhang (phew!)

In: Buari, Bunce, Carbon, Casey, Duruz, Gemmill, Johnson, Kovacevic, Paston, Richter, Rodrigues, Salley, Turnbull, White

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

Contract of manager Paul Nevin terminated mid-season. Interim replacement is Barry Simmonds.

GKs:

Danny Milosevic
Mark Paston
Michael Turnbull

DEFs:

Darren Bazeley
Che Bunce
Matt Carbon
Gregory Duruz
Neil Emblen
Sime Kovacevic (U-20)
Frank van Eijs

MIDs:

Scot Gemmill (Marquee)
Noah Hickey
Richard Johnson
Jonas Salley
Michael White (U-20)

FWDs:

Malik Buari
Adam Casey (U-20)
Sean Devine
Jonathan Richter
Dani Rodrigues

Short-Term Signings:

Campbell Banks (Striker)
Nick Crossley (Goalkeeper)
Dean Gordon (Defender)
Fernando De Moraes (Midfielder)
Jeff Fleming (Midfielder)
Gao Lelei (Striker)
Li Yan (Midfielder)
Alen Marcina (Striker)
Hamza Mohammed (Midfielder)
Ivan Necevski (Goalkeeper)
Steven O'Dor (Defender)
Franco Parisi (Striker)
Tim Smits (Striker)
John Tambouras (Defender)
Dustin Wells (Midfielder)

Newcastle: Squad Report

Out: Bates, Corbo, Johnson, Kohler, Milicic, Parisi, Petterson, Picken, Reddy, Studman, Zelic

In: D'Apuzzo, Faria, Griffiths, Kennedy, Necevski, Okon, Old, Ozbey, Rodríguez

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

Head coach Nick Theodorakopoulos sacked after seven regular season matches. Assistant Gary Van Egmond promoted as caretaker.

GKs:

Ante Covic
Ben Kennedy (U-20)
Ivan Necevski

DEFs:

Craig Deans - injured (season)
Andrew Durante
Steve Eagleton
Labinot Haliti
Jade North

MIDs:

Nick Carle
Adam D'Apuzzo (U-20)
Tarek Elrich (U-20)
Stuart Musialik
Paul Okon
Milton Fabián Suárez Rodríguez
Matt Thompson
Jobe Wheelhouse

FWDs:

Mark Bridge
Vaughan Coveny
Tony Faria
Joel Griffiths
Tolgay Ozbey (U-20)

Short-Term Signings:

Tim Brown (Midfielder)
Troy Hearfield (Striker)
Paul Kohler (Defender)
Steven Old (Defender)
Tando Velaphi (Goalkeeper)
Shane Webb (Defender)