the withdrawal of Norwich City striker Mo Toure<\/a> and Cardiff City midfielder Alex Robertson due to injury and medical reasons, respectively. <\/p>\nNishan Velupillay, now playing for German third-tier club FC Ingolstadt, has been added in their place.<\/p>\n
Five players – Marcus Younis (Brondby IF), Yaya Dukuly (NK Celje), Kealey Adamson (QPR), Eli Adams (Gamba Osaka) and Jacob Chapman (St Mirren) – have been called up for the first time.<\/p>\n
Dylan Leonard (Alemannia Aachen) and Kasey Bos (Excelsior Rotterdam) are back in camp, having previously been called up by the national team, but are yet to make their senior international debuts.<\/p>\n
Younis, Dukuly and Adams shape as the most exciting inclusions, with the trio agents of chaos in the front third. They\u2019re the type of players with creative flair, an eye for goal, and the composure to combine the two.<\/p>\n
This might be the start of Younis\u2019 journey as a Socceroo, but expect him to be ever-present on the road to the next World Cup. The 21-year-old is currently playing regular minutes for Brondby in the Danish Superliga and has two goals and an assist from 10 games in all competitions so far this season.<\/p>\n
It follows a stunning loan spell with Melbourne City last season, when he racked up eight goals and five assists in 15 games. The Western Sydney Wanderers academy product is mainly a winger but can also play as an attacking midfielder.<\/p>\n
Marcus Younis of Melbourne City runs toward goal during the round 26 A-League Men match between Melbourne City and Adelaide United at AAMI Park, on April 26, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Dukuly is another player who does his best work out wide. The 23-year-old moved to Slovenian top-flight side NK Celje this season from Adelaide United and has already been involved in Champions League qualifiers and Europa League games.<\/p>\n
Eli Adams is now at Gamba Osaka in Japan after a hugely impressive two-season stint with the Newcastle Jets, where he departed with 20 goals and six assists to his name from 52 games. Adams is a defender\u2019s nightmare and is the type of player who always seems to arrive at the right place at the right time. The 24-year-old is also deadly from free kicks.<\/p>\n
All three are excitement machines, but how Popovic integrates them during this camp remains to be seen given the size of the challenge posed by Brazil. The trio would slot in nicely in the squad long-term alongside Connor Metcalfe, Cristian Volpato, Nestory Irankunda and Riley McGree as attacking options behind or either side of a striker.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor them, I think it\u2019s a reality check, especially when it comes to Friday and the game,\u201d defender Milos Degenek said of the experience awaiting the younger players in camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very important for the coaches to have a look at the new faces they have in here, to put them through a test – if I may say – where they have to experience 30,000 or 40,000 people and playing against Brazil; one of the best teams in the world and for them to see if these boys are ready for the Asian Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHO IS BACK BUT MISSED THE WORLD CUP SQUAD DUE TO INJURY?<\/p>\n
Oh, how the Socceroos could\u2019ve used Riley McGree and Patrick Yazbek at the World Cup. McGree hurt his hamstring in the second half of Middlesbrough\u2019s Championship playoff final against Hull. It was the last game McGree needed to get through before he would\u2019ve joined up with his Australian teammates in America.<\/p>\n
Yazbek suffered a nasty quad injury during the warm-up of Nashville\u2019s CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Tigres in early May.<\/p>\n
McGree is one of the most technically gifted players in the Australian set-up and not only has an eye for goal, but possesses the ability to produce a smart pass in the final third that can unlock stubborn defences.<\/p>\n
Yazbek is an all-action midfielder, like Jackson Irvine, capable of covering the back four then surging forward to join in attacking raids.<\/p>\n
Both players shape as likely inclusions in Popovic\u2019s Asian Cup squad.<\/p>\n
WHO MISSED OUT FROM THE WORLD CUP SQUAD?<\/p>\n
Socceroos captain Mat Ryan was the biggest name missing when Popovic announced his squad for this window. The goalkeeper has been in relatively strong form for Levante UD in La Liga, but was left out as Popovic looks at other goalkeeping options, including Jacob Chapman, who plays for St Mirren in Scotland.<\/p>\n
Patrick Beach was preferred as Australia\u2019s starter at the World Cup, and whether the 34-year-old Ryan\u2019s absence continues beyond this window and into games against Qatar and Jordan in November will be something to keep an eye on.<\/p>\n
Mo Toure, Cameron Burgess, Cristian Volpato, Jordan Bos and Kai Trewin weren\u2019t considered due to injury, while Ajdin Hrustic, Cameron Devlin, Awer Mabil and Mathew Leckie missed out.<\/p>\n
Toure sidelined for Brazil friendlies | 01:00<\/p>\n
HOW STRONG IS THE BRAZIL SQUAD?<\/p>\n
Any team coached by the legendary Carlo Ancelotti and able to call on Real Madrid\u2019s Vinicius Junior and Barcelona captain Raphinha immediately falls into the strong category.<\/p>\n
Those two superstars will be joined by Arsenal\u2019s Gabriel Magalhaes and Bruno Guimaraes, PSG\u2019s Marquinhos, Manchester United\u2019s Andrey Santos, Douglas Luiz of Juventus, Real Madrid\u2019s Endrick and Chelsea\u2019s Estevao and Joao Pedro.<\/p>\n
It is the first time the Selecao has played since their Round of 16 exit at the hands of Norway at the World Cup, and Ancelotti has indicated the squad is part of Brazil\u2019s build towards the next cycle, including the 2028 Copa America and 2030 World Cup.<\/p>\n
WHAT IS THE HEAD-TO-HEAD LIKE BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES?<\/p>\n
The Socceroos and Brazil have met 11 times since their first ever clash in 1988. Nine of those games have been \u2018A\u2019 internationals, with Australia winning one and drawing two of the eleven encounters.<\/p>\n
The lone victory came in the third-place-play-off game at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. The Socceroos got home 1-0 in Ulsan in South Korea thanks to a goal from Shaun Murphy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first match between the two sides in almost 10 years.<\/p>\n
An Ange Postecoglou-coached Socceroos outfit lost to the South American giants 4-0 in front of almost 50,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2017.<\/p>\n
Milos Degenek, Jackson Irvine and Aziz Behich were involved on that night and have the chance to feature again in Townsville and Brisbane.<\/p>\n
Tim Cahill of the Socceroos competes for the ball ahead of David Luiz of Brazil during the Brasil Global Tour match between Australian Socceroos and Brazil at Melbourne Cricket Ground on June 13, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge\/Getty Images for ICC)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
WHEN IS THE ASIAN CUP AND CAN AUSTRALIA WIN IT?<\/p>\n
While glamour friendlies against the might of Brazil are interesting, the immediate goal is preparing the Socceroos for the Asian Cup in January.<\/p>\n
The tournament gets underway, from a Socceroos perspective, against Singapore in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on January 9. Australia will also face Graham Arnold\u2019s Iraq and Tajikistan in Group D, with the three games coming in the space of 10 days.<\/p>\n
The Socceroos\u2019 only Asian Cup title came in 2015, and the pool of players Popovic will choose his squad from is more than capable of adding a second.<\/p>\n
The Asian Cup has proved to be a tricky task in the past, though. <\/p>\n
The Socceroos have been eliminated in the quarter-finals in three of their five attempts. Australia is currently ranked 28th on the FIFA standings which puts them behind 17th-ranked Japan and 22nd-ranked Iran in terms of AFC rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really, really confident in what we\u2019ve been doing over the last couple of years and what we\u2019re doing at the moment, going forward and going into this Asian Cup,\u201d Degenek said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really, really confident that we can do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The start of a new World Cup cycle for the Socceroos gets underway on Friday night, with Australia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-903269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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