Perth, Australia (BBN)-THE Socceroos No. 1 shirt is up for grabs for the first time in years after Mat Ryan was omitted from the World Cup qualifiers squad for matches against Bangladesh and Tajikistan after copping a knock to a knee in Valencia’s La Liga match Monday morning.
Ryan, who will make his Champions League debut this season, suffered the injury in Valencia’s 1-1 draw at home to Deportivo La Coruna, a game that finished in the early hours of Monday morning Australian time, reports News.com.au.
Adelaide United keeper Eugene Galekovic has been called up to replace Ryan, joining Bournemouth’s Adam Federici and Leyton Orient’s Alex Cisak as the three shot-stoppers.
With Stuttgart’s Mitch Langerak injured, Australia coach Ange Postecoglou and keeper coach Tony Franken now have a selection dilemma.
The decision will probably come down to Galekovic or Federici.
Federici (10 caps) is the most experienced of the lot, but is the back up to Artur Boruc at Bournemouth, with his only official game this season coming in last week’s 4-0 League Cup win over Hartlepool.
Uncapped Cisak plays in England’s fourth tier, while Galekovic joined Langerak and Ryan in the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Asian Cup squads.
None of the keepers trained at nib Stadium tonight, with Cisak and Fedrici arriving from England on Monday night, while Galekovic gets in on Tuesday morning.
Though not a serious injury to Ryan, Postecoglou opted a no risk policy with Ryan only due to arrive in camp on Tuesday night, 48 hours before kick-off against Bangladesh.
“It’s a blow for Matt to miss these games but he picked up a knock in Spain overnight and with the travel distance and the lateness of his club game we have decided to bring in Eugene Galekovic,” Postecoglou said.
“Eugene is more than capable replacement and he will join us in Perth and we will move ahead without Mat.”
Meanwhile. Scocceroos pair Matt McKay and Matthew Spiranovic have warned fans not to expect a cricket score when Australia meet Bangladesh in Western.
Australia plays its first World Cup qualifier on home soil, after opening its road to Russia 2018 with an arduous 2-1 win away to Kyrgyzstan last June.
The Bangladesh clash at Perth Glory’s home venue nib Stadium is the Socceroos’ first visit to Perth since 2005, before Postecoglou’s side plays Tajikistan away on Tuesday week.
Despite Bangladesh being ranked 170 and better known for their cricketing exploits, McKay said the Socceroos must set the tone for their whole campaign and said there would be no return to some of the massive scorelines from the Oceania days.
“It’s not always like that, we saw that with Kyrgyzstan game, where we thought — (they’re ranked) 100-and-something in the world — international football is never easy and we won’t be taking Bangladesh lightly,” McKay said.
“Then it’s a tough game away to Tajikistan.
“We’re on our game, we’re ready, this qualification phase will be testing and these two games will go a long way to making sure we’re focused for the rest of the campaign.
“I don’t know too much (about Bangladesh) yet, we’ve got a bit of footage. We had staff that have gone and watched their previous game and I’m sure they’ve done their homework.”
Spiranovic said the Socceroos would be using the wrong approach if they focused on the scoreboard.
“You can face obstacles against countries like Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh, though I think the pitch will be a bit better than what we played on, but we don’t focus too much on the scoreline,” Spiranovic said.
“You don’t really think about that (winning by big margins), you worry more about the process and if you do that right the result generally takes care of itself.’’
The Socceroos’ last clash in Perth was a 3-0 friendly win over Indonesia over a decade ago but McKay welcomed the scheduling after most games were confined to ‘east coast’ venues Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne since.
“It’s a big country Australia and to get to everyone is important, and it’s really great that the youngsters can watch us play and dream to be Socceroos,” McKay said.
“It’s really good for Perth and the most important thing is for the juniors to come to the game and idolise the players.”
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