Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou has given nothing away about the make-up of his starting line-up for Friday morning’s top-of-the-table 2018 World Cup qualifier away to Saudi Arabia.
Australia and the Green Falcons both won their opening two fixtures to sit top of Group B ahead of Friday morning’s game which kicks off at 4.45pm AEDT.
Postecoglou has regularly tinkered with his starting XI depending on the circumstances in qualifying but revealed he has no injury concerns going into the game.
The main worry is goalkeeper Mat Ryan who appears to be in contention despite a knee injury which has kept him out of training at Valencia over the past fortnight.
“I haven’t decided on it yet,” Postecoglou said about his starting XI.
“We’ll see how the boys go in training. From my perspective we always like to see how the guys go and how they’ve backed up from their weekend games and travel.”
Mitchell Langerak only arrived in camp on Tuesday after playing for Stuttgart on Monday night, while Craig Goodwin, Jimmy Jeggo and Alex Gersbach were among those required at club level on Sunday.
“To be fair yesterday (Tuesday) they trained really well, all of them, even the ones who came in late, so that’s good for me,” Postecoglou said.
“I’ve got a full list to choose from, but we’ll make those decisions after training.
“It’ll just be a matter of selecting the team that I think will get the job done tomorrow.
“The beauty of it is there's probably two or three line-ups I could put out there that I'd be confident of being able to play our kind of game.
“It’s just a matter going with the one which I think will get the job done.”
Postecoglou said he wasn’t fazed by the potentially warm conditions in Jeddah, having knocked off UAE last month in Abu Dhabi as temperatures soared to 35 degrees.
“We understand the different conditions we have to face, both the opponents and when you play away from home but nothing changes for us,” he said.
“The players will be well prepared. The way I see it, the conditions will be good tomorrow night, it’s a good stadium and it looks like a good pitch.”
A win for either side will see them open up a three-point buffer at the top of the group which would be significant despite being at an early stage of qualifying.
Elsewhere in the group, Japan (third with three points) hosts Iraq (fifth with no points) in Saitama, while UAE (fourth with three points) is at home to Thailand (sixth with no points) in Abu Dhabi.
Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak said his side would be full of confidence despite the task ahead.
“We know it’s going to be a tough game,” Jedinak said.
“Saudi Arabia coming on the back of two wins, two positive results, as have we.
“Away from home is always tricky but we come into the game full of confidence.”
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