And then there were 26...

The announcement of Bert van Marwijk’s 26-man Socceroos training squad - to be whittled down to 23 by June 4 – signals more than just a national dearth of strikers. It means our World Cup opponents are going through the same pain we are (hopefully).

We've recapped the 26-man Socceroos squad below in case you feel like a brave comparison, but rather than focus on our own issues, skip ahead to see the problems the Socceroos won’t be facing in Russia.

SOCCEROOS FULL SQUAD (26 players)

Goalkeepers: Mathew Ryan (Brighton and Hove Albion), Brad Jones (Feyenoord), Danny Vukovic (KRC Genk)

Defenders: Trent Sainsbury (Grasshoppers Zurich), Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F Marinos), Mark Milligan (Al-Ahli), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney Wanderers FC), Matthew Jurman (Suwon Bluewings), James Meredith (Millwall), Fran Karacic (Lokomotiva Zagreb), Joshua Brillante (Sydney FC)

Midfielders: Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory), Tom Rogic (Celtic FC), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town), Jackson Irvine (Hull City),

Attackers: Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle Jets), Daniel Arzani (Melbourne City FC), Tim Cahill (Millwall), Robbie Kruse (VfL Bochum), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin), Tomi Juric (FC Luzern), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa), Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds)