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SBS World Cup analyst Kewell, who made 58 appearances and scored 17 goals for Australia between 1996 and 2012, dissected the Socceroos' opponents of France, Tunisia and Denmark in Group D alongside David Basheer, Matt Connellan and special guests from each of the respective countries on Monday night (AEDT).
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Kewell, Bash and co discuss Socceroos' World Cup opponents
The former Liverpool and Leeds United player was asked by Basheer at the start of the program whether the right squad of players was selected for the tournament, with the current Celtic assistant coach not holding back on his thoughts about the overall strength of the Socceroos team selection and a certain player who missed the final cut.
"It's only my opinion [but] do I believe he picked the strongest squad? No," Kewell said.
"I think he's missed one or two key players, which is a shame but again, he's on the ground, he's there 24/7, [and] he knows exactly what he needs in his team to make this, say, [a] successful World Cup attempt.
"So, for me, I hope he's got it right. I just would have liked to have seen the likes of Tommy Rogic in there."
With Arnold ultimately making just a few exceptions to his 'fitness and form' rule for the Socceroos' World Cup squad selection, namely selecting Mat Ryan and Harry Souttar, Rogic's one start and five appearances off the bench for Championship club West Bromwich Albion since signing for them in mid-September proved not enough to become a part of Arnold's plans for the tournament.
Despite withdrawing from the Socceroos' play-off matches between May and June for unspecified reasons, and going without match minutes for nearly four months after his shock departure from Celtic, Kewell argued that Rogic still deserved a place in the squad.
"I know Tom hasn't done the right thing by his career by not getting a club earlier and just kind of waiting it out, and last minute he's got a club. I still would have liked to have seen him go because I think he could have been the difference," he said.
Meanwhile, the SBS World Cup analyst was full of praise for 18-year-old bolter Kuol, who earned a call-up to the squad due to his cameos off the bench for the Central Coast Mariners.
Kuol has produced six goals from 13 appearances over the last two seasons, leading to his transfer to Premier League side Newcastle United in January next year.
"I'm excited about young Kuol, who's made the squad," he said.
"I just hope now that he gets the opportunity to show the world exactly what he's capable of doing because A-League [Men] is fantastic, but the world stage is a completely different arena and this is a great chance for him because he's playing some exciting football.
"So, overall, the squad for me is OK and, hopefully, it's enough to get something and do us proud while we're over there watching."
Kewell was questioned by Connellan about the importance of having a 'game-changing' player to appear off the bench in Qatar, to which the former Socceroo responded by lamenting the absence of Rogic from the squad once again.
"It’s going to be huge because we are going to be using a lot of our energy in the defensive part of the game," he said.
"You need fresh legs and someone to hold the ball up, drive the ball, drop the shoulder and get past someone, allow the back-line to get up and give Maty Ryan that little bit of space. He [Rogic] is the player that can do that.
"Don’t get me wrong, he has got other players in his squad like Boyle, Mabil and Duke who can all hold it up, which is fantastic. But when you have a class player like Tommy Rogic, I just feel that he could have been the difference in maybe the last 15 minutes in a game.”
Kewell also expressed doubts over the international experience of Arnold's defensive selection, contrasting the formidable duo of Craig Moore and Lucas Neil at the height of the Socceroos' 'golden generaton' with the nine defenders selected for the 2022 squad, of whom only three have more than 10 international caps to their name.
"I'll be honest and I'll say that I think that's one of the areas that I feel we won't be weak [in], but I think it's just that the connection that we have that I don't think the players have played long enough together or been around each other long enough," he said.
"Even if I go back to my time, when I played in the Australian team, we had centre-halves coming in and we had, maybe one was leaving and the other one was coming in. Craig Moore and Lucas Neil, they were a pairing, they were a connection, they read each other well, they worked together well and this is what I need to be able to see with these [current] centre-halves.
Despite discussing his perceived lack of experience in the Socceroos' defence, Kewell joined a chorus of praise for recently injured Stoke City defender Souttar's aerial ability, along with former Socceroo Tommy Oar and SBS World Cup reporter Adrian Arciuli, for being a potential gateway to scoring against Australia's Group D opponents.
"Look, Souttar is fantastic. It's great that he's back, he's a big threat on set-pieces and I think set-pieces are going to be very important for us at this World Cup, because you can play a game of football and not get that much opportunity in possession," Kewell added.
"But we all know that in a game of football, you tend to get about maybe six to ten set-pieces in a game so they are going to be vital in defending and attacking. But someone like Harry can really put pressure on the opposition and if we can get the delivery right, it could be a way for us to score a goal."
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