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FIFA Series Australia (March 2026)

grazorblade said:
not bad

hopefully souttar is back by then

should try our luck with chipperfield, volpato and arena
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As long as Souttar is getting full or near full games in April and May he will be in the squad.

As for the others why not. They won't be picked for Switzerland or Italy in March. If they come in it won't lock them in but it might help long term.

Assume Italy lose in March and don't qualify - they still have Nations League to look forward to. Then assume they win. They make the World Cup. Volpato and Arena are well down the list for Italy. If Italy go their stars keep Volpato and Arena well down and the emerging stars are cemented blocking their path.

Playing for the Azzurri may be the dream - but not playing for them may be the thing that pushes them in our direction.
 
patjennings said:
As long as Souttar is getting full or near full games in April and May he will be in the squad.

As for the others why not. They won't be picked for Switzerland or Italy in March. If they come in it won't lock them in but it might help long term.

Assume Italy lose in March and don't qualify - they still have Nations League to look forward to. Then assume they win. They make the World Cup. Volpato and Arena are well down the list for Italy. If Italy go their stars keep Volpato and Arena well down and the emerging stars are cemented blocking their path.

Playing for the Azzurri may be the dream - but not playing for them may be the thing that pushes them in our direction.
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How long does it take for a Change of Association request to be approved? Genuine question because I don't know. But if we want (as you and Grazor have suggested) 1, 2 or all 3 of those guys to play for us in the FIFA Series, then they have to request to change their sporting nationality to Australia. And the clock is ticking on that.

And yes, I do realize that the FIFA Series games are Friendlies, and that Friendlies don't count at all in tying a player to a sporting nationality. But those 3 guys are already tied to other nations so they need to change sporting nationality to allow them to play for Australia in any game, even Friendlies.

And of course, once they change sporting nationality to Australia, they are tied permanently to Australia. Because it is a once-only option. So if they have any ambitions to play for Switzerland/Italy at some time in the future, they'd be crazy to change sporting nationality for this FIFA Series of Friendlies.

If they do change sporting nationality and play in the FIFA Series, they would retain the option to reverse the Change of Association but only if they never play for Australia in an official or non-official competition. If that happens and they do see themselves possibly playing for Switzerland/Italy and they successfully reverse their Change of Association to Australia, then that is their very last option. They will be permanently tied to Switzerland/Italy with no way to come back to play for Australia.

That's how I see the situation re inviting those guys to play for Australia in the FIFA Series in March. I'm happy to stand corrected if anyone wants to examine the FIFA Rules (Articles 5 and 9 are the most relevant) and can find anything contrary there.
 
Bruce Ramsay said:
How long does it take for a Change of Association request to be approved?
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Depends. Ask Kayla Morrison. She's been trying for years (she's American but has now got Australian citizenship and has tried to switch to Australia, plays for Melbourne Victory where she's regarded as a club legend).
 
The March window, even if it is a friendly window, is the last before the World Cup squad gets picked. The time for experimentation with semi committed players has passed. Only people who are serious World Cup Squad contenders should be picked for March IMO. There is a 4 match friendly window after the World Cup and if some of those players decide to commit before then and are available for the Asian Cup thats the time they can get a chance.
 
Alex M said:
The March window, even if it is a friendly window, is the last before the World Cup squad gets picked. The time for experimentation with semi committed players has passed. Only people who are serious World Cup Squad contenders should be picked for March IMO. There is a 4 match friendly window after the World Cup and if some of those players decide to commit before then and are available for the Asian Cup thats the time they can get a chance.
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We do have enough serious World Cup Squad contenders, a lot of them injured. We also have a lot of pretenders. I don't need to see Arzani, Teague, Daggers to know what they can do. To my mind - not enough. Without continued injuries they are not in the squad for June. Playing them in March does nothing. Why not bring the others in? I don't expect them to be there in June - but with a spate of retirements likely after the World Cup or at latest the early 2027 Asian Cup that may quickly change.
 
socceroosmad said:
I reckon the time is up for trialling new caps. Time now to build cohesion and work on tactics with the talent we have. Would love to regain one of our most prolific sources of goals: a Goodwin cross straight on to Harry's head.
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thats possible

I'm not 100% sure what our best 23 is yet though. I guess the question is whether poppa knows!
 
patjennings said:
We do have enough serious World Cup Squad contenders, a lot of them injured. We also have a lot of pretenders. I don't need to see Arzani, Teague, Daggers to know what they can do. To my mind - not enough. Without continued injuries they are not in the squad for June. Playing them in March does nothing. Why not bring the others in? I don't expect them to be there in June - but with a spate of retirements likely after the World Cup or at latest the early 2027 Asian Cup that may quickly change.
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We shouldn't bring the others in because this is World Cup preparation. They had their chance to make themselves available but haven't. I would be surprised to see the people you mentioned in the squad (maybe Teague will scrape in), but then I'm not picking them.
 
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