Socceroos set for swift coach replacement
Former A-League championship-winning coach Kevin Muscat has been mooted among five contenders to replace departed Socceroos coach Graham Arnold with a full-time appointment set to be made before next month’s must-win World Cup qualifiers against China and Japan.
Football Australia chief executive James Johnson on Friday said he was confident of making an appointment in the “next week or two” to succeed 61-year-old Arnold, who, after six years in charge shocked the football fraternity by resigning on Friday.
It came in the aftermath of a poor start to the latest round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers and before the Socceroos go into camp for next month’s international window.
Johnson said FA had been prepared for a “tired” and “out of gas” Arnold’s decision and had already started the process of finding his replacement, with Australian and foreign candidates being considered.
Muscat’s named has been mentioned as a possible target but he would have to lured away from his lucrative job as coach of Shanghai Port, who he has guided to the top of the Chinese Super League in his first season in charge.
Other names being floated included former Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers boss Tony Popovic, A-League championship-winning mentors John Aloisi and Nick Montgomery, and Frenchman Herve Renard, who coached Saudi Arabia at the FIFA 2022 World Cup.
“We are already in the market for a new coach,” Johnson said.
“We know the market, we know who’s available and I want to confirm that we will move quickly to appointing a permanent coach before the next window.”
Johnson said the Socceroos – who host China in Adelaide on October 10 before travelling to Saitama to meet Japan five days later – were in a different situation to the Matildas, who this week were given an interim replacement for previous coach Tony Gustavsson in Tom Sermanni.
“The Matildas are at the start of a cycle. We have time with the Matildas. We don’t have another competitive match until the women’s Asian Cup in 2026, so we want to make sure that we get the right person in at the right time,” he said.
“The Socceroos are mid-calendar. They are two games into 10 round three (qualifying) matches. We need to move quickly. We need to get into fifth gear.
“(The Socceroos) have a match in less than three weeks time (against China in Adelaide), so our plan is not to appoint an interim coach.
“Our plan is to go into the market and appoint a permanent coach, a coach that we believe shares our vision and will get the best out of this team going into the World Cup in 2026.
“We want a coach that’s tactically astute. We want a coach that understands the Australian mentality and understands our players. We want a coach that we have confidence in that can guide us through a complicated Asian qualifying process (for the World Cup).
“We’re very confident that we will go through. We’ve just got to get this appointment right.”
