Socceroos 2026 World Cup Squad Prediction

In January 2023, we did something bold, possibly unhinged, and entirely on-brand: we predicted Australia would reach the 2026 World Cup Final. Against Brazil. We named the XI. We posted it. Then September 2025 happened, two Achilles tendons happened, our strikeforce got injured, three players chose different countries, and here we are — 1 April 2026, ten weeks out, with a scorecard, a revised squad, and our dignity more or less intact.

⚠ Spoiler alert: we make t-shirts. Nobody here has played at a high level. Our lead illustrator scored a hat-trick once, against the Chaser Boys, and considers this his primary qualification. Our only coaching win was an over-35s tournament called the Mullet Cup. Take everything that follows with the appropriate grain of salt — then read it anyway, because we've done the research and we believe what we're saying.

Here is the thing about making football predictions in public: eventually, the future arrives. And the future, in our experience, has very little interest in what you posted on social media in early 2023.

That post below is ours. We made it. We put it on Twitter in February 2023 with the energy of people for whom the 2026 World Cup was still thirty-nine months away and therefore purely theoretical: Australia vs Brazil in the final. We named the starting XI. We gave Garang Kuol the number 8 shirt. We put Cristian Volpato at ten. We committed. In public. On the internet.

Then, in September 2025, we published a full revised squad — argued over, sent into the internet with the quiet confidence of people who had absolutely no idea what an Achilles tendon was about to do to their planning. Two of them, as it turned out.

So here we are: 1 April 2026. Ten weeks from the tournament. The day the entire concept of overconfidence is formally acknowledged by the calendar. We are publishing our final squad prediction today because it felt right to hold ourselves to account on the one day a year when that kind of thing is culturally permitted to be laughed at rather than quietly buried. First, the 2023 reckoning. Then the September update. Then what actually changed, and why. Then the squad.

In the original XI we named Joe Gauci in goal, Harry Souttar and Kye Rowles in a back three alongside Josh Rawlins, Jordan Bos as a wing-back, Keanu Baccus and Calem Nieuwenhof in midfield, Cristian Volpato at ten, and Nestory Irankunda leading the line with Garang Kuol and Alexander Robertson either side. The bench featured Alessandro Circati, Lewis Miller, Riley McGree, Mohamed Toure and Noah Botic among others. We predicted the final opponent as Brazil. Here is how all of that has aged.

We published a full 26 in September 2025. We named Harry Souttar and Lewis Miller as certainties. We named James Avery as a bolter with enormous upside. We named Craig Goodwin and Noah Botic in a forward line that felt considered and balanced, with Thomas Waddingham — fresh from Brisbane Roar to Portsmouth, debut goal already in the bank — as a name to watch. We were meticulous about it.

Then football rang us at 11pm with bad news about Achilles tendons. Then a hip. Then an ankle. Then a groin. Waddingham picked up a hip injury in September that derailed his entire 2025/26 season at Portsmouth. Botic fractured his ankle in training at Austria Wien in November — broken ankle, torn ligaments, surgery, six to nine months. And Goodwin, who returned to Adelaide United dreaming of one last World Cup, suffered a serious groin injury in February that has him racing to be fit by May. That is three forwards and two first-choice defenders gone before you even get to the paperwork that arrived from the Croatian and Italian football federations.

As this goes to press, the Socceroos have just completed their final home fixtures before departing for North America — two FIFA Series friendlies against Cameroon and Curaçao in Sydney and Melbourne. The headline from those games: Jordan Bos with a late winner against Cameroon, Irankunda the decisive influence when introduced as a substitute, Lucas Herrington reliable on debut. The result and the performances matter less than the selection signals — who Popovic used, how he set up, who he trusted with minutes when the squad spot is still being decided. We'll know more when the final 26 is named in late May.

This is not a new story. It has never been a new story. Tony Dorigo chose England. Christian Vieri chose Italy. Josip Šimunić, born in Canberra and raised in Australia, chose Croatia. Georgios Samaras, eligible through residency, chose Greece. Ki Sung-yueng chose South Korea. Players with dual heritage have always made choices based on where their heart sits, where they see the better path, where they feel the stronger connection. It is their right entirely, and always has been.

What makes this particular window feel different is the volume: three players in the same cycle. Nektarios Triantis, Cristian Volpato, and Adrian Segecic have each, in their own way and for their own reasons, chosen not to represent Australia. Triantis switched to Greece in August 2025 — born in Sydney to Greek parents, he debuted for the Ethniki in November, and has been excellent for Minnesota United in MLS. Volpato, who has been "open to the idea" of Australia for approximately four years, told Italian media in March that he is "waiting for Italy." Popovic flew to meet him in person. The answer was still no. And Segecic filed paperwork to represent Croatia in March 2026 — a decision that surprised Football Australia, came without warning, and was influenced by a personal call from Croatia Under-21 coach Ivica Olić.

None of this is something to be angry about. These are young people making decisions about identity and belonging that are genuinely complicated. What is worth noting is Popovic's consistent response to all three: "We're not selling the shirt. Someone has to want to represent their country." It is not a criticism of the players who chose elsewhere. It is a statement about the ones who chose here.

Which brings us, naturally, to Ante Suto. Born in Imotski, Croatia. Never lived in Australia. Eligible through his Melbourne-born father Anthony. Called up for the March camp, arrived having never previously set foot in Australia, and promptly said: "I know about the weather, I know about the spiders. I couldn't believe it at first." He got goosebumps. Martin Boyle and Jack Iredale, his Hibernian teammates, had been lobbying for him. His father, from Melbourne, was proud. The counterweight to every difficult story about who didn't choose green and gold is someone who did, fully and without reservation, from a standing start.

The right back position is thin. Jacob Italiano performed well in the warm-ups and has earned the starting role. But with Fran Karacic having foot problems and Lewis Miller nine months away, the cover is not deep. Which brings us to Jason Geria — he's not in our 26, but we wouldn't be surprised if Popovic finds room for him. He is 32, plays for Albirex Niigata in Japan's J2 League, and is a Popovic personal pick — Man of the Match against Japan during qualifying. He can cover right back and centre back. If the final squad announcement in May throws up any surprises, his name is one of the first we'd check.

We are also watching Samuel Silvera carefully — not just as a winger, but as cover at right back if Italiano struggles with injury or form. He has played that role before at Middlesbrough and can shift into midfield. This is exactly the kind of player who earns a World Cup spot not on individual brilliance but on the word "available."

Patrick Yazbek continues to do everything right at Nashville — regular starter, two assists, undefeated at the top of the conference. He faced Messi twice in a continental tie and came out on the right side. "Getting the better of him, finally, is a good feeling," he said recently, with the specific confidence of someone who has been preparing quietly for exactly this moment.

This was always the context that shaped the September 2025 selection, and it shapes this one too. The 2026 World Cup is in North America in June and July. Houston in June averages 34 degrees and humidity that turns a shirt into a second skin before kick-off. Los Angeles smogs. Mexico City sits at 2,240 metres above sea level, where lungs that aren't acclimatised will betray you in the 70th minute. The venues that matter most — the ones deep in the tournament — are not forgiving places.

Popovic understood this from the moment he took the job. His squads have always been physically demanding to play against — compact, high-intensity, relentless in their pressing. But in September 2025, we argued that this World Cup specifically demanded something more: youth, athleticism, and the physical capacity to run at full pace when it is 34 degrees and the legs of older bodies are starting to lie to their owners. That argument has only been reinforced by what's happened since. The players who came in — Herrington, Italiano, Bennie, Jovanovic, Suto — are all in their early twenties. The squad that board the plane in May will be one of the youngest Australia has taken to a World Cup. In the heat of North America, that may be the single most important thing about it.

Popovic's shape — a pragmatic 3-4-3 that narrows into a back five when needed — asks the wing-backs to cover the width of the pitch in both directions. It demands midfielders who can press and recover. It requires forwards who can run channels for ninety minutes in temperatures that would politely suggest you don't. This is a squad selected with that furnace in mind. It is not built to dazzle. It is built to still be running at the final whistle when the opposition has stopped.

• Mathew RyanLevante (Spain)
• Paul IzzoRanders (Denmark)
• Patrick BeachMelbourne City (Australia)

• Alessandro CircatiParma (Italy)
• Cameron BurgessSwansea City (Wales)
• Miloš DegenekAPOEL (Cyprus)
• Jordan BosFeyenoord (Netherlands)
• Aziz BehichMelbourne City (Australia)
• Lucas HerringtonColorado Rapids (USA)New
• Jacob ItalianoGrazer AK (Austria)New
• Samuel SilveraMiddlesbrough (England)New

• Jackson IrvineFC St Pauli — Bundesliga (Germany)
• Connor MetcalfeFC St Pauli — Bundesliga (Germany)
• Riley McGreeMiddlesbrough (England)
• Ajdin HrusticHeracles Almelo (Netherlands)
• Aiden O'NeillNew York City FC (USA)
• Max BalardNAC Breda (Netherlands)
• Alexander RobertsonCardiff City (England)Club updated
• Patrick YazbekNashville SC (USA)
• Paul Okon-EngstlerSydney FC (Australia)

• Nestory IrankundaWatford (England)Club updated
• Mohamed ToureNorwich City (England)Club updated
• Nishan VelupillayMelbourne Victory (Australia)
• Ante SutoHibernian (Scotland)New
• Daniel BennieQueens Park Rangers (England)New
• Luka JovanovicAdelaide United (Australia)New

Before the list of omissions, the acknowledgements. Some of these absences are not just selection decisions — they are the end of World Cup stories.

Mathew Leckie scored one of the great Australian goals against Denmark in 2022. He ran half the length of the pitch, kept his nerve, and put Australia into the last sixteen of a World Cup for the first time in sixteen years. He won't be in North America. His body, which has given everything across a career spanning four continents, has finally asked for something in return. The door is not slammed, but it is very nearly closed, and what he gave this country in football deserves to be said out loud.

Massimo Luongo was one of the old guard. A consummate professional. His ACL injury ended any hope of a last dance. He deserved better. That is all there is to say.

Craig Goodwin scored the opening goal of Australia's 2022 World Cup campaign. He has given more to the Socceroos and to Adelaide United than most players give to a single club in their entire career. The groin injury that struck in February was cruel in its timing. He returns to fitness in early May — just weeks before the tournament begins. Whether there is enough time to make a case to Popovic is the last question of his international career, and it is not yet answered.

Lewis Miller locked down the right back position with authority and scored twice in qualifying. He is twenty-five years old and will be back. But not this summer. "Simply no words. Cruel world we live in," he wrote on Instagram. We know, Lewis. We know.

Martin Boyle is perhaps the unluckiest of all. The winger's form has been decent and his desire to represent Australia has never wavered. His body, as ever, had other ideas. He has spent as much of his career managing injuries as playing through them, and the persistence with which he keeps coming back says everything about who he is.

And then the young ones — Noah Botic, whose broken ankle in training ended a season that was supposed to be his breakthrough. Thomas Waddingham, who crossed from Brisbane to Portsmouth with such promise and barely had time to settle before the hip injury took the season from him. Both are twenty or younger. Both will be back. The wait, for now, is the hardest part.

Every World Cup squad is also a list of omissions. These are the players in contention who didn't make our 26 — through injury, form, or the brutal arithmetic of a 26-man limit.

• Joe GauciPort Vale (England)
• Tom GloverUnattached

• Harry SouttarLeicester City (England)Injured
• Lewis MillerBlackburn Rovers (England)Injured
• Kye RowlesD.C. United (USA)
• James AveryManchester United (England)
• Fran KaračićNK Osijek (Croatia)
• Jack IredaleHibernian (Scotland)
• Hayden MatthewsPortsmouth (England)
• Kai TrewinNew York City FC (USA)
• Gianni StensnessViking (Norway)

• Calem NieuwenhofHearts (Scotland)Injured
• Massimo LuongoMillwall (England)Injured
• Keanu BaccusSt Mirren (Scotland)
• Cameron DevlinHearts (Scotland)
• Luke BrattanMacarthur FC (Australia)

• Noah BoticAustria Wien (Austria)Injured
• Craig GoodwinAdelaide United (Australia)Injured
• Thomas WaddinghamPortsmouth (England)Injured
• Adrian SegecicPortsmouth (England)Chose Croatia
• Mathew LeckieMelbourne City (Australia)
• Martin BoyleHibernian (Scotland)
• Kusini YengiPortsmouth (England)
• Mitch DukeMacarthur FC (Australia)
• Adam TaggartPerth Glory (Australia)
• Nicholas D'AgostinoUnattached
• Brandon BorrelloWestern Sydney Wanderers (Australia)
• Daniel ArzaniFerencváros (Hungary)