Socceroos

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says he's in the dark as to whether he'll coach Australia after the World...

I'm watching their roles and their performances," Arnold said. "We've got some good kids. I want more." They've got to want me to stay." "It's up to them, up to the organisation. But it's not enough for me.

Jason Cummings scored on his Australia bow and Garang Kuol became their youngest debutant since 1996 in the Socceroos' final match before Qatar.

Because Qatar has a short lead-in of only seven days, the boys have to go back to their clubs for seven weeks and they've got to play And they've got to be fit. I got a good 30 minutes, the ball fell to me and I caught it well and the boy handballed it so I was fuming. It's been a good camp, the boys have been class and I just wanted to get on the pitch. I was just chomping at the bit to try and get on over the camp. Nine of the starters that took the field in Brisbane, as well as striker [Jamie Maclaren](https://www.espn.com.au/football/player/_/id/187777/Jamie-Maclaren), were given leave to return to their clubs before the fixture by Arnold, with [Milos Degenek](https://www.espn.com.au/football/player/_/id/159502/Milos-Degenek) and [Martin Boyle](https://www.espn.com.au/football/player/_/id/139748/Martin-Boyle) unused subs on the bench. Able to play at right-back as well as the centre of defence and entering his prime at 25 years old, he's done his World Cup case no harm. Maybe it's because he simply hasn't been a part of a professional setup long enough to have it coached out of him, but Kuol's positive and fearless mindset was on full display with his first touches against the Kiwis: his driving run forward setting up the move that eventually led to Cummings winning a penalty he would convert. Of course, the continued foibles with the ball also don't bode well for when the Australians come up against a team like [Tunisia](/football/team?id=659), which many of their fans have circled as their most likely path to points -- or at least a goal -- in [Qatar](/football/team?id=4398). Arnold has different tools and approaches at his disposal in Qatar, but their deployment, if form from fixtures against [Japan](/football/team?id=627) and [Saudi Arabia](/football/team?id=655) holds, will almost certainly be conditioned by opposition, regardless of what is shown in hitouts like Sunday's second half. However, much in the same way that the positions the Australian midfield was losing the ball in during the first half opened up opportunities for the Kiwis to look threatening, the inverse took place after the break. Or would the 180 minutes have been better served to give the young and fringe players a greater run at impressing? Would the limited minutes on offer before the World Cup have been better used to try to nail down chemistry and cohesion for the starting XI?

Australia and New Zealand square off in another international friendly for the second time in three days. The match, which kicks-off at 1pm (AEST), ...

But be sure to check your local listings. The match will be shown live on Network 10 and streamed via both 10 Play and Paramount+. The match against New Zealand will be broadcast live and free on Australia's 'Home of Football,' Network Ten.