2022 World Cup Odds

Australia will be present in Qatar for a 5th consecutive World Cup. That might suggest their qualification path is easy, but that really is not the case. They continually find a way to navigate the competitive AFC region and get to the finals.

Who is the Australia manager?

Manager Graham Arnold is not a particularly popular man among Socceroos fans; they are not a fan of his football or his team selections, but to an extent he is simply working with a limited pool.

He’s been haunted by injury issues in the build-up to this World Cup and, even when they’re all fit, he lacks game-changing forward options, so the focus falls on being hard to beat and horrid to play against.

What tactics can we expect from them at the World Cup?

He should set Australia up in a 4-2-3-1 formation that feels cagey and defensive, and pretty blocky through the central spine—but may run into serious problems, both offensively and defensively, on the flanks.

Throughout qualifying the Socceroos looked very susceptible to flank attacks, with the full-backs struggling to contain them, while the centre-backs are solid but slow. Expect a deep defensive block to be used to help protect them.

 

Who are the players to watch for Australia?

In the middle of midfield you’ll find Australia’s best fit player. It’s Aaron Mooy. Yeah, still Aaroy Mooy. Since departing the Premier League he’s played in China and is now at Celtic, where he’s coached by fellow Australian and former Socceroos manager Ange Postecoglu.

Anything good offensively will probably come through Mooy, who remains a clever passer with good vision and an eye for goal. 

Who is favourite to be top scorer for Australia?

That eye for goal is most welcome to Australia, who don’t really have a bonafide goalscorer or lead striker. It’s been this way since Tim Cahill retired.

During the early stages of AFC qualifying, Australia’s most potent goalscorers were their centre-backs, who towered over the opponents and scored from set pieces—Stoke defender Harry Souttar scored six in 10, all against Nepal, Chinese Taipei and Jordan.

But at the finals something else will be needed, so it’s a good job Ajdin Hrustic has been passed fit enough to take part; his touch of quality in front of goal could be massive for them.

How did Australia qualify for the World Cup?

Hrustic’s importance to this team is relatively fresh, discovered during the qualifying campaign for this tournament—a gruelling schedule that involved 18 total group games, an AFC playoff against the United Arab Emirates, then an intercontinental playoff vs. Peru.

They stunned the world by beating Peru, grinding through a 0-0 then advancing on penalties. Both playoffs were played in Qatar, so it will be interesting to see if that familiarity helps in any way.

What are the ambitions for this Australia team?

Tell you what will also feel familiar to Australia: their group opponents. They’ve landed in a group with France and Denmark AGAIN—they played both of them in 2018, giving this edition a real sense of deja vu.

And so, naturally, with two sides of that quality lumped in with them, plus a handy Tunisia team to contest with, expectations for Australia are on the floor.

Australia World Cup Odds

The odds reflect this too and you can get Australia at the best price of 700/1 to win the thing.

Any points at all, any goals at all, would be celebrated and appreciated, and no one should have them progressing beyond the groups.

Australia World Cup prediction from oddschecker

Given the difficult hand Australia have been dealt in the group stages their chances of qualification look very slim. With a lack of depth up front Australia will also have their hands full when trying to find the back of the net so the 14/1 available for them to be the lowest scoring team looks like a good angle in here.