Comeback kid Circati back in Socceroos squad
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has named fit-again defender Alessandro Circati as part of his extended 26-man squad for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Australia (13 points) sit third in the qualifying group and will round out their campaign against Japan in Perth on Thursday and third-placed Saudi Arabia (10 points) in Jeddah the following Tuesday.
The top two in the group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and Australia can guarantee their place if they beat Japan.
Classy central defender Circati ruptured his ACL last September, but has made a remarkable return for Serie A club Parma.
A large portion of Popovic's squad arrived in Perth direct from a training camp in the United Arab Emirates - which featured players free from their respective club duties.
Circati is joined by fellow West Australians, Cameron Burgess (Ipswich Town) and Adam Taggart (Perth Glory).
Riley McGree (Middlesbrough) and Connor Metcalfe (St Pauli) have also been selected, making their long-awaited returns from injury.
Aziz Behich will arrive in Perth fresh from lifting the A-League Men championship trophy, following Melbourne City's 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory.
Victory defender Kasey Bos, younger brother of injured left-back Jordy, earns his first Socceroos call up.
He is one of six players that will arrive into camp direct from the grand final, including teammates Daniel Arzani and Ryan Teague.
Injuries have scuppered the hopes of Mathew Leckie and Nishan Velupillay while Jackson Irvine was already ruled out.
Paul Okon-Engstler (Benfica) – son of Socceroos great and assistant coach Paul Okon – also earns his first call up to the senior national team, after impressing during his time in Abu Dhabi.
Okon-Engstler was most recently an integral part of Australia's successful AFC U20 Asian Cup campaign.
But Johnny Warren Medallist Nicolas Milanovic was overlooked, along with Kusini Yengi, while Craig Goodwin and defensive midfielders Nectar Triantis and Max Balard are also missing.
"We've put ourselves in a good position within the group to be in control of our destiny," Popovic said.
"We are ready to embrace this challenge with great respect of our opponents, though full of belief and confidence to achieve our goal of automatic qualification.
"We've had the opportunity to work with a large group of these players in a training camp in Abu Dhabi, which has been extremely beneficial both on and off the pitch."
SOCCEROOS SQUAD:
Daniel Arzani, Aziz Behich, Brandon Borrello, Kasey Bos, Martin Boyle, Cameron Burgess, Anthony Caceres, Alessandro Circati, Milos Degenek, Mitchell Duke, Joe Gauci, Jason Geria, Paul Izzo, Riley McGree, Connor Metcalfe, Lewis Miller, Paul Okon-Engstler, Aiden O'Neill, Kye Rowles, Mat Ryan, Mohamed Toure, Adam Taggart, Ryan Teague, Marco Tilio, Kai Trewin, Patrick Yazbek.
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We went out, we took it goal by goal. We weren't too worked up. The first one led to the second, and then the second led to the third, and then there you go. It's probably the best comeback I've actually been a part of in my life in football. I've never come back from 2-0 down and won 3-2. Big satisfaction.' His deployment was a vote of major confidence from manager Cristian Chivu, who replaced Fabio Pecchia – the coach who oversaw Circati's first-team integration as they won Serie B last season – in February. 'When the coach changed, obviously, it gives you a bit of self-doubt,' Circati said. 'He doesn't know who you are, I'm out until the back end of the season … but hats off to Chivu because he knew who I was, he watched previous games, and he welcomed me with two arms open.' Pecchia had handed Circati a start in Parma's first four games of the season, before he went down with the ACL – the highlight of which was a 2-1 win at home over another Italian giant, AC Milan. That's the team his family supports. 'I had my uncle in the grandstand with an AC Milan scarf on,' he said. 'I flipped him off. When the final whistle blew, it was one of my happiest moments to this day. Huge sense of relief, where we can belong – we belong in that league.' The Socceroos also changed coach during Circati's injury lay-off, but to one he was familiar with: Tony Popovic (and his assistant Hayden Foxe) was at Perth Glory when he was a youth player before he departed for Italy. Popovic's initial plan was to leave him out for this squad – Circati would have checked into camp anyway and watched the Japan game from the stands on his off-season trip home – but given how good he looked for Parma, it was a no-brainer to bring him in and stiffen up his back three, which is weakened in the absence of Harry Souttar and Hayden Matthews through injury. There is huge transfer interest in Circati from Juventus and Napoli, as well as clubs in the English Premier League, but he is happy at Parma, and happier still that he is such a big part of their plans. 'It's better to be wanted than unwanted,' he said. 'Obviously, it's great hearing big clubs want you, and that Parma aren't really willing to sell you, the president doesn't want to sell. It's a good situation, you feel like you're wanted. This season coming, I can almost say I'll be 100 per cent playing at Parma because I just think that's the right decision to do at this point, just to be able to play a whole season. Loading 'My dream was to play in Serie A, but I don't feel like I've done it yet. I want to play a whole season, lots of games, enjoy it. For me, it was even a bigger motivator to stay up.' But that's for next season. Top of his footballing bucket list right now is to help the Socceroos get to the 2026 World Cup, and then play a big role in it. 'It's that simple,' he said. 'It's a big ambition, a big dream, but that is my goal.' Circati watched every game of the last World Cup in Qatar and was blown away by not only Australia's campaign, but what it did for the country. 'You breathe a different air, watching the World Cup,' he said. 'Wherever you are, it's a different environment, an event that brings everyone together – a whole nation, many nations together. It's amazing vibes. And I'm very proud of them, what they did. It's the best a Socceroos team has done to this day.'
