Former Socceroo Robbie Slater has named his starting XI for Australia’s AFC Asian Cup opener against India in Qatar.
The Socceroos take on the Indian team in Al Rayyan from 10:30pm AEDT on Saturday night in their first Group B fixture.
Slater believes Mat Ryan will return in goals after missing the recent Bahrain friendly after suffering a fractured cheekbone at training with Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in December.
He’s also expecting Aziz Behich to get the nod at left-back over Jordy Bos and believes attacker Martin Boyle will return to Graham Arnold’s starting line-up.
“This is the XI I’ve got a feeling (Arnold will select) and it will be pretty right, maybe one or two differences,” Slater said on SEN 1170’s The Run Home.
Slater’s Socceroos XI v India:
GK - Mat Ryan
RB - Lewis Miller
CB - Cameron Burgess
CB - Harry Souttar
LB - Aziz Behich
M - Jackson Irvine
M - Connor Metcalfe
M - Aiden O’Neill
RW - Martin Boyle
ST - Mitch Duke
LW - Craig Goodwin
Slater is expecting a comfortable victory for the Socceroos against a side that is ranked 102nd in the world by FIFA.
“The opposition isn’t very good to be honest, and that’s no disrespect, but they’re well below our level,” he added.
“They’ll sit back trying to hit us on the counter-attack. We’ll have all the ball and it’s a question of how many goals we score in the group games, I believe.”
Following the India match, the Socceroos meet Syria on January 18 and Uzbekistan on January 23.
The Socceroos won the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia with Ange Postecoglou at the helm.
