Australia head coach Graham Arnold says his line-up for Sunday’s match against New Zealand at Eden Park will be dominated by the youngsters in his squad.
Arnold has confirmed he’ll make wholesale changes from the side that beat New Zealand 1-0 in Brisbane, and he will reduce his playing squad from 31 to 20.
He says he will bring only two goalkeepers to Auckland and give opportunities to the young players, and all but one of the starting side from Thursday night will cross the Tasman.
He told a media conference: “Now it’s for the kids.”
As many as seven players could make their debuts for Australia, of those who did not get game time at Suncorp Stadium.
“The young boys you can see there’s a lot of energy and they’re desperate to get on that pitch and I’m looking forward to see how they go,” he said.
“A lot of them I had with the Olyroos and I know them obviously well and a lot of them are playing a lot of football overseas.
“They arrived late a good number of them, the ones that weren’t on the list and they’ll recover over the next day or so and we’ll train them hard Friday and then we fly out Saturday to play Sunday.”
Opportunity for two All Whites debuts
Two members of the New Zealand squad might get senior debuts at Eden Park.
Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and San Diego Loyal defender Kyle Adams are in the All Whites squad but did not feature in Brisbane.
Veteran Winston Reid, rested for the Brisbane game, will earn his 33rd cap when he makes his final appearance for New Zealand before his retirement from international football.
Match highlights
Game 1: Australia 1, New Zealand 0
READ MORE: Socceroos scrape home in Brisbane >>>>
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