The Socceroos must overcome a staggering billion-dollar gap in talent if they are to shock the world and stop reigning champions France at the World Cup.
But the figures will mean little to Graham Arnold‘s men, who have arrived in Qatar vowing to “not be scared” and ready to unleash their ‘boxing kangaroos’ spirit against some of the best players on the planet.
Football is decided on the pitch, not the team sheet, but a value analysis of the World Cup squads highlights the enormity of the task facing Australia in their opener next Wednesday (AEDT).
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The France squad, according to transfermarkt.com, has a eye-watering total value of 1.08 billion Euros ($A1.66 billion) – more than a billion dollars more than the Socceroos, which totals 38.4 million Euros ($A59m)
Didier Deschamps‘ squad is headlined by $246m star Kylian Mbappe and, incredibly, has 11 players with higher individual transfer values than the entire Socceroos squad combined.
But asked about the prospect of sharing the pitch with the likes of Mbappe, Karim Benzema and Real Madrid young gun Aurélien Tchouameni, Socceroos star Thomas Deng and Mitch Duke beamed with delight in Doha on Monday.
“We always dream of playing against these guys, watching the Champions League and watching the European leagues. You know, always wondering how it would be to come up against them and to have the opportunity now, I‘m just excited to see what will happen,” Deng said.
“It‘s going be a tough game playing the defending champions, but for us, as long as we focus on what we do best and we have full confidence in ourselves and we believe in our game plan, I think anything’s possible.”
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Striker Mitch Duke shares the sentiment, clearly embodying the fighting mentality Arnold has been trying to instil in the squad.
“I‘m a true blue Aussie. I feel like the Aussie mentality is that not back down mentality. That we can beat anyone on our day and not to be scared,” Duke said.
“It doesn‘t matter who they are. They’re 11 players against 11 players and that’s the mentality I think we got to have and not get starstruck.
“Obviously we know some of the names in that France national team, but at the end of the day they‘re human. It’s 11 v 11 and that Aussie mentality, that Aussie spirit … I reckon we can do a job.”
Australia‘s squad value is also dwarfed by Denmark ($A542m) and even Tunisia ($A96m) in a reminder of just how hard it will be for the Socceroos to escape Group D.
Mat Ryan ($A7.7m), Harry Souttar ($A6.9m) and Aaron Mooy ($A6.1m) are rated Australia‘s most expensive players, though the site has likely undervalued Newcastle United-bound rising star Garang Kuol at 800,000 euros ($A1.2m).
The 19-year-old star boarded his plane bound for Qatar just hours after another scintillating A-League performance – scoring twice off the bench for Central Coast on Sunday — to raise hopes he could be a breakout star of he tournament.
“He‘s that X factor. He’s an excitement machine,” former Mariners star Duke – now with Fagiano Okayama in the J2 League – said.
“ … To see some of the stuff he‘s doing at the moment, at such a young age … I know he has not started a game, but he’s performing off the bench and that’s all you can ask of him.
“When he plays, he does a job. So for us against the teams that we are playing against, to have that X factor I think is a huge plus. And he can definitely flip a game on his head … that‘s gonna be massive for us.”
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