Australia

Graham Arnold Socceroos speculation is a mess partly of Football Australia’s making | Joey Lynch

04-Apr-2022 17:30:44 | Guardian

FA spoke of the need for a ‘stable environment’ and level of ‘certainty’ – after a week of disruptive conjecture

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold is not on social media. It is something he is quite proud of, saying back in January: “I don’t even know how to turn it on”. But if the 58-year-old was on Facebook, it is fair to say his relationship with Football Australia would be set to “it’s complicated”.

Last Thursday the federation sought to wrest back control of a rapidly spiralling narrative surrounding its coach’s future when it confirmed, despite speculation to the contrary, that Arnold would see out his contract to the end of the 2022 World Cup cycle. The next – and potentially final – step of that cycle will come in June when Australia’s men face the United Arab Emirates in a do-or-die one-off playoff in Qatar. The winner of that game will then play South American nation Peru for the right to join France, Tunisia and Denmark in Group D in the finals.