Teenage striker Garang Kuol, who recently signed for Newcastle United, was included Tuesday in Australia’s squad for the World Cup, but influential midfielder Tom Rogic missed out.

Japan-based striker Adam Taggart — who has scored six goals in 16 Socceroos appearances — was another surprise omission despite being a stalwart of their qualifying campaign.

That opened the door to the Central Coast Mariners’ Kuol, who makes the switch to St James’ Park in January.

Kuol, 18, made his international debut for Australia against New Zealand in September, becoming the youngest Socceroo since Harry Kewell in 1996.

But he has yet to start a game for his A-League side, with Arnold likely to use him as an impact player off the bench.

Click here for full story

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.