AUSTRALIA

One of Australia’s quiet achievers, the Melbourne City academy product initially burst on to the scene and captained the club when aged only 22 before making the move abroad. Metcalfe joined national team leader Jackson Irvine at St Pauli in 2022 and was key to the club’s promotion in his second season in Germany. A technical and tenacious midfielder, Metcalfe presses aggressively, is deceptively strong in a tackle and increasingly confident in dictating the tempo with the ball. But he is more likely to let his football do the talking, while letting teammates like Irvine instead fit in with their club’s social conscience. “It's pretty cool, all punk rock and that,” Metcalfe has said about playing for St Pauli. “I'm not punk rock one bit. I’m basic. Basic as. Short back and sides, that’s what we can call it.”

Irankunda “couldn’t stop smiling” when he scored his first Socceroos goal in 2024. His young shoulders bear a weight no other Socceroos player can know – unhesitatingly hefted upon him by the Australian media the moment he started finding the back of the net for Adelaide United as a 15-year-old in 2022. The former national coach Graham Arnold sought to shield him from the expectations associated with the label of “most exciting young Australian footballer ever”, but the winger’s confidence and skill with the ball at his feet and his eye for a spectacular goal have made it impossible to dampen the excitement. After a record-breaking move from the A-League to Bayern Munich in late 2024, Irankunda then signed with Watford in July 2025, scoring his first goal a month later from a free-kick outside the area in the very style that earned him the weighty tag to begin with. Tony Popovic has a star in his hands – and his challenge is to help it shine at a World Cup.

A former softball player, the 22-year-old Sydneysider was a defender until he reached the Under-14 level, when he asked to make the switch to between the posts. Starting in the NSW development programme at Mount Druitt Town Rangers, Beach headed overseas to trial at teams in Northern Ireland and Ireland before a final trial at Premier League-bound Ipswich Town. Eventually signing with the Central Coast Mariners in 2023, it wasn't until he was picked up by Melbourne City in 2024 that he made his A-League debut. Within 12 months he was an A-League champion. In March of 2025, he earned a first call up to Socceroos camp before later that year making his debut against Venezuela - earning man-of-the-match honours at the first time of asking.

“You’ve got to love Souttar. You’ve got to absolutely love him.” So said commentator Pat Nevin after a particularly impressive outing from the towering centre-back in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Denmark at the 2022 World Cup. Many agree with Nevin and it’s easy to understand why Souttar became an instant fan favourite after making his debut for Australia in 2019. Two goals in that game against Nepal were followed by another two in his second full international v Chinese Taipei (remarkably he has a total of 11 in 36 games at the time of writing). But it is not just his goal threat that has observers purring – a no-nonsense, body-on-the-line playing style made him a regular starter under previous coach Graham Arnold, before an achilles injury disrupted his preparations for North America. Born in Aberdeen, he qualifies for the Socceroos through his West Australia-born mother and, at two meters, he has the distinction of being the tallest outfield player to have played for Australia. Only goalkeeper Zeljco Kalac has been taller.