Western Australian pair Adam Taggart and Trent Sainsbury dumped from Socceroos squad for World Cup in Qatar

There will be no West Australians in the Socceroos’ FIFA World Cup squad after defender Trent Sainsbury and striker Adam Taggart were shockingly omitted from Australia’s squad for Qatar. Both Taggart and Sainsbury will be watching the tournament from home after they were sensationally axed by coach Graham Arnold, despite both being regular starters in qualifying. Sainsbury, who has captained the team in the past, and Taggart were both expected to be part of the squad, but Arnold’s decision means there will be no West Australians playing at the World Cup for the first time since 2002 - the last time the Socceroos missed the showpiece event. Speaking from Qatar, Arnold said the decision to leave both Sainsbury - his son-in-law - and Taggart out of the squad was tough, but ultimately “I spoke to Trent about where he’s at at this moment in time, he hasn’t played for a number of weeks. “But overall, I’ve gone for players like Harry Souttar and Kye Rowles who have done exceptionally well and continue to do exceptionally well. Trent was very understanding of the situation.” “(Taggart) was one of the last phone calls I had to make. It was a decision that we decided to go for three number nines. “Adam has obviously done a lot for the Socceroos in the past and again, it was just one of those decisions that that I’ve made and I truly believe in those three nines that we’ve got in (Mitchell) Duke, (Jamie) Maclaren and (Jason) Cummings and it’s one of those 50-50 calls.” Sainsbury, one of the Socceroos’ best players in Russia in 2018, is based in Qatar, but hasn’t played in two months after the league went on break. Taggart, who played for the Socceroos at the 2014 World Cup, has scored just five goals in 20 appearances for J-League side Cerezo Osaka this season and was overlooked in favour of Mitchell Duke, Jamie Maclaren and Jason Cummings. He managed 61 minutes in the Socceroos’ last home game against New Zealand, but has struggled for minutes at club level and did not even make the bench for Cerezo on the weekend. Teenage sensation Garang Kuol will travel to Qatar despite never starting a game in professional football before, while another wunderkind - Cristian Volpato - turned down the chance to play for the Socceroos at the World Cup. Arnold said he spoke to Volpato, the AS Roma starlet who was born and raised in Australia but could yet represent Italy at international level, three times on Monday, but the teenager declined the offer. “I pretty much told him yesterday that he was in 26-man squad, he wanted to go away and think about it, wanted to speak to the people around him that helped guide his career,” Arnold said. “He came back last night and declined the offer to come in play for Australia the World Cup, so that’s his decision at the end of the day. “He feels at this time of his career, that it’s such a massive decision and at this moment in time he doesn’t want to make that massive decision, which is all his right.” Deputy goal-keeper Mitch Langerak has also been left out despite the Japanese-based custodian recently returning from national team hiatus, in favour of qualifying penalty hero Andrew Redmayne and former Perth Glory stopper Danny Vukovic. Tom Rogic did not do enough to win back his spot in the side after sitting out the final phase of qualification in June due to personal reasons. The Socceroos open their campaign against France on Wednesday November 23 at 3am WST, before tackling Tunisia on Saturday November 26 and facing Denmark in their final group game on Wednesday November 30. Socceroos Squad for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Nathaniel ATKINSON, Heart of Midlothian, Scotland Keanu BACCUS, St Mirren, Scotland Aziz BEHICH, Dundee United, Scotland Martin BOYLE, Hibernian FC, Scotland Jason CUMMINGS, Central Coast Mariners, Australia Milos DEGENEK, Columbus Crew, USA Thomas DENG, Albirex Niigata, Japan Cameron DEVLIN, Heart of Midlothian, Scotland Mitchell DUKE, Fagiano Okayama, Japan Craig GOODWIN, Adelaide United, Australia Ajdin HRUSTIC, Hellas Verona FC, Italy Jackson IRVINE, FC St. Pauli, Germany Fran KARACIC, Brescia Calcio, Italy Joel KING, Odense Boldklub, Denmark Garang KUOL, Central Coast Mariners, Australia Mathew LECKIE, Melbourne City FC, Australia Awer MABIL, Cadiz CF, Spain Jamie MACLAREN, Melbourne City FC, Australia Riley MCGREE, Middlesbrough FC, England Aaron MOOY, Celtic FC, Scotland Andrew REDMAYNE (Gk), Sydney FC, Australia Kye ROWLES, Heart of Midlothian, Scotland Mathew RYAN (Gk) (Cpt), FC Copenhagen, Denmark Harry SOUTTAR, Stoke City, England Danny VUKOVIC (Gk), Central Coast Mariners, Australia Bailey WRIGHT, Sunderland AFC, England