Australia's projected World Cup starting XI has a connection to England's Raheem Sterling
It's a small world as soccer nations get together.
Australia's projected World Cup starting XI has a connection to England's Raheem Sterling originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Australia has a formidable soccer identity, and heading into a 2026 World Cup in which they'll be part of the same group as the host United States, the Socceroos will need it.
"They tend to keep things simple at a World Cup and are very comfortable settling into Australian sport's preferred role of underdog and play on the counter," ESPN Australia's Joey Lynch wrote in a new roster projection on Wednesday . "One only needs to look at what happened in Qatar -- when they stunned Denmark to reach the round of 16 before pushing Argentina all the way -- to see how they can leverage a backs-to-the-wall mentality and their game-breaking individual talents to spring surprises. " Their projected starting XI put together by Lynch in the aforementioned article has a lot of familiar names.
One of the newer guys, though, is the youngster Jordan Bos -- and he's got a fascinating connection to former England star Raheem Sterling. Bos is 23 years old and plays on the left side of the pitch -- with Lynch projecting him for a wingback role in Australia's World Cup starting eleven. His club football is where Sterling comes into play.
Bos suits up for Feyenoord in the Dutch Eredivisie. Nominally, Bos is a left back, a defensive player. But late in the season in the Netherlands, he was starting as the Feyenoord left winger en route to a second-place finish.