Chief football writer at the Herald Sun, Dave Davutovic has flagged in-form Melbourne Victory midfielder, Terry Antonis as the replacement for the injured Aaron Mooy.
Speaking on Evenings on FNR with Louise Taffa and Athos Sirianos, Davutovic believes that his recent spike in form could very well send him to the Asian Cup in January.
“Terry Antonis is an interesting one because his form has been absolutely superb,” Davutovic said.
“He wasn’t in the first 23 but with this injury to Aaron Mooy, he comes right into the mix.”
The three-time capped Socceroos midfielder has scored three goals and had three assists to start the season and has thrown his name in the ringer for a late push towards a recall under his former Sydney FC boss, Graham Arnold.
“For me, he is the most obvious replacement in terms of the style of player and its quite ironic that it was Antonis who pipped Mooy for a spot in the 2015 Asian Cup squad,” Davutovic said.
Antonis was a part of the winning 2015 Asian Cup squad but didn’t feature during the month-long tourney and has since been riddled by injuries during spells overseas at sides such as PAOK, Veria and VVV-Venlo.
Davutovic also went on to thrown his support behind Antonis’ former team-mate Rhyan Grant who he believes will be the starting right-back come the Socceroos Asian Cup opener against Jordan.
“Rhyan Grant played the last-game at right-back for the Socceroos and had a Man of the Match performance for Sydney FC at the weekend,” Davutovic said.
“I would probably have my money on Grant.”
Grant played for three seasons under Graham Arnold at Sydney FC and was part of their Premiership winning squad in 2017.
The Socceroos will announce their final 23 man squad on Thursday for the Asian Cup which kicks off on January 5 next year.
