Hibernian boss Neil Lennon believes winger Martin Boyle deserves an international call-up with Australia and the exposure would help him develop into a better footballer. The 25-year-old has only represented Scotland at the under-16 level but he has the qualification to represent the Socceroos with his father hailing from Sydney.

Speaking in a press conference, Lennon revealed that Socceroos coach Graham Arnold had a close watch on the attacker during the recent league game against Kilmarnock and hinted that he could receive a maiden call-up for the international friendly against Kuwait next month, he said: “An Australia call-up would be thoroughly merited for Martin.

Australia had to put in plenty of groundwork and travel a lot to even qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, having come through the challenging route of the Asian section, which they have been members of since 2006.

The Socceroos had to travel to all of Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Thailand, Syria, as well as a detour to Malaysia, and finally Honduras to ultimately secure their spot in Russia this summer.

Australia captain Mile Jedinak is keen to impress for the Socceroos when they face-off against Norway in an international friendly on Friday. The game will be Bert van Marwijk’s first game in-charge of the visitors, and Jedinak is not taking his place for granted, having previously missed valuable playing time through injury.

Jedinak’s 2017 was hampered by a groin injury which forced him to miss the tail end of Aston Villa’s season as well as the Confederations Cup in Russia. The 33-year-old thereafter missed a couple of crunch FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Syria, before returning for the do-or-die two-legged playoff versus Honduras.

Not many nations who qualify for a World Cup will see their coach resign just a week after the qualification is achieved but this was the case for Australia. Just one week after the Socceroos beat Honduras to secure their place in Russia 2018, their coach of the last four years, Ange Postecoglou, left his post citing the pressures of international management as a huge contributing factor.

He cut an emotional figure during his press conference and had clearly put a lot of thought into the decision but ultimately the role had taken its toll on the coach “both personally and professionally”. The Greek-Australian had been in charge of the Socceroos since October 2013 after the sacking of previous manager Holger Osiek following successive 6-0 defeats to both Brazil and France.

Australia's World Cup hopes are in dire straits following their disappointing performance in the World Cup qualifier against Japan last week.

The Socceroos were convincingly beaten by a 2-0 scoreline by their Far East opponents, and they must register a convincing win over Thailand in their final group game in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup.

Australia’s chances of reaching the semi-final stage of the Confederations Cup received a blow after they settled for a 1-1 draw against Cameroon.

The Socceroos were condemned to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Germany in their first game as they struggled to cope with an inexperienced German squad which held on their own for most part of the clash. The draw to Cameroon sees Australia amass their first points of the tournament, and they will now have to beat Chile by two clear goals in three days’ time which looks like a hefty task for the Asia champions.

Australia haven’t had everything their own way so far in the qualification stage for the 2018 World Cup but Ange Postecoglou’s men can take a giant step in the next few months. Wins against Iraq and the United Arab Emirates should see the Socceroos take firm control in the race for Russia.

With five qualifying fixtures remaining, six points could prove crucial come the end of the preliminary round. It would be foolish for Postecoglou and co to underestimate both sides but the Socceroos will be confident of victory; especially as they have defeated Iraq and the UAE already in this competition.