If Apostolos Stamatelopoulos can fire for Sydney FC, then coach Ufuk Talay sees no reason why the on-loan striker shouldn’t be in the running for the Socceroos squad at this year’s FIFA World Cup.
Stamatelopoulos is one of two season midseason arrivals at the third-placed Sky Blues, returning to the A-League Men in a bid to bolster his chances for an unlikely World Cup berth.
The one-cap Socceroo is on loan from Scottish Premiership side Motherwell, while German midfielder Ahmet Arslan has joined from Bundesliga 3 outfit Rot-Weiss Essen on a permanent deal.
Stamatelopoulos hasn’t played for the Socceroos since moving to Motherwell off the back of a sensational season with the Newcastle Jets, scoring 17 goals in 25 games during the 2023-24 season.
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With little time to impress national team coach Tony Popovic, Stamatelopoulos will look to hit the ground running and feature in Sydney FC’s round-17 clash against Adelaide United on Saturday.
Fellow A-League stars Mitchell Duke and Nicholas D’Agostino are among those hoping to make their mark as a No. 9 ahead of Australia’s send-off games against Cameroon and Curacao in March.
Young gun Mohamed Toure has already staked a claim for a Socceroos spot after his starting debut for Norwich City, scoring a hat trick to seal a 3-0 win over Oxford United in the Championship on Tuesday.
Sky Blues coach Talay is well aware game-time on home soil will be invaluable for his World Cup hopefuls.
“All players are thinking in the back of their heads that it is a World Cup year,” Talay said on Wednesday. “Players need to be playing in their club space — it’s a great opportunity for all our Australian players to find those minutes to give themselves a chance to be selected for a World Cup.
“I spoke to him [Stamatelopoulos] yesterday. He’s very excited.
“We all know what ‘Stama’ has done in the competition previously.”
The Reds will be without captain Craig Goodwin, with the veteran Socceroo’s World Cup hopes in tatters after suffering a groin injury.
Goodwin is expected to be sidelined for up to three months after picking up the injury just 25 minutes into Adelaide’s 3-2 loss to league leaders Newcastle.
Adelaide could drop out of the top six should they suffer back-to-back losses, sitting just one point ahead of seventh-placed Melbourne City.
Meanwhile, Sydney have slipped to third (25 points) behind second-placed Auckland (28) and Newcastle (30).
The Reds kicked off their season with a 2-1 win over Sydney, but they have never claimed consecutive wins against the Sky Blues.
“Craig’s a great player. He’s involved in most of their goals,” Talay said. “He’s got a very delicate left foot, and it’s going to be a big miss for them.”
