Kennedy to start for Socceroos

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold will hand Joshua Kennedy just his second starting appearance for the national team, when Australia meets Argentina at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday night.

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold will hand Joshua Kennedy just his second starting appearance for the national team, when Australia meets Argentina at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday night.

Kennedy was the bolter in the pack for the FIFA World Cup in Germany 2006 and proved a more than useful addition when he came on as a substitute during the second half of matches. After that success, Kennedy was earmarked by Arnold for a key role in Australia-s quest for the Asian Cup qualifiers and finals.

However those hopes were cruelly dashed in his first training session for new club FC Nurnberg in Germany, when he ruptured his Achilles Tendon that saw him miss the entire Bundesliga season that included a German Cup victory.

Since the new season started however, Kennedy has featured regularly, including starting in his last two matches for Nurnberg and Arnold is keen to get the lanky forward back in the frame with World Cup qualifiers on the horizon.

While not naming his starting side for the match against the number 2 ranked team in the world, Arnold did say that Kennedy will feature from the beginning.

Arnold will be hoping that Kennedy-s height and ability on the ball will cause the Argentine defence problems in what will be a tough assignment for the Wodonga-raised striker.

Meanwhile Arnold also named Lucas Neill as captain for Tuesday-s game, deciding not to give it to Josip Skoko in his last match for the national team.

Neill was obviously delighted to lead his country again.

“Fantastic, again to lead the team in a game such as this,” Neill said at the official press conference.

“Not that it needs any extra incentive, but it-s a great responsibility and hopefully I can lead the team to a great result.”

Neill is considered one of the favourites to get the captaincy on a permanent basis, as the team starts its 2010 World Cup qualifiers early next year.

He will need to be at his best on Tuesday coming face-to-face with his team mate from last season Carlos Tevez, who has since moved to Manchester United from West Ham.

Arnold has no doubts that the match will be competitive despite it being a “friendly”.

“They wouldn-t have brought all these big players, just so they could sit on an aeroplane,” he said. “They have brought them out because they are preparing for something.

“They don-t play friendly games, thankfully for Australia we don-t play friendly games either, because we don-t have that mentality. I expect it to be a very competitive game.”