Graham Arnold has well and truly proven his doubters wrong by guiding the Socceroos to the World Cup Round of 16 for the first time since 2006.
Australia stunned Denmark and the football world with a 1-0 win to secure their progression into the knockout stages of the World Cup.
The Australian side with Graham Arnold at the helm has faced a tough time, with plenty of critics throughout the qualification process and lead-up to the tournament.
Many thought the team would struggle against Peru and the UAE in the World Cup qualifiers but they dug deep despite the critics.
The likes of former Socceroos Craig Foster and Mark Bosnich very much led the charge for heavy criticism thrown Arnold’s way.
However, after engineering victories over Tunisia and Denmark and earning the most points in the World Cup group stage out of any Australian side, Arnie has well and truly swayed opinions.
Foster praised Arnold on SBS, saying: “Graham Arnold’s at the centre of it. He did an amazing job today, amazing job in the past couple of games.
“He made all the right decisions against Tunisia and he’s done it again today.
“They had the plan for when they went 1-0 up today.”
Meanwhile, Bosnich, who has been heavily critical of Arnold in the past, praised Football Australia for sticking with him.
He said: “You know, during the qualifying period he did come under a lot of criticism, including from myself and, at that time, it wasn't looking good for him that he got two points from a possible nine.
“He stuck through it and a lot of credit must go as well to Football Australia and (CEO) James Johnson and his board for sticking by Graham.
"It would have been very easy to let him go that time. They did (stick by him) and kudos to all of them. It's an absolutely fantastic victory.
“Massive congratulations to the Socceroos…minor miracle being there, proper miracle now…superb achievement."
Massive congratulations to the @Socceroos…minor miracle being there,proper miracle now…superb achievement…xmb
— Mark Bosnich (@TheRealBozza) November 30, 2022
However, it’s those comments that fellow former international and friend of Arnold, Robbie Slater was unimpressed with, calling the legends out for their apparent change of heart.
He told Yahoo Sport: "Arnie's written himself into history. No Australian coach has won two games at a World Cup, kept two consecutive clean sheets and had a team score in every game.
“It makes you squirm watching people this morning who tried to get him sacked after the Saudi Arabia (World Cup qualifying) game.
"They're now saying it's a good decision they kept him but they were desperate to get him out. It's unbelievable to hear what they're saying now."
SPORTbible has reached out to Mark Bosnich and Craig Foster for z response to Robbie Slater’s comments.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy. SBS.
Topics: Football, Australia, Football World Cup
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