MELBOURNE : Australia coach Graham Arnold is having to prepare his game plan for their World Cup qualifier against China by Zoom after assistants Rene Meulensteen and Tony Vidmar were unable to travel to Qatar due to COVID-19 issues.
Arnold drafted in national junior coach Trevor Morgan to fill the breach in Doha and shrugged off the loss of his other assistants ahead of the clash at Khalifa International Stadium on Thursday. "I have great trust in my staff everywhere. Rene is a fantastic assistant, and the fact that he can’t be here because he tested positive last week was a blow," Arnold told reporters in a video call from Doha on Wednesday."But they’re both still working for me - but by remote, on Zoom calls ... We're still communicating with each other and coming up with a game-plan.
Arnold, who expected the match to be played at a very agreeable 21-22 Celsius, said they had asked the Asian Football Confederation to allow them to play the game in Europe but the request was turned down.