Injuries, lack of confidence and game time. Daniel Arzani’s European adventure never reached the heights he and so many had hoped for.
He was once the face of Australian football and the next big thing but after more than four years abroad, Arzani returned home ahead of the 2022-23 Isuzu UTE A-League season with a simple mission – to restart his stagnating career.
Two matches into the A-League Men season with Macarthur FC and the forgotten Socceroo looks like a player enjoying his football again. Just look at his man-of-the-match performance in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Adelaide United.
“It was an incredible feeling after being in and out of teams for so long,” Arzani told Paramount+.
“It’s finally all coming together for me back home. Loving my football again.”
Having already got his hands on the Australia Cup this season, Arzani put on a show at Campbelltown Stadium in Round 2.
The 23-year-old scored his first ALM goal since February 2018, set up another and almost scored one of the greatest free-kicks you will see in the competition.
His performance was a timely reminder of the six-time Australia international’s quality, with Socceroos boss Graham Arnold due to selected his squad for the FIFA Men’s World Cup next month.
And it came after he was criticised by his coach Dwight Yorke for his display in the opening-round draw away to Brisbane Roar.
The former Manchester City and Celtic attacker responded.
“There’s tactical decisions the gaffer has to make at the end of the day. It wasn’t really happening for me on that night,” said Arzani, who featured at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“Obviously I was disappointed but it’s part of the game. Tonight I came and showed what I can do again and prove to the gaffer I should be playing week in, week out.”
Arzani almost capped his stellar outing with a thunderous free-kick from long range that rattled the crossbar.
“I’ve been practicing those for ages and the gaffer has been stuck into me for getting those on target. I actually think he’ll be giving me stick because I missed,” he joked.
MATCH REPORT – ADRIAN WARREN, AAP
Daniel Arzani pushed his case for a late call-up to the Socceroos World Cup squad with a sensational display in Macarthur’s 2-0 A-League Men home win over Adelaide United.
In an action-packed afternoon, Iran-born Arzani scored the first, provided the assist for the second and hit the bar with a free-kick.
Arzani also found his way into the referee’s book, earning a yellow card from Shaun Evans after celebrating his goal by lifting up his shirt to reveal a reference to Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman who died in suspicious circumstances in Tehran last month.
She was being held by the country’s morality police at the time, who arrested her after saying she was wearing her hijab too loosely.
Just a couple of minutes before Arzani’s goal, Adelaide squandered a great chance to take the lead themselves.
Craig Goodwin got behind the Bulls defence and cut the ball back to an unmarked George Blackwood near the penalty spot, but Blackwood’s tame shot lacked the power to beat Filip Kurto
Arzani made them pay moments later, when he received a pass from Lachie Rose and stroked the ball home with a delightful right-foot finish from just inside the penalty area on 27 minutes.
Arzani returned the favour half-an-hour later with a surging run down the left and perfect cut back for Rose to stab home from close range.
On the hour, Arzani almost scored again when he rattled the crossbar with a free-kick.
Adelaide had more possession and 11 more shots, but were far more wasteful than Macarthur, who lost captain Ulises Davila after 10 minutes with a hamstring injury.
The Reds put the ball in the net three times, but all were ruled out.
Hiroshi Ibusuki twice headed the ball into the net – either side of half-time – but one was rubbed out for offside and the other for a foul, while Ben Warland’s late effort was also disallowed for offside.
