World Cup 2022: The Brighton and Celtic connection central to Argentina vs Australia

The two sides will meet each other Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, with the winner facing either the Netherlands or USA in the quarter final.

Former Brighton and current Celtic midfielder Aaron Mooy is expected to start for the Socceroos, having been a fundamental part of the team’s success so far in Qatar.

Australia have been one of the surprise acts of this World Cup, having been expected by many to fall out at the group stage after they were drawn in Group D against two of the tournament favourites France and Denmark.

However, the boys in gold finished second behind the 2018 world champions, having won two out of their three group games.

Following a 4-1 defeat in their opening game against Le Blues, Australia gained their first World Cup victory in 12 years, when Mitchell Duke’s header was enough to overcome Tunisia.

Then, in their final game against Denmark, Mooy’s side put in another historic performance, winning the game following Mathew Leckie’s brilliant second-half solo effort to qualify for the knockout stages.

Mooy, who has 56 caps for Australia, joined Brighton on loan from Huddersfield for the 2018-2019 season, before signing permanently the following season on a three-and-a-half year contract.

The 32-year-old played 31 games for the Seagulls over two seasons, scoring two goals, before joining Chinese Super League team Shanghai SIPG for a fee of £4 million.

Mooy has been a part of the Celtic set-up since last summer, helping the club to a 9-point lead at the top of the SPL table.

Former Brighton goalkeeper Matt Ryan will also be lining up for Australia in-between the sticks for tomorrow’s game.

Like Mooy, the 30-year-old has started every game at this tournament, making a number of key saves in both wins against Morocco and Denmark.

Ryan played at Albion for four years, making 123 appearances between 2017 and 2021, before joining Arsenal on loan in January 2021.

The Aussie goalie left the club permanently in August 2021, joining Real Sociedad, and is currently playing his football at Copenhagen.

For Argentina, Albion midfielder Alexis Mac Allister will be hoping to start tomorrow’s crunch game at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

The 23-year-old was not named in Lionel Scaloni’s first XI for their opening game shock defeat against Saudi Arabia, but was brought into the side for the Albicelestes’s important 2-0 victory over Mexico.

Mac Allister was one of Argentina's stand-out players in that game, before scoring his first international goal in their 2-0 over Poland in the South American’s outfits final group game.

The young midfielder has grown into one of Brighton’s most important players since arriving on the English south coast in 2018, playing 86 games and scoring 13 goals.

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Mac Allister’s impressive World Cup performances has caught the attention of a number of high-profile clubs, with Inter Milan the latest club rumoured to be interested in signing the Argentinian.

Mac Allister’s Argentina face Mooy and Ryan’s Australia on Saturday, December 3, in the World Cup round of 16 – 3pm GMT kick off.