Perth’s Jacob Italiano is one step closer to realising a World Cup dream which looked like a long shot just nine months ago after joining the Socceroos’ pre-tournament training camp.

Italiano joins a swathe of big-name Australians in arriving in Sarasota, Florida, joining a 12-strong group of fresh additions which includes veteran Jackson Irvine and star wing-back Jordan Bos.

The dozen of arrivals compliment the 18 players who have already assembled in the USA, with preparations for the Socceroos’ opening game of the tournament against Turkiye already well underway under the watchful eye of coach Tony Popovic.

Former Perth Glory wunderkind Italiano only made his national team debut last October against Canada, but after a strong season in Austria with Grazer AK, he has begun to firm as Australia’s first-choice right wing-back.

An Achilles injury to Blackburn Rovers defender and incumbent Socceroos wing-back Lewis Miller has blown the race for that position wide open and after three steady performances against Canada, USA and Cameroon, Italiano appears the favourite to start against Turkiye in Vanvouver on June 14 (WA time).

Italiano, who made his Glory debut at 16 years old and within a year was signed by German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, is the third WA player in the training camp alongside centre-back Cameron Burgess and young gun Daniel Bennie.

They will be joined by another in Parma centre-back Alessandro Circati upon the conclusion of the Serie A season next week.

Popovic has called up another prospective debutant in 18 year-old defender Dylan Leonard, who moved to German side Schalke last year but battled injury and registration issues in his first season as the club were promoted back into the Bundesliga.

Leonard is joined by Feyenoord star Bos and two other German-based players in Irvine and his St. Pauli teammate Connor Metcalfe in heading to Florida, as are a Scottish contingent of Martin Boyle, Ante Suto (both Hibernian) and Cameron Devlin (Hearts).

Gianni Stensness (Viking), Jason Geria (Albirex Niigata), Milos Degenek (APOEL FC), Aiden O’Neill (New York City FC), and Jordan Bos (Feyenoord) have also been added to the train-on squad.

It comes as Portsmouth defender Hayden Matthews has departed camp due to injury.

The Socceroos will add more players to the squad next week ahead of their first warm-up game against Mexico in Los Angeles, before Popovic will trim the numbers and name a final 26-man squad by June 1.