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2015 Asian Cup: Socceroos final squad announced

22nd December, 2014
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Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has seen the transformation of football in Australia. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Expert
22nd December, 2014
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The Socceroos squad for the 2015 Asian Cup has been announced, with manager Ange Postecoglou whittling down his original 46-man squad to a final 23 players.

There’s a strong local flavour in the side, with no less than seven A-League representatives, while there aren’t too many big surprises either.

Postecoglou hasn’t strayed too far from what the experts were predicting beforehand, and has played it pretty safe.

Final Socceroos 2015 Asian Cup Squad

Goalkeepers
Mitch Langerak (Borussia Dortmund), Mathew Ryan (Club Brugge) and Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United)

Defenders
Trent Sainsbury (PEC Zwolle), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Alex Wilkinson (Jeonbuk Motors), Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Ivan Franjic (Torpedo Moscow), Jason Davidson (West Brom) and Chris Herd (Aston Villa)

Midfielders
Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace), Terry Antonis (Sydney FC), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town), James Troisi (Zulte Waregem) and Marco Bresciano (Al-Gharafa)

Forwards
Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls), Tomi Juric (Western Sydney Wanderers), Robbie Kruse (Bayer Leverkusen), Tommy Oar (FC Utrecht), Nathan Burns (Wellington Phoenix) and Mathew Leckie (FC Ingolstadt)

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Well, overall Postecoglou’s played it safe, but those youngsters included in the original 46-man squad that failed to make the cut – Danny De Silva, Mustafa Amini, Aaron Mooy, Bernie Ibini, Josh Risdon and Luke Brattan – can take confidence in the fact they’re on the Socceroos radar.

Rhys Williams, Bailey Wright, Josh Kennedy, Mitch Nichols and Adam Taggart have been unable to prove their fitness to be in the running.

Brad Jones, Nikita Rukavytsya and Ben Halloran found first team football too late in the season to be considered, while Brad Smith and Josh Brillante were victims of a lack of minutes.

World Cup members Oliver Bozanic, James Holland and Dario Vidosic seem to have lost favour with Postecoglou and A-League representatives Carl Valeri and Nikolai Topor-Stanley also miss out.

The two real surprises are the inclusions of Chris Herd and Jason Davidson. Both haven’t been playing first team football with respective clubs Aston Villa and West Brom, but have been chosen to compete for the fullback positions with Ivan Franjic and Aziz Behich.

It goes against Postecoglou’s usual ploy of only picking players that are getting minutes under their belt.

The Socceroos will meet up for their training camp on December 27 before taking on their first Group A opponents Kuwait on January 9 in Melbourne.

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They then face Oman in Sydney on January 13, before meeting South Korea on January 17 in Brisbane.

“It’s been almost six months in the making since the FIFA World Cup,” Postecoglou said.

“We’ve had a series of games where there have been some pretty clear objectives, particularly in terms of broadening the pool and seeing whether we could get some better balance in the squad and more depth.”

“In the end, I’m pretty pleased with the 23 we’ve ended up with, there’s a good combination of the core of the group that went to the FIFA World Cup, there’s some experience there, but also a sprinkling of guys who will enhance the squad we took to the FIFA World Cup.”

Full Socceroos squad

Name Club, Country A International Caps (Goals)
Terry ANTONIS Sydney FC, Australia 3 (0)
Aziz BEHICH Bursaspor, Turkey 7 (2)
Mark BRESCIANO Al Gharafa, Qatar 81 (13)
Nathan BURNS Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand 7 (0)
Tim CAHILL New York Red Bulls, USA 76 (36)
Jason DAVIDSON West Bromwich Albion F.C., England 13 (0)
Ivan FRANJIC FK Torpedo Moskva, Russia 12 (0)
Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk) Adelaide United, Australia 8 (0)
Chris HERD Aston Villa, England 3 (0)
Mile JEDINAK Crystal Palace FC, England 52 (6)
Tomi JURIC Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia 5 (1)
Robbie KRUSE TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Germany 32 (3)
Mitchell LANGERAK (gk) B.V. Borussia 09 Dortmund, Germany 5 (0)
Mathew LECKIE FC Ingolstadt 04, Germany 16 (1)
Massimo LUONGO Swindon Town FC, England 5 (0)
Matt McKAY Brisbane Roar FC, Australia 50 (1)
Mark MILLIGAN Melbourne Victory FC, Australia 33 (2)
Tommy OAR FC Utrecht, Netherlands 20 (1)
Mat RYAN (gk) Club Brugge KV, Belgium 13 (0)
Trent SAINSBURY P.E.C. Zwolle, Netherlands 4 (0)
Matthew SPIRANOVIC Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia 21 (0)
James TROISI S.V. Zulte Waregem, Belgium 16 (1)
Alex WILKINSON Jeonbuk Hyundai FC, Korea Republic 11 (0)
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