Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek named an extremely inexperienced 21-man squad on Monday for the Asian Cup qualifying match against Indonesia in Jakarta on January 28.
Only six members of the squad, made up entirely of A-League players, have represented the Socceroos previously, led by veterans Craig Moore and Archie Thompson.
Tom Pondeljak, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Danny Allsopp and Matt McKay are the other players to have already worn the green and gold at senior level.
Verbeek decided not to call upon any of his European-based stars, who will be back in the fold for Australia’s crucial World Cup qualification match against Japan on February 11.
The Socceroos have been drawn in Group B of the 2011 Asian Cup qualification stage along with Indonesia, Kuwait and Oman.
The top two teams from each group of the qualification stage progress to the Asian Cup, which will be held in Qatar.
Players selected to face Indonesia will complete club duties in the final round of the A-League this weekend before assembling in Jakarta from January 25 to prepare for the match.
Squad: Danny Allsopp (Melbourne Victory), Billy Celeski (Melbourne Victory), Shannon Cole (Sydney FC), Robert Cornthwaite (Adelaide United), Tarek Elrich (Newcastle Jets), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United), Dean Heffernan (Central Coast Mariners), Scott Jamieson (Adelaide United), Dylan Macallister (Central Coast Mariners), Matthew McKay (Queensland Roar), Craig Moore (Queensland Roar), Tom Pondeljak (Melbourne Victory), Paul Reid (Adelaide United), Matt Simon (Central Coast Mariners), Michael Theoklitos (Melbourne Victory), Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory), Matthew Thompson (Newcastle Jets), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne Victory), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners), Michael Zullo (Queensland Roar).
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