Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has declared there will be no more experiments with his squad before next year’s World Cup.
Verbeek welcomed back stars Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and skipper Lucas Neill when naming a 24-man squad for this month’s matches against the Netherlands and Oman on Thursday, and said it was time to get serious about his World Cup preparations.
“We don’t experiment anymore,” Verbeek said.
“We did that against Ireland because we gave some players a possibility and a chance. We played a different system and different players against Korea and that’s it.
“From now on we just prepare for the Asian Cup and the World Cup and that’s all.”
Cahill, Kewell and Neill all missed the Socceroos’ 3-1 loss to Korea in Seoul last month, while Verbeek’s squad includes a return for midfielder Brett Emerton, who underwent a knee reconstruction in January.
“I was with him at Blackburn Rovers a few weeks ago … he looks very, very fit,” Verbeek said of Emerton.
“He’s ready, he’s eager to start playing games. Great to have him back. Perfect timing with a season to go.”
Verbeek said he was happy Neill and midfielder David Carney had sorted out their futures with moves to English club Everton and Dutch team Twente respectively.
“I was not worried at all because I know a player with that quality will always find a club,” Verbeek said of Neill.
“He (Carney) has to pick up his spot in the first team and that will be a tough job. Good club, very good club, I think it’s a good decision for him, that club suits him.”
Verbeek said it was too early to assume the 24 players named would be the main contenders for his World Cup squad but that news is small comfort to Perth Glory trio Mile Sterjovski, Jacob Burns and Chris Coyne.
Brisbane Roar skipper Craig Moore and Gold Coast United’s Jason Culina are the only A-League players in the squad.
“If you see the selection there’s not much chance that they will get a minute of game time,” Verbeek said of the Glory trio.
“It’s better to leave them in their club. They don’t like it and that’s good. It’s up to them to show us that they can do what they have to do.
“For next Saturday this is the selection and for the World Cup? We will see in May. It’s too early.”
The squad only included one new face, with WA-born Irish under-21 defender Shane Lowry in line to win his first Socceroos cap.
One big name who doesn’t appear to be returning to the gold jersey is striker Mark Viduka, with Verbeek saying he appeared to have “made up his mind” on his playing future.
“I tried everything to get him to come to the June camp and then he made up his mind not to come and think about his future,” Verbeek said.
“And probably he has now made up his mind for the future.”
Verbeek conceded facing his home nation at the Sydney Football Stadium on October 10 would be special but he wants the Asian Cup qualifier against Oman to be the focus for his team.
“Wednesday (against Oman) we have to win, on Saturday we’d like to win, I think that’s the difference,” he said.
“For me, it’s nice to play against them (the Dutch) but that’s all. I have no special emotions, it’s just nice. I’m just focussing on my team, and my team is the Australian boys at the moment.”
Australian squad: Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Nick Carle, David Carney, Scott Chipperfield, Ante Covic, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Vincenzo Grella, Brett Holman, Mile Jedinak, Josh Kennedy, Harry Kewell, Patrick Kisnorbo, Shane Lowry, Scott McDonald, Mark Milligan, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Mark Schwarzer, Carl Valeri, Dario Vidosic, Rhys Williams, Luke Wilkshire.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
das that's right about Pim - and that is the story within the story - I think back to those two A-League teams he put out on the park in the Asian qualifiers - it looks like they served their purpose well.
dasilva
Guest
It's not really about who I rate. Pim whether we like it or not rated Coyne as our 3rd best Central defender through out the WCQ (behind Neill and Moore). Now only when coyne moved to the A-league after being a bench player for Colchester (he seldomly started for that club) he is suddenly out of the picture. It all seems a bit unfair (unless Pim is unhappy of his form for his club but we don't haven't seen Pim in the stands in any A-league match this season)
Robbos
Guest
Seriously, Coyne did a job for us in the qualifiers, when Moore was in retirement, Milligan was on walkabout, Kisnorbo was injured, Spranovic was inexperience, Lowry was just another kid trying to make it in the bigtime. Could you honestly put Coyne ahead of any of these players even if he was still playing for Colchester. Even in the A-League I would rate Moore (on reputation), Colosimo, Twaite, Vargas ahead of Coyne on form this year.
dasilva
Guest
I find it strange that the likes of Coyne is not getting selected. He was the first choice partner to Neill during the later WCQ and only his injury led to the likes of North and Milligan getting selected. Now that he is back in the A-league, Pim just omit him. I guess Pim feels that Moore is a better option then Coyne and therefore doesn't select him just to sit on the bench. still it's a bit harsh. what about ante Covic. This guy was out of the reckoning for a while when he was in the A-league. With the likes of Brad Jones and Adam Federici in front of him. Now that he is playing for Swedish club suddenly he is in front of those two In any case there is a huge irony with Pim omitting A-league players to avoid disruption of the a-league unless they go straight to the First XI. In the past we have trouble getting european to play for our friendly as it will disrupt their club duties. Now we are not selecting A-league players due to disrupting club duties for our domestic league. If we get into a situation where european clubs refuse to release players, wouldn't we be a bit hypocritical to get up in arms about it.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
I wonder if people have cottoned on yet to the import of Pim's statement: We don't experiment anymore? With only Culina and Moore in this team, all of a sudden, the chances of the likes of Sterj, Burns, Coyne, Steffanutto, Arch, etc of making the WC Socceroos squad have absolutely plummetted. This should not really come as a surprise. In recent times when we've split up our 23 man squad into keepers, defenders, mids and strikers, outside of Culina we found it hard to find a spot for any of these players. Moore was borderline, as was Sterj. As for the rest - impossible. Barring injuries and other turns of events, these guys are not going to make the squad.