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First-choice Socceroos Brett Holman, Josh Kennedy and Sasa Ognenovski have all been named to make their returns in Australia’s opening two qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.
Australia coach Holger Osieck on Tuesday named a 23-man squad with few surprises for Friday week’s match against Thailand in Brisbane and an away clash with Saudi Arabia four days later.
As expected, new Melbourne Victory recruit Harry Kewell was omitted due to a lack of match fitness, while Holman, Kennedy and Ognenovski were recalled after missing the 2-1 win over Wales earlier this month due to injuries and club commitments.
The squad features heavyweights Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill and Mark Schwarzer as well as some youth in Adam Sarota and Luke DeVere, with Osieck saying he had picked his strongest available squad for the tricky start to qualification.
“From my point of view, it’s the strongest group we have at the moment,” Osieck said.
“We need to be strong, we are starting our new World Cup campaign … I think it’s already a pretty difficult start.”
The squad includes the entire playing group that featured against Wales, with defender Mark Milligan and goalkeeper Nathan Coe also coming in.
Middlesbrough striker Scott McDonald retains his place after a positive showing against the Welsh, with Osieck confident both he and veteran winger Brett Emerton would be fit to play despite battling hamstring injuries.
Osieck said Kewell would return to the squad as soon as he regained match fitness.
“He definitely is healthy but, to be psychically healthy and match fit, it’s always a gap,” Osieck said.
“I cannot give you an update on his match fitness. I simply know Victory will expect him early September to join team training.”
Osieck said the selection of the likes of Korean-based defender DeVere, who is yet to make his international debut, was part of a regeneration process.
“When you want to restructure the team, of course you have to give more players that opportunity to join in, the younger ones they should get the opportunity to gain experience to be in the group,” he said.
The squad will begin to assemble in Brisbane from Monday, with some European-based players arriving later depending on their club commitments.
Australia’s opening qualification group also includes Oman and they need to finish top-two to progress to the next round of qualification.
Squad:
Tim Cahill (Everton, England), Nathan Coe (Sonderjysk Elitesport, Denmark), Luke DeVere (Gyeongnam, South Korea), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers, England), Adam Federici (Reading, England), Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands), Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace, England), Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus, Japan), Neil Kilkenny (Bristol City, England), Robbie Kruse (Fortuna Dusseldorf, Germany), Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough, England), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mark Milligan (JEF United, Japan), Lucas Neill (Al-Jazira, UAE), Sasa Ognenovski (Seongham Ilwha Chunma, South Korea), Adam Sarota (Utrecht, Netherlands), Mark Schwarzer (Fulham, England), Matthew Spiranovic (Urawa Red Diamonds, Japan), James Troisi (Kayserispor, Turkey), Carl Valeri (US Sassuolo Calcio, Italy), Luke Wilkshire (Dinamo Moscow, Russia), Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough, England), Michael Zullo (Utrecht, Netherlands)
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