The Socceroos squad to face Thailand in their upcoming World Cup qualifier during November has been named on Wednesday, with seven new faces in a 30-man training group.
While it is a squad of 30 for the time being, it will be cut down to 23 following this weekend’s matches, with the Socceroos having an extended training camp in this international period rather than taking on another team in a friendly.
Coach Ange Postecoglou has made the decision to add Luke Brattan, Tommy Oar, Jason Geria, Josh Risdon, Nathan Burns, Milos Degenek and Aziz Behich to their squad who drew with Saudi Arabia and Japan in early October.
Postecoglou, talking to Fox Sports said ‘“It’s a little bit of an unusual window, we only have one game and decided not to play a friendly before,”
“It’s an opportunity to bring in two or three guys on the fringes to have a good look at.
“They might be unlikely to play, but they’ll have meaningful training, five or six sessions.
“It’s a good opportunity for us in areas we think we’re light on, or guys we really want to see, or guys who haven’t been involved for a while.
The match against Thailand, which was facing cancellation but will go ahead as planned on November 15 with no team colours, logos, banners or chants to be allowed in the stadium after King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away.
Australia currently sit in second place of Group B in what is the third round of qualification having won two and drawn two of their matches so far.
Only the top two teams in the group gain a direct trip to the 2018 World Cup, with Australia currently holding a slender one point lead over Japan for second spot.
Full 30-man squad for Thailand qualifier
Adam Federici (Bournemouth), Mitch Langerak (Stuttgart), Mat Ryan (Valencia), Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Milos Degenek (1860 Munich), Jason Geria (Melbourne Victory), Alex Gersbah (Rosenbory), Ryan McGowan (Henan Jianye), Josh Risdon (Perth Glory), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu), Brad Smith (Bournemouth), Matthew Spiranovic (Huangzhou Greentown), Bailey Wright (Preston North End), Luke Brattan (Melbourne City), Chris Ikonomidis (Aarhus), Jackson Irvine (Burton Albion), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa) James Jeggo (Sturm Graz), Massimo Luongo (Queens Park Rangers), Mark Milligan (Baniyas), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield), Tom Rogic (Celtic), Nathan Burns (FC Tokyo), Tim Cahill (Melbourne City), Apostolos Giannou (Guangzhou), Craig Goodwin (Sparta Rotterdam), Tomi Juric (Luzern), Robbie Kruse (Bayer Leverkusen), Mathew Leckie (Ingolstadt), Tommy Oar (Brisbane Roar)
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