The Socceroos have already booked their place in next years finals after beating Kuwait 2-0 in Sydney earlier this month, despite fielding an inexperienced squad made up of players from the domestic A-League.
All but two of Australias World Cup players missed that match because of their European club commitments but coach Graham Arnolds latest 18-man squad is comprised entirely of European-based players. The squad features nine players who represented Australia at the World Cup in Germany, including striker John Aloisi, first-choice goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and midfielder Jason Culina.
English Premier League players Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill were not included but are likely to be added for Australias double-header in October, when they play Paraguay in a friendly before meeting Bahrain in their last Asian Cup qualifier. Australia ditched the Oceania confederation last year to join Asia in the quest for more regular competition and tougher opposition.
They were the only Asian team to make it past the first round of this years World Cup and are the first country to have qualified for next years Asian Cup, which will be contested by 16 countries in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Australia squad: John Aloisi (Alaves, Spain), Michael Beauchamp (FC Nurnberg, Germany), Jacob Burns (TS Wisla Krakow, Poland), Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel, Switzerland), Ante Covic (Hammarby, Sweden), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Holland), Ahmad Elrich (Fulham, England), Ryan Griffiths (AFC Rapid Bucuresti, Romania), Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen, Holland), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester City, England), Scott McDonald (Motherwell, Scotland), Jonathan McKain (FC Politechnica AEK Timisoara, Romania), Ljubo Milicevic (BSC Young Boys, Switzerland), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England), Josip Skoko (Wigan Athletic, England), Mile Sterjovski (FC Basel, Switzerland), Nick Ward (Queens Park Rangers, England), Luke Wilkshire (FC Twente, Holland) |
