Socceroos Head Coach Ange Postecoglou today announced a preliminary 27-man squad to travel to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Mark Milligan, Josh Kennedy and Luke Wilkshire are still on track to represent Australia at three straight FIFA World Cups with Curtis Good, Josh Brillante and Adam Sarota the unlucky trio to be trimmed from the 30-man squad that has prepared for the last two weeks in Gosford and Sydney.
Defender Bailey Wright is the only uncapped player in the squad after Ben Halloran became the 572nd footballer to pull on the green and gold Socceroos shirt during the 1-1 draw with South Africa at ANZ Stadium on Monday night.
The preliminary squad includes nine players from the Hyundai A-League, four goalkeepers, seven defenders, 11 midfielders and five strikers.
Postecoglou agonized long and hard over the composition of the 27-man travelling party and declared all three players left out would fight their way back into the Socceroos squad in the future.
“It was tough trimming the squad to 27 because all three boys did absolutely everything asked of them over the 12 days of the camp,” Postecoglou said. “Adam (Sarota), Josh (Brillante) Curtis (Good) will bounce back but it is up to the remaining 27 players to realize how quickly the opportunity they now have in front of them can evaporate.
“We now leave for Brazil with 27 players and I’m looking forward to seeing the same levels of enthusiasm and buy-in to the hard work we have in front of us to ensure we continue to improve and embrace the football I want us to play,
“These 27 young Australians now have a great opportunity to gain one of the 23 places in the final squad and they will all push each other to lift the team.”
The Socceroos depart Australia on Wednesday morning, travelling to Vitoria via Santiago (Chile) and Curitiba (Brazil).
SOCCEROOS 27-MAN PRELIMINARY SQUAD TO TRAVEL TO BRAZIL FOR THE 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP
GOALKEEPERS
Mark BIRIGHITTI (Newcastle Jets FC, AUSTRALIA)
Eugene GALEKOVIC (Adelaide United FC, AUSTRALIA)
Mitchell LANGERAK (B.V. Borussia 09 Dortmund, GERMANY)
Mat RYAN (Club Brugge KV, BELGIUM)
DEFENDERS
Jason DAVIDSON (SC Heracles Almelo, NETHERLANDS)
Ivan FRANJIC (Brisbane Roar FC, AUSTRALIA)
Ryan McGOWAN (Shandong Luneng Taishan FC, CHINA)
Matthew SPIRANOVIC (Western Sydney Wanderers FC, AUSTRALIA)
Alex WILKINSON (Jeonbuk Hyundai FC, KOREA REPUBLIC)
Luke WILKSHIRE (FK Dinamo Moscow, RUSSIA)
Bailey WRIGHT (Preston North End FC, ENGLAND)
MIDFIELDERS
Oliver BOZANIC (FC Luzern, SWITZERLAND)
Mark BRESCIANO (Al Gharafa, QATAR)
James HOLLAND (FK Austria Vienna, AUSTRIA)
Mile JEDINAK (Crystal Palace FC, ENGLAND)
Massimo LUONGO (Swindon Town FC, ENGLAND)
Matthew McKAY (Brisbane ROAR FC, AUSTRALIA)
Mark MILLIGAN (Melbourne Victory FC, AUSTRALIA)
Tommy OAR (FC Utrecht, NETHERLANDS)
Tommy ROGIC (Melbourne Victory FC, AUSTRALIA)
James TROISI (Melbourne Victory FC, AUSTRALIA)
Dario VIDOSIC (FC Sion, SWITZERLAND)
FORWARDS
Tim CAHILL (New York Red Bulls, USA)
Ben HALLORAN (Fortuna Dusseldorf, GERMANY)
Josh KENNEDY (Nagoya Grampus 8, JAPAN)
Matthew LECKIE (FSV Frankfurt 1899, GERMANY)
Adam TAGGART (Newcastle Jets FC, AUSTRALIA)
PRE WORLD CUP WARM UP MATCHES – TRAINING GAMES
Monday 2 June
Training game v Parana Clube (Curitiba-based second division club)
Estadio Engenheiro Araripe (Socceroos training base)
1pm start
Friday 6 June
Socceroos v Croatia
Pituacu Stadium, Salvador
Kick off: 8pm