Eight A-League players included for Asian Cup qualifier
An 18-man Socceroos squad has been announced to take on Bahrain later this month in Bahrain, in what will be Australia's first qualifying match for next year's Asian Cup.
The squad includes eight A-League players, along with a number of European-based team members.
Leading players Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka have not been included, with the mid-week match clashing with their English club games.
Adelaide United defender Michael Valkanis is among the Australian-based players chosen for the tie.
The 31-year-old said he was delighted to finally make a senior Australian side.
"At the beginning of the year I was having breakfast with my wife and I said that I'm going to work hard this year and try and make the Socceroos and it's come up," he said.
"Maybe that's why all athletes should set themselves high standards. You can see that with hard work, people get rewarded."
Australia was unable to select a full-strength team because of a clash with European Champions League and UEFA Cup club commitments for its European-based players.
The Asian Cup qualifier falls on a date for which FIFA, the world governing body, does not enforce clubs to make players available for national team duty.
Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer, Scott Chipperfield, Harry Kewell, Jason Culina and Zeljko Kalac will be appearing for their clubs in the European club competitions on that night and so were unavailable.
Other clubs have taken advantage of the absence of FIFA enforcement and have not released their players - Brett Emerton, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella.
Head coach Guus Hiddink, who is also unavailable because of his contractual commitments with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven said he was excited to have the opportunity to test a number of new players ahead of the World Cup finals in June.
"[Assistant coaches] Graham Arnold and Johan Neeskens have identified the strongest contenders from the A-League and the three of us are excited with their potential," Hiddink said in a Football Federation Australia statement.
"They will on the one hand have the chance to impress Johan and Graham for future consideration, and on the other, we are confident that we have a quality team to beat Bahrain, which is one of the strongest sides in Asia."
Arnold and Neeskens watched three A-League matches last weekend and have viewed hours of video footage of earlier games, as well as performances of European-based players.
"Bahrain is on form the hardest team we will meet in the Asian Cup qualifiers, having narrowly missed World Cup qualification in the play-off against Trinidad and Tobago," Arnold said.
"We are impressed with what we have seen in the extensive footage we have of their recent matches. It will take a team as strong as the one we have selected to test them to the full when they are playing at home."
Players new to the national squad are Scott McDonald (Motherwell FC, Scotland), Brett Holman (Excelsior, Holland), Spase Dilevski (Queensland Roar), David Carney (Sydney FC), Nick Ward (Perth Glory) and Michael Valkanis (Adelaide United).
They will join seasoned campaigners and part of the team which won the World Cup play-off against Uruguay last November - Josip Skoko, Tony Vidmar, Luke Wilkshire, Ante Covic, Michael Thwaite and Ahmad Elrich.
It is Australia's first match in an official Asian competition, following its admission to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on January 1.
The AFC Asian Cup finals in July 2007 feature the top 16 nations from this year's qualifiers.
Australia has drawn Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon, and must finish in the top two of the group to reach the finals.
Australia:
Michael Beauchamp, Alex Brosque, David Carney, Alvin Ceccoli, Ante Covic, Spase Dilevski, Ahmad Elrich, Brett Holman, Jon McKain, Scott McDonald, Jade North, Michael Petkovic, Josip Skoko, Michael Thwaite, Michael Valkanis, Tony Vidmar, Nick Ward, Luke Wilkshire.
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