Young Guns to Get a Chance for Roos

Australia coach Guus Hiddink has named a young, unproven squad for the Socceroos Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain later this month. Eight of the players have never received an international cap and a number of the players were chosen based on their form in the A-League. Only six of the players took part in the qualifying victory over Uruguay. The decisions were made in part because many of Australia’s best players are involved in European competitions that week.

One young gun to keep an eye on is Nick Ward, a striker for Perth Glory who is rising quickly through the ranks of Australian soccer.

Complete roster:

Michael Beauchamp (Central Coast Mariners), Alex Brosque (Queensland Roar), David Carney (Sydney FC), Alvin Ceccoli (Sydney FC), Ante Covic (Hammarby, Sweden), Spase Dilevski (Queensland Roar), Ahmad Elrich (Fulham, England), Brett Holman (Excelsior, Holland), Jon McKain (Timosoara Politechnica, Romania), Scott McDonald (Motherwell, Scotland), Jade North (Newcastle Jets), Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor, Turkey), Josip Skoko (Stoke, England), Michael Thwaite (FC National, Romania), Michael Valkanis (Adelaide United), Tony Vidmar (NAC Breda, Holland), Nick Ward (Perth Glory), Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City, England).