there is many ppl out there who believe the australian football squad shud be changed around .. and that some of the young rising stars should be drafted in early to secure a good future .. i thought id post a thread on the matter .. so u can discuss which A-League (or any league) players should be involved in the Australian squad.....

Vucovic, Milligan, Ward, Patafta. Need I go on?? These players and many more need to be getting these games under their belts as it not only helps the country it is also helping the players and their respective clubs improve. Good topic Toby, hope to see a few more replies here, not only from Australians.

thanks mate .. thought i would start it coz theres been a bit of speculation around the topic

It's important to start easing the younger players into the picture. And given a clear choice between a thirty-five year old and a twenty year old who are about the same in form and ability and play the same position, we should be choosing the twenty year old. But at the same time, there's no need for wholesale changes just for the sake of it. When available I'd rather have Viduka, Kewell, Bresciano, Cahill and co rather than guys who might make the next step.

In any case the players we're talking about will have an opportunity on the international stage this year with the Olympics, but several will no doubt get some chances with the senior team also.

So while I think it's important to be planning for the whole WC cycle and even beyond, I still want to see squads made up of the best available players who are fit, in form and can be reasonably expected to do whatever travelling is needed and still have time to be properly prepared. Whether that be Kewell coming across or home-based like Alex Brosque - whatever gives us the best chance of winning the game.

Socceroos: John Aloisi (Central Coast), Clint Bolton (Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Sydney FC), Simon Colosimo (Perth), Steve Corica (Sydney FC), Ante Covic (Newcastle), Jamie Coyne (Perth), Travis Dodd (Adelaide United), Andrew Durante (Newcastle), Adam Griffiths (Newcastle), Joel Griffiths (Newcastle), John Hutchinson (Central Coast), Matt McKay (Queensland), Kevin Muscat (Melbourne), Jade North (Newcastle), Lucas Pantelis (Adelaide United), Tom Pondeljak (Central Coast), Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC), Archie Thompson (Melbourne), Matt Thompson (Newcastle), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne), Alex Wilkinson (Central Coast).

Under 23s: Nigel Boogaard (Central Coast), Mark Bridge (Newcastle), Leigh Broxham (Melbourne), Robert Cornthwaite (Adelaide United), Bruce Djite (Adelaide United), Robbie Kruse (Queensland), Mark Milligan (Sydney FC), Stuart Musialik (Newcastle), Kristian Sarkies (Adelaide United), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth), Tando Velaphi (Perth), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast), Nick Ward (Melbourne), Ruben Zadkovich (Sydney FC), Michael Zullo (Queensland)

Name three 35 year olds still playing at international level...

lol aidan would probly have trouble naming 5 international players full stop!!! haha jks aidan

so is that the socceroos contracted squad or what?

not sure about contracts but its just his squad of a league players 2 c how they play etc cos he hasnt seen all of them

interesting that verbeek said he wouldnt be selecting players on reputations. Well he hasnt seen Joel Griffiths play (even though he deserves his spot)

And how do you know he hasn't seen him play? He probably has other officials watching games and taking notes for him cause he can really only go to 2 games a weekend...

Yes he has. He was in Melbourne when Griffo scored that brilliant free kick, plus the goal to wrap up the game.

And this squad might not even get game time, he is still going to call in European based players if during the training camp he feels the A-League players won't be good enough.

highly likely

A few will play though: Aloisi, Bolton, Brosque, Colosimo, J. Griffiths. We needed some of those U23's...

Don't be certain about Bolton. Covic has been much better all year and performed better in the games that Verbeek saw.

Clint Bolton has played in more internationals though so has a bit more experience, his 4 caps to Covic's 1.