Kewell named in full-strength Socceroos squad
ABC News
Injured Liverpool star Harry Kewell has been named in a 22-man squad for the Socceroos' World Cup play-offs against Solomon Islands next month.
/news-assets/favicon-32x32.png
Injured Liverpool star Harry Kewell has been named in a 22-man squad for the Socceroos' World Cup play-offs against Solomon Islands next month.

The full strength squad, the first named by new coach Guus Hiddink for a competitive match, also includes two A-League players - Sydney FC's Sasho Petrovski and Archie Thompson from Melbourne Victory.

The Australians will play the Solomons at the Sydney Football Stadium on September 3 before a return clash in Solomon Islands.

The winner of that match will play-off against the fifth placed South American team in November for the last place at the World Cup finals in Germany next year.

Kewell has been named in the squad, despite having played very little football in the past year due to persistent injury problems.

He was part of a training camp in the Netherlands last week - the first time Hiddink had seen the squad since his appointment - but did not train with the squad.

Afterwards, Hiddink praised Kewell for his attitude, saying he was clearly committed to the Socceroos' cause.

Hiddink said the clashes against the Solomons were too important to select anything other than a full-strength squad.

"We won't be taking any chances with the all important first qualifying matches against the Solomon Islands," Hiddink said in a statement.

"We have picked our strongest squad, and all the players are desperate to play, play well, and stake their claim for November and beyond."

Their selection for Australia means Petrovski and Thompson will miss matches for their A-League clubs. But five other A-League players named in a train-on squad by Hiddink will be available for club duty.

Those players are Michael Beauchamp (Central Coast Mariners), Clint Bolton (Sydney FC), Simon Colosimo (Perth Glory), Iain Fyfe (Sydney FC), Jade North (Newcastle Jets).

Socceroos squad

John Aloisi (Alaves, Spain), Marco Bresciano (Parma, Italy), Tim Cahill (Everton, England), Scott Chipperfield (Basel, Switzerland), Jason Culina (Twente Enschede, the Netherlands), Ahmad Elrich (Fulham, England), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers, England), Vince Grella (Parma, Italy), Zeljko Kalac (AC Milan, Italy), Harry Kewell (Liverpool, England), Stan Lazaridis (Birmingham, England), Jon McKain (Politechnica AEK Timisoara, Romania), Craig Moore (Newcastle, England), Lucas Neill (Blackburn Rovers, England), Sasho Petrovski (Sydney FC, Australia), Tony Popovic (Crystal Palace, England), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England), Josip Skoko (Wigan, England), Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory, Australia), Tony Vidmar (NAC Breda, the Netherlands), Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough, England), Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City, England).