Kewell, McDonald back
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Scott McDonald's international career has been revived by new Socceroos coach Holger Osieck, with the Middlesbrough striker selected in the German's strong 20-man squad for upcoming friendlies against Switzerland and Poland.

McDonald was left out of Pim Verbeek-s World Cup squad for South Africa after failing to score in 16 appearances for the national side. It appeared that at 27, the diminutive marksman would be left on the scrapheap, but in what is close to a full-strength squad for Osieck's first two matches in charge, McDonald is one of only four players who didn-t feature in the 23-man squad for South Africa.

Wellington-bound defender Jade North, AEK Athens rising star Nathan Burns and Urawa Reds youngster Matthew Spiranovic are the others.

Harry Kewell has been included despite suggestions in the media that his international career is over, while Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill are also included along with two A-League players, Jason Culina and Michael Beauchamp.

Osieck said that while he hadn-t seen McDonald play for Middlesbrough, he came highly-recommended by several coaches in Europe.

"I contacted a lot of people in Europe that I respect a lot, top-class coaches who rate him pretty highly. He has got the chance to be called. I will see how well he integrates into the team, how well he can be a valuable asset to our team," the coach said.

Kewell's inclusion indicates that the Galatasaray striker, who has been involved in a bitter war of words with former Socceroo Robbie Slater, is set to take his place in the Asian Cup in January.

Osieck hasn't concerned himself with the fallout of the Kewell-Slater bust-up and thinks Kewell is strong enough form at club level to warrant selection.

"I saw him play in the Europa League game and from my perspective it was a decent performance. He assisted the two Galatasaray goals and apart from that, his overlal performance was okay. I don-t see any reason not to invite him," he said.

"I didn-t follow the pros and cons in the media too much, I heard about it. It-s not my position to get involved with this and my first and foremost occupation is to get a good team together. I had a chat to Harry I was impressed by his attitude, his approach and his commitment to the team."

The Socceroos take on Switzerland on September 3 and Poland on September 7, before a clash with Paraguay at the Sydney Football Stadium on October 9.

Full Socceroos squad: Michael BEAUCHAMP (Melbourne Heart), Nathan BURNS, (AEK Athens), Tim CAHILL (Everton), David CARNEY (FC Twente) Jason CULINA (Gold Coast United), Brett EMERTON (Blackburn Rovers), Adam FEDERICI (gk) (Reading FC), Richard GARCIA (Hull City), Brett HOLMAN (AZ Alkmaar), Mile JEDINAK (Genclerbirligi), Josh KENNEDY (Nagoya Grampus), Harry KEWELL (Galatasaray), Scott MCDONALD (Middlesbrough), Lucas NEILL (Galatasaray), Jade NORTH (Wellington Phoenix), Mark SCHWARZER (gk) (Fulham), Matthew SPIRANOVIC (Urawa Red Diamonds), Carl VALERI (Sassuolo), Dario VIDOSIC (Nurnberg), Luke WILKSHIRE (Dinamo Moscow).