Brisbane Roar duo Matt McKay and Ivan Franjic have been rewarded for their strong starts to the Hyundai A-League 2013/14 campaign, picked in new coach Ange Postecoglou’s first Socceroos squad for the upcoming friendly against Costa Rica.
Brisbane Roar duo Matt McKay and Ivan Franjic have been rewarded for their strong starts to the Hyundai A-League 2013/14 campaign, picked in new coach Ange Postecoglou’s first Socceroos squad for the upcoming friendly against Costa Rica.
McKay and Franjic, both coached by Postecoglou during his two-season stint as Brisbane Roar boss, are two of just four Hyundai A-League players in the 22-player squad.
“The first task is to have a good look at the bulk of the players who played a significant part in qualifying Australia for the 2014 World Cup and also giving opportunities to players I think have the ability to improve the team,” Postecoglou said.
“I want to give every Australian player the best opportunity to stake a claim for Brazil and beyond.”
The Roar pair will travel to Gosford to play Central Coast Mariners in this Sunday’s Hyundai A-League fixture but will go straight into national team camp until the Costa Rica match on Tuesday, 19 November.
McKay and Franjic will miss Brisbane’s round six Hyundai A-League match against Newcastle Jets in Hunter Stadium.
Socceroos squad: Oliver BOZANIC (FC Luzern, SWITZERLAND), Mark BRESCIANO Al (Gharafa, QATAR), Tim CAHILL (New York Red Bulls, USA), Jason DAVIDSON (SC Heracles Almelo, NETHERLANDS), Ivan FRANJIC (Brisbane Roar, AUSTRALIA), James HOLLAND (FK Austria Vienna, AUSTRIA), Mile JEDINAK (Crystal Palace FC, ENGLAND), Josh KENNEDY (Nagoya Grampus, JAPAN), Robbie KRUSE (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, GERMANY), Mitchell LANGERAK (gk) (B.V. Borussia 09 Dortmund, GERMANY), Matthew LECKIE (FSV Frankfurt 1899, GERMANY), Ryan McGOWAN (Shandong Luneng Taishan FC, CHINA PR), Matthew McKAY (Brisbane Roar, AUSTRALIA), Mark MILLIGAN (Melbourne Victory, AUSTRALIA), Lucas NEILL (Omiya Ardija, JAPAN), Tommy OAR (FC Utrecht, NETHERLANDS), Tom ROGIC (Celtic FC, SCOTLAND), Mat RYAN (gk) (Club Brugge KV, BELGIUM), Dario VIDOSIC (C Sion, SWITZERLAND), Rhys WILLIAMS (Middlesbrough FC, ENGLAND), Alex WILKINSON (Jeonbuk Hyundai FC, KOREA REPUBLIC), Michael ZULLO (Adelaide United, AUSTRALIA)
