Rogic back for Socceroos’ World Cup qualifiers

Rogic has been rewarded for a strong start to the Scottish Premier League season with Celtic with selection in Postecoglou’s 23-man squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh and Tajikistan.

Australia opened their bid to qualify for a fifth World Cup, and fourth consecutively, with a hard fought 2-1 win in Bishkek over Kyrgyzstan in June.

Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou was delighted to welcome the trio back into the fold, saying the team is now spoilt for choice in attack.

“It’s a positive that we’ve been able to recall Massimo, Robbie and Tom Rogic after they missed recent matches, and they add attacking options to the squad”, Postecoglou said.

“We had him fit at the Asian Cup and he was fantastic for us so great to get him back, particularly in an area of the park where we still don’t have a great deal of depth, so guys like Robbie and Tommy Rogic will be good additions”.

Socceroos squad: Aziz Behich, Nathan Burns, Tim Cahill, Alex Cisak*, Jason Davidson, Tarek Elrich, Adam Federici, Jackson Irvine, Mile Jedinak (capt), Tomi Juric, Robbie Kruse, Mathew Leckie, Massimo Luongo, Ryan McGowan, Matt McKay, Mark Milligan, Aaron Mooy, Tommy Oar, Tom Rogic, Mat Ryan, Matthew Spiranovic, Alex Wilkinson, Bailey Wright. Ross County midfielder Jackson Irvine has also been elevated into the squad, two years after the 22-year-old made his one and only appearance for Australia against Canada. Players to miss out who have recently pulled on the green and gold include Oliver Bozanic, Chris Ikonimidis, Ivan Franjic and James Troisi.

Tommy Oar is the only player in the squad without a club, having recently left Dutch outfit FC Utrecht, and has the chance to impress any potential new suitors in the games against Bangladesh and Tajikistan, two nations Australia have never faced at full worldwide level. He is now being shopped around Europe.

The Socceroos take on Bangladesh in Perth on September 3 before heading to Dushanbe to meet Tajikistan five days later in their second and third fixtures of the second round of Asian Football Confederation qualifying.