Celtic’s Rogic back for Socceroos’ WC qualifiers

Long time between drinks: Tom Rogic has recovered from injury to earn a spot in the Socceroos squad for the match against Bangladesh in Perth.

With Rogic back – and Kruse and Luongo, both of whom missed the 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Kyrgyzstan in June – Postecoglou has a mouth-watering array of goal-scoring options at his disposal.

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.

Kruse has not pulled on green and gold since a recurrence of his troublesome knee injury in last year’s Asian Cup final triumph.

Several bolters have been included in uncapped goal-keeper Alex Cisak and midfielder Jackson Irvine, whose only game for the Socceroos came against Canada in October 2013.

The Socceroos take on Bangladesh in Perth on September 3 and Tajikistan in Dushanbe on September 8.

In a clear message to players struggling for game time at their clubs or those still looking for a contract, including free agents Tommy Oar and Oliver Bozanic, Postecoglou warned he won’t be so charitable at the selection table next time around.

“With this squad we’ve made a couple of exceptions, but certainly for the next squad and beyond, we’ll more than likely be picking guys who are playing regular football, whoever that may be”.

“I’m sure he would prefer playing as well but he is still the captain of our country and Mile every time he has played for us has done an enormous job”, he said. “There’s enough there to motivate the players”. It is 15 months since he was last in a national squad.

Next month’s Group B fixtures are expected to result in further wins for the Australians, but Postecoglou said the Bishkek experience had heightened the emphasis on getting home wins to ensure a smooth passage through to the next stage.

“He’s still nowhere near where he wants to be and hopefully 12 months of solid football this season with Celtic will help him get there”, he said.