2010 FIFA World Cup: Socceroos Bring the Youngsters and Pray on the Injured

Australia's preliminary World Cup list was released on Tuesday, the main attraction of the list being the inclusion of the still injured Kewell, Bresciano, Emerton and Grella, and the calling of one single A-League player representative for the international tournament's preliminary list: Gold Coast United's midfielder, Jason Culina.

However, with up to twelve players on the list having played in the A-League in the past, the representation of the five year old league in the World Cup is very notorious nevertheless.Verbeek has made sure not to fall in the excitement of having a national soccer league, if even a young one; leagues such as the A-League or Major League Soccer for that matter have been proved to provide its respective national teams with very valid and even key players, too many domestic players on the World Cup list could mean too little experience at an international stage.

This is evident for Australia's coach. Over 90% of the players on the 30 men list currently play in the Old Continent, most of them in England, the Netherlands or Turkey. The Australian coach is ensuring that most of his key players will be very familiar with whom they are competing against in June and hopefully, July of this year. At the same time, 16 of the 30 players listed on Tuesday were part of 2006's World Cup. Tommy Oar, recently signed by FC Utrecht this summer, also made the list. Oar will be one of the torurnament's youngest players, at eighteen years of age.

Other young players selected by Verbeek include James Holland, Nikita Rukavytsya, Shane Lowry, and Dario Vidosic.

When it comes to the injured key players, Verbeek has noted that he hopes all of them will be ready for the first game against mighty Germany. Even though the Socceroos have not had any added trouble when it comes to late injuries, which are happening all throughout the world's international teams as the domestic tournaments end, they will be struggling to make its already injured players make it to the first game in mid June.

The 30 men squad reads as follows:

Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer (Fulham), Brad Jones (Middlesbrough), Adam Federici (Reading)

Defenders: Craig Moore (No Team), Lucas Neill (Galatasaray), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow), Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel), David Carney (FC Twente), Mark Milligan (JEF United), Jade North (Tromso), Michael Beauchamp (Al-Jazira), Shane Lowry (Aston Villa), Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough)

Midfielders: Jason Culina (Gold Coast), Tim Cahill (Everton), Brett Emerton (Blackburn), Mark Bresciano (Palermo), Vince Grella (Blackburn), Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar), Carl Valeri (Sassuolo), Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor), Richard Garcia (Hull), Nicky Carle (Crystal Palace), Tommy Oar (FC Utrecht), James Holland (AZ Alkmaar)

Forwards: Harry Kewell (Galatasaray), Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus), Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough), Dario Vidosic (FC Nuremberg), Nikita Rukavytsya (FC Twente)