Verbeek names Middle East squad

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The Socceroos will take a squad of 26 players to the Middle East where Australia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers will continue with matches against Iraq and Qatar.

The Socceroos will take a squad of 26 players to the Middle East where Australia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers will continue with matches against Iraq and Qatar.

A goal from captain Harry Kewell last night gave the Socceroos a 1-0 win over Iraq and the two teams will clash again in Dubai on 7 June before the Australians travel to Doha to face Qatar on 14 June and then return for the match against China in Sydney on 22 June, presented by FOXTEL.

“We will take 23 field players and three goalkeepers with us,” Pim said today. “It will be two very tough weeks; we came here to Brisbane, because of the weather and climate, to make it easier to acclimatize to go to the 40 degree heat in Dubai. But that didn-t work out.”

“But we have the three points and we don-t know exactly what to expect in Dubai; we will find out in the coming days.

“We need a big squad, because we now have five players on yellow cards and worst case scenario is they all get a card and miss the next game against Qatar, so definitely necessary to take a lot of players.

“We may also have Josh Kennedy and the news is he is getting fitter and fitter and may also join us, which makes it 24, plus Lucas will join us for the Qatar game all going well, with the birth of the babies due this week. Plan is he will join us on the 8th and be with us for the Qatar and China games.”

Socceroos SQUAD Michael Beauchamp (FC Nurnberg, Germany), Mark Bresciano (US Citta di Palermo, Italy), Nick Carle (Bristol City FC, England), David Carney (Sheffield United FC, England), Ante Covic (Newcastle Jets, Australia), Chris Coyne (Colchester United FC, England), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Holland), Bruce Djite (Adelaide United FC, Australia), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers, England), Vince Grella (Torino FC Spa, Italy), James Holland (Newcastle Jets, Australia), Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen, Holland), Mile Jedinak (Central Coast Mariners FC, Australia), Harry Kewell (Liverpool FC, England), Scott McDonald (Celtic FC, Scotland), Jade North (Newcastle Jets, Australia), Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor, Turkey), Mark Schwarzer (Fulham FC, England), Matthew Spiranovic (FC Nurnberg, Germany), Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory, Australia), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory FC, Australia), James Troisi (Newcastle United FC, England), Carl Valeri (US Grosseto FC, Italy), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne Victory FC, Australia), Luke Wilkshire (FC Twente, Holland), Ruben Zadkovich (Derby County FC, England)