Socceroos without Mile Jedinak for World Cup playoff against Syria

SOCCEROOS coach Ange Postecoglou has rung the changes for next month’s World Cup qualifying playoff with Syria, with five new faces coming into camp.

Australia will be without Mile Jedinak for the Syria clash

SOCCEROOS coach Ange Postecoglou has declared that his team will not hold back in the World Cup qualifiers, though they will head to enemy territory without their captain.

Mile Jedinak has failed in his attempt to get up for the World Cup playoffs, with his groin issues persisting after playing 45 minutes for Aston Villa on September 12.

Norway-based Alex Gersbach was left out after just recovering from injury, with Dutch-based Craig Goodwin and Turkey-based Aziz Behich earning a recall.

Israel-based striker Nikita Rukavytsya is the selection bolter, replacing Darmstadt striker Jamie Maclaren.

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Western Sydney right-back Josh Risdon was recalled, with Korea-based Matt Jurman earning a maiden call-up.

Postecoglou expected Syria to sit back in the first leg on October 5 in Malaysia, but said his team would attack.

“The plan was to qualify directly, but if we get four more pressure games it will do us a world of good,’’ Postecoglou said.

“Syria are a good side, like most teams in Asia now. They’ll sit back and make it hard for us. Nothing will surprise us.

“Our approach wont change, we’ll try and take the game to them, that will hopefully put us on the front foot when we come here.

“We’ll go hard at it in that first game and see if they cope with that.

“I am confident that we have a group of players capable of achieving our goal of progressing to the next stage of qualification.”

Mark Milligan or Tim Cahill will captain the side in Jedinak’s absence and Postecoglou admitted his presence would be missed.

Jedinak, 33, attempted to get some games into him after off-season surgery but came off at half-time when he felt soreness in the draw with Middlesbrough and has been sidelined since.

Postecoglou revealed that Jedinak had been playing hurt for an extended period, including the 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia last June, before he was released prior to the Confederations Cup.

“He soldiered on for us for over 12 months without being 100 per cent fit and he’s an important part of what we do,’’ he said.

“He is the sort of guy who, even if he was half a chance he would put his hand up.

“It was tough for him to pull out of the Confederations Cup, he was really looking forward to that, but we made that decision with an eye to these qualifiers.

“Unfortunately he couldn’t come up for this (squad).’’

Socceroos squad v Syria

Goalkeepers

Mat Ryan (Brighton, ENG), Mitch Langerak (Levante, SPA), Danny Vukovic (Genk, BEL)

Defenders

Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, TUR), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F Marinos, JAP), Mathew Jurman (Suwon Bluewings, KOR), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu Suning, CHI), Brad Smith (Bournemouth), Bailey Wright (Bristol, ENG)

Midfielders

Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield, ENG), Massimo Luongo (QPR, ENG), Mustafa Amini (AGF, DEN), Craig Goodwin (Sparta Rotterdam, NET), Jackson Irvine (Hull City, ENG).

Strikers

Tim Cahill (Melbourne City), Tomi Juric (Luzern, SWI), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa, ISR), Robbie Kruse (Bochum, GER), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin, GER), Tom Rogic (Celtic, SCO), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory)

Omitted from original 30

Mark Birighitti (NAC Breda, NET) Alex Gersbach (Rosenborg, NOR) Ryan McGowan (Al-Sharjah, SAU) Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa, ENG) James Jeggo (Sturn Graz, AUT) Awer Mabil (Pacos de Ferreira, POR) Jamie Maclaren (Darmstadt, GER)

Originally published as Socceroos without Mile Jedinak for World Cup playoff against Syria