Olyroos coach Aurelio Vidmar making no apologies over Rio qualifiers squad after naming five Melbourne Victory players

OLYROOS coach Aurelio Vidmar declared that he had to pick his best available squad after selecting five Melbourne Victory players for next month’s Rio 2016 qualifiers.

OLYROOS coach Aurelio Vidmar declared that he had to pick his best available squad after selecting five Melbourne Victory players for next month’s Rio 2016 qualifiers.

Vidmar said qualification for the 2016 Olympics could be the start of something special, saying a Confederations Cup and possible 2018 World Cup berth awaits the team’s best performers.

Football Federation Australia is likely to draw the ire of Victory coach Kevin Muscat for losing so many players in a key period, but Vidmar declared that shock call-up Thomas Deng was a strong chance to start for the Olyroos and predicted a Socceroos future for the defender.

Vidmar said the squad, made up of 11 overseas and 12 A-League players, had a golden chance to launch their international careers, starting with the Qatar-based Olympic qualifiers from January 12.

“Only a week ago Ange (Postecoglou) said Socceroos spots were up for grabs and if that’s not incentive for these players I don’t know what is,’’ Vidmar said.

“The next three years for these players, they could quality for the Olympics, play in the Confederations Cup in 2017 and then the World Cup in Russia 2018, what a fantastic opportunity.

“It’s extremely important for these players in their pathway to develop in the Australian way.’’

Deng was the shock call-up, leaving Victory with a record five players selected, while Brisbane Roar had three.

Vidmar was excited by the potential of Deng and several more defenders.

“He (Deng) can be (a starter for the Olyroos). He was exceptional with the Under 20s, he’s been in framework for a number of years and we’re excited by Dengi,’’ he said.

“When you look at the future there could be a nice new back four for the Socceroos, which I’m very excited about.

Connor Pain is one of five Melbourne Victory players named in the Olyroos squad. Picture: Michael Klein

“We’ve been talking about these things in the last campaign, I have to pick the best 23 available, that’s what I’ve done.

“It’s always a difficult conversation but one that we’ve had and we need to move forward.

“It’s not ideal, I understand the frustration and it’s not a great situation but we’ve got to move forward and we can’t disregard these qualifiers, getting to the Olympics is extremely important.

“All the clubs are in a difficult situation, but it’s an important tournament and they’re away for three or so weeks but they’ll get their players back nice and healthy and have them back for the rest of the season.’’

The Olyroos were robbed of six players, with Jackson Irvine (Ross County), Awer Mabil (Midtjylland), Brad Smith (Liverpool), Milos Degenek (1860 Munich), Kenneth Dougall (Sparta Rotterdam) and Ryan Williams (Barnsley) blocked by their clubs with injury ruling out Melbourne City duo Corey Gameiro and Connor Chapman.

“That’s nothing I can control, ideally we’d love to have those games in FIFA windows,’’ Vidmar said.

“Our focus can’t be on that because we’ve been talking about this for many years, it’s happened from the start.’’

Originally published as Olyroos coach Aurelio Vidmar making no apologies over Rio qualifiers squad after naming five Melbourne Victory players