Glory duo Chris Ikonomidis and Matt Spiranovic have both been named in the Socceroos squad for next month’s friendly against Korea Republic in Busan.
Ikonomidis retains his place after starring for the national side at the Asian Cup earlier in the year and scoring nine goals in 20 Hyundai A-League appearances for Glory.
Spiranovic, meanwhile, returns to the Socceroos fold for the first time since 2017 having also played a key role in driving Tony Popovic’s side to the A-League Premiership.
The 30-year-old, who was a part of the Australia side that famously downed Korea Republic in the 2015 Asian Cup Final , will be looking to add to his tally of 35 senior caps.
Glory Football Director Jacob Burns was understandably delighted to see both Ikonomidis and Spiranovic making the cut and felt that a number of their club teammates could well have been named alongside them.
“Having two players in the squad is testament to the great season that we had as a club,” he said.
“In addition to Chris and Matt, we have Jason Davidson who has been placed on standby and I believe several of our other players also deserved to have come into consideration for selection.”
Among the other notable inclusions in the squad are Sydney FC duo Andrew Redmayne and Brandon O’Neill, Melbourne Victory’s Lawrence Thomas, 20-year-old defender Harry Souttar, who plays with English Championship side Stoke City, English-based winger Ryan Williams and German-based striker Brandon Borrello.
The presence of Redmayne, O’Neill and Thomas takes the number of Hyundai A-League-based players in the squad to 11 and Head Coach Graham Arnold was quick to point out how highly he values those who perform well in the domestic competition.
“Our World Cup qualification campaign preparations start now,” he said.
“The upcoming camp and friendly international in Korea Republic provides us the opportunity to expose more players to international football, which is vital as we prepare for a long qualification campaign.
“We have seen how arduous the previous World Cup path was for our squad and it is imperative that we spend this valuable time together to have a close look and some of our next generation.
“We have eleven players in this squad who have all had excellent seasons in the domestic competition and my message to those playing in the Hyundai A-League is that if you are playing regularly and consistently for your club, you will come into consideration for the next phase of World Cup qualifiers.”
Arnold’s men will be in action on Friday 7 June at the Busan Asiad Stadium with a kick-off time of 7pm WST.
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