Five uncapped players including one Greek Australian have been selected in a 23-man Socceroos squad to play international friendlies against Germany and Macedonia later this month.

Chris Ikonomidis (Lazio), Luke DeVere (Brisbane Roar),Tarek Elrich (Adelaide United), Aaron Mooy (Melbourne City), and goalkeeper Adam Federici (Reading) join 18 players backing up from Australia’s successful Asian Cup campaign for the European fixtures.

Mark Bresciano, who recently retired from international football, injured duo Chris Herd and Robbie Kruse, Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic and Sydney FC’s Terry Antonis are the only players missing from Australia’s Asian Cup squad.

Coach Ange Postecoglou said he is rewarding the group that won the Asian Cup plus giving an opportunity to some new players at international level.

“We continue to have one eye on the four-year World Cup cycle and these players have an opportunity to show us how they’ll handle the step up,” Postecoglou said.

Australia plays world champions Germany in Kaiserslautern on March 26 (AEDT) and Macedonia in Skopje on March 31 before World Cup qualifiers commence in June.

Socceroos squad: Aziz Behich, Nathan Burns, Tim Cahill, Jason Davidson, Luke DeVere, Tarek Elrich, Adam Federici, Ivan Franjic, Chris Ikonomidis, Mile Jedinak, Tomi Juric, Mitchell Langerak, Mathew Leckie, Massimo Luongo, Matt McKay, Mark Milligan, Aaron Mooy, Tommy Oar, Mat Ryan, Trent Sainsbury, Matthew Spiranovic, James Troisi, Alex Wilkinson.

Source: ABC