Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou watches numerous football matches each week as part of his job, keeping tabs on the form, fitness and game time of all his Socceroo charges as they ply their trade all over the world. This weekend his gaze will be more intense than usual as he tries to decide who makes his final 23-man squad to travel to Thailand next month, and who misses out.

This week Postecoglou announced an extended 30-man squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Thailand, that included seven additional players to the 23 selected for the Saudi Arabia and Japan games played early in October.

The seven include four A-League players, Melbourne City midfielder Luke Bratten, full backs Jason Geria and Josh Risdon, and Brisbane Roar’s winger Tommy Oar. Three overseas players included are Nathan Burns and defenders Milos Dejenak and Aziz Behich.

“We have decided to name an extended squad for this game so I can have another look at the matches being played all over the world this weekend,” Postecoglou explained to Fox Sports.

“We have players who are in the squad or on the fringe, including those playing in the Hyundai A-League, that are just starting their seasons, and with the tight turnaround from Japan to Thailand I wanted to have another look at them after they have shown good signs in the opening rounds.”

He also said there were a couple of players still under an injury cloud, such as Brad Smith and Milos Dejenak, and rather than rule them out, he wants to give them more time to train and show their fitness before finalising his squad.

There are also some concerns surrounding overseas-based players who haven’t been able to get consistent game time at their clubs such as Robbie Kruse, and the inclusion of players such as Nathan Burns and Tommy Oar is an indication that Postecoglou wants more depth in the squad for the position that Kruse plays.

Postecoglou has no such concerns around veteran striker Tim Cahill, who has featured prominently for Melbourne City in the early part of the season.

“I think you’ve seen what he brings not just in his individual ability but his ability to raise a group,” Postecoglou said.

“He’s done that with City. He’s certainly leading from the front. He’ll be a marked man from now on. That’s what Timmy likes. That’s great because he’ll be in tip-top form when we’re in camp.”

Speaking of which, Postecoglou says he’ll take the opportunity of having just the one match scheduled in this FIFA window, to prepare with an extended training camp rather that play a practice match.

“Once the draw came out, I saw it as a little bit of a window for a couple of things. One is, it gives us a chance to have a strong performance and get three points. We want to make sure that the players − all the usual issues of them coming in and their conditioning, that we can get over it. And it also gives us the chance to have four or five meaningful training sessions, which we don’t normally get.”

The match against Thailand is scheduled to take place in Bangkok on Tuesday 15 November and will proceed as scheduled despite some initial uncertainty following the recent death of the Thai king.

SOCCEROOS SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS
Adam Federici (Bournemouth, England), Mitch Langerak (Stuttgart, Germany), Mat Ryan (Valencia, Spain)

DEFENDERS
Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Milos Degenek (1860 Munich, Germany), Jason Geria (Melbourne Victory), Alex Gersbah (Rosenbory, Norway), Ryan McGowan (Henan Jianye, China), Josh Risdon (Perth Glory), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu, China), Brad Smith (Bournemouth, England), Matthew Spiranovic (Huangzhou Greentown, China), Bailey Wright (Preston North End, England)

MIDFIELDERS
Luke Brattan (Melbourne City), Chris Ikonomidis (Aarhus, Denmark), Jackson Irvine (Burton Albion, England), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa, England) James Jeggo (Sturm Graz, Austria), Massimo Luongo (QPR, England), Mark Milligan (Baniyas, UAE), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield, England), Tom Rogic (Celtic, Scotland)

ATTACKERS
Nathan Burns (FC Tokyo, Japan), Tim Cahill (Melbourne City), Apostolos Giannou (Guangzhou, China), Craig Goodwin (Sparta Rotterdam, Netherlands), Tomi Juric (Luzern, Switzerland), Robbie Kruse (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Mathew Leckie (Ingolstadt, Germany), Tommy Oar (Brisbane Roar)