Players overlooked for Brazil friendly still have a chance of going to the World Cup.
Socceroos coach Holger Osieck insists the World Cup door remains open to the players overlooked for September’s friendly against Brazil.
A near full-strength squad will travel to Brasilia to face the 2013 Confederations Cup champions next month and it’s been insinuated that Osieck based his selection on who will be seated on the plane bound for South America.
The 64-year-old German has since refuted that suggestion and insists the players left at home for the warm-up match against the tournament hosts shouldn’t give up hope of being included in Australia party next year.
“No, definitely not. I’m still in the phase where we’re trying to find out who is going to be OK,” he explained to Sportal.
“We still have a number of test [friendly] matches ahead of us. After these matches I will make up my mind.
“There’s going to be other players who will get opportunities to show whether they are ready for the team so we are still in the phase of testing to get the right players together.”
Osieck confirmed the likes of Jason Davidson, Shane Lowry and Oliver Bozanic who missed out would be monitored in the coming months.
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