Harry Kewell and Archie Thompson have not played a competitive fixture in almost two months forcing Holger Osieck to defend their Socceroos selection.
Socceroos coach Holger Osieck has been forced to defend his selection of Harry Kewell and Archie Thompson for next month's friendly against Denmark and following World Cup qualifiers against Oman and Japan, after admitting match fitness was a concern.
The Melbourne Victory teammates have not played a competitive fixture in almost two months after their A-League campaign ended in the final round of the regular season on March 24.
But while Osieck, who on Tuesday named an extended 26-man squad for the upcoming matches, admitted the duo - the only A-League representatives named - may not make the final cut he was adamant they deserved a shot to prove their fitness.
Osieck said he had a "very intense chat" with former Liverpool star Kewell.
"He is aware of the situation and he knows my point," Osieck said.
"He is training with a personal trainer and I will definitely give him the opportunity to show whether it is good enough or not.
"Looking back at (the final match of the previous stage of World Cup qualification in February against) Saudi Arabia, he had a decent game and whenever he plays for the team, since I've been in charge, he does a job.
"So why should I not give him the opportunity to show that he is in a good state to play?
"Harry still has a lot of potential, we can't argue that."
Osieck said he will be relying on assistant Socceroos coach Aurelio Vidmar to monitor Thompson's performance in Victory's friendly against Greek club Olympiakos at Etihad Stadium on Saturday before deciding if he'll make the final team.
"In his last game against Saudi, when he came on, we were 2-1 down and he changed the picture completely," Osieck recalled of Thompson.
"As coach you should never forget what the good players have done and at least give them the opportunity.
"But the fact that these two guys are on the list doesn't really mean that they will be included in the final selection."
Chris Herd is the only new face in the squad with Osieck saying he was delighted to finally have the West Australian, who plays for Aston Villa, fit after he was unavailable for February's fixture against Saudi Arabia due to injury.
Tim Cahill, Brett Holman and Matt McKay are among those who also missed the Saudi Arabia clash through injury or unavailability to be recalled.
Josh Kennedy was included despite being ruled out of his Japanese club Nagoya Grampus' Asian Champions League clash with the Central Coast Mariners on Tuesday night due to a back injury, with Osieck saying he was waiting on a report from his club's medical team to know the extent of the injury.
Sydney FC marquee pair Nicky Carle and Brett Emerton were not named - Carle has been dropped from the last squad, while Emerton is recovering from ankle surgery.
The Socceroos take on Denmark in Copenhagen on June 2 before kicking off their World Cup Asian fourth-round qualifying campaign against Oman in Muscat on June 8 and Japan in Brisbane four days later.
The Socceroos can book a spot in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with a top-two finish in Group B which also includes Iraq and Jordan.
Osieck will reduce the squad to 23 players prior to the qualifier against Oman.
Australia: Mark Bresciano, Alex Brosque, Tim Cahill, David Carney, Nathan Coe (GK), Adam Federici (GK), Chris Herd, Brett Holman, Mile Jedinak, Joshua Kennedy, Harry Kewell, Neil Kilkenny, Robbie Kruse, Matt McKay, Mark Milligan, Lucas Neill, Jade North, Sasa Ognenovski, Nikita Rukavytsya, Mark Schwarzer (GK), Matt Spiranovic, Archie Thompson, Carl Valeri, Luke Wilkshire, Rhys Williams, Michael Zullo.
