Football
AAP 6y

Australia sweating on Jedinak fitness for World Cup playoff vs. Honduras

Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou will give Mile Jedinak every chance of proving his fitness for next month's World Cup qualifying playoff with Honduras.

Jedinak, the Socceroos spiritual leader and Postecoglou's on-field lieutenant, has been named as part of an extended 30-man squad for the home-and-away tie.

Bolters Matthew Jurman and Nikita Rukavytsya have been retained after impressing in Australia's win over Syria earlier this month.

Of the final 23-man group that scraped through the Asian playoff, only Brad Smith is missing from the latest squad.

The left-back departed the Socceroos' second-leg victory early with injury, and hasn't played at club level since.

Neither has Jedinak, sidelined at Aston Villa due to a lingering groin complaint.

But Australia's bearded warrior is needed more than ever.

More than 110 caps worth of experience will be missing from the Socceroos' first leg in Honduras, with Mark Milligan (63 caps) and Mat Leckie (48) suspended.

While veteran Tim Cahill will be there, as well as 59-cap forward Robbie Kruse, there's no doubt Jedinak's availability would be desired to improve Australia's on-field experience.

"There are a couple of weeks before the group gets together so we will be monitoring the health and fitness of every player to make sure that the final 23 are available for what is going to be a challenging couple of games," Postecoglou said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We feel that we are right on schedule with regards to our arrangements, logistics and intelligence for Honduras, and are comfortable that the work completed and decisions made so far will help us in our quest to qualify for Russia."

Jedinak has struggled with injury for months.

He has played just 145 minutes of football since April; a full match in June's World Cup qualifying win over Saudi Arabia and a half in September for Villa.

Australia are likely to take 21 players to San Pedro Sula given suspensions to Milligan and Leckie, who will travel directly to Sydney for the second leg.

Honduras hosts the first leg of the intercontinental playoff on Friday Nov. 10 before the decisive match at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday Nov. 15.

The 30-man squad comes from 18 countries across Europe and Asia, and four based in the A-League.

There are three uncapped players; James Jeggo, Awer Mabil and Danny Vukovic.

Seven players will be cut by Postecoglou at the final squad's unveiling next week.

Full squad

Goalkeepers: Mark Birighitti (NAC Breda, Netherlands), Mitchell Langerak (Levante, Spain), Mat Ryan (Brighton, England), Danny Vukovic (Genk, Belgium)

Defenders: Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Milos Degenek (Yokohama Marinos, Japan), Alex Gersbach (Rosenborg, Norway), Craig Goodwin (Sparta Rotterdam, Netherlands), Matthew Jurman (Suwon, South Korea), Ryan McGowan (Al Sharjah, UAE), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney Wanderers), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu Suning, China), Bailey Wright (Bristol City, England)

Midfielders: Mustafa Amini (AGF, Denmark), Jackson Irvine (Hull City, England), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa, England), James Jeggo (Sturm Graz, Austria), Massimo Luongo (QPR, England), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town, England), Tom Rogic (Celtic, Scotland), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory)

Forwards: Tim Cahill (Melbourne City), Ajdin Hrustic (Groningen, Netherlands), Tom Juric (Luzern, Switzerland), Robbie Kruse (Bochum, Germany), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Awer Mabil (Pacos de Ferreira, Portugal), Jamie Maclaren (Darmstadt, Germany), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa, Israel)

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