Former Perth Glory star Nikita Rukavytsya has been named in the Qantas Socceroos squad for the upcoming international friendly match against Germany National Football Team “The “Mannschaft”, at Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach on Tuesday 29 March 2011.
Former Perth Glory star Nikita Rukavytsya has been named in the Qantas Socceroos squad for the upcoming international friendly match against Germany National Football Team “The “Mannschaft”, at Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach on Tuesday 29 March 2011.
Qantas Socceroos Head Coach Holger Osieck selected a reduced squad of 17 players comprising of 15 who were part of the Qantas Socceroos squad that finished runners-up at the recent AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011.
Rukavytsya returns to the squad after last being selected for the international friendly against Slovenia.
The young striker has been in impressive form for his club side Hertha Berlin, setting up another goal on the weekend, to take his tally of assists to ten for the season.
Hertha Berlin are currently on top of the 2.Bundesliga by 4 points with eight games to play.
In other selection news goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak received his first ever call-up to the Qantas Socceroos squad following some impressive performances with his German club Borussia Dortmund.
Germany finished in 3rd place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, is currently ranked 3rd in the FIFA World Rankings and most recently drew 1-1 with Italy in a friendly match last month.
This will be the fourth meeting of the two nations at senior men-s international level with the Germans victorious on each of the three previous occasions which includes their 4-0 victory over the Qantas Socceroos at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa.
In addition, a squad of 22 players have been selected to participate in a training camp for potential Qantas Socceroos, Qantas Olyroos and Qantas Young Socceroos by Football Federation Australia Technical Director Han Berger, Holger Osieck, Qantas Olyroos Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar and Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen.
The purpose of the camp will be to identify Europe-based players for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, 2012 London Olympic Games qualifying campaign and 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be played in Colombia in August.
This training camp will be held prior to the Qantas Socceroos training camp in Duisburg ,Germany from the 22nd to 25th March and will involve two training matches against local teams Borussia Mönchengladbach Reserves (23/3) and Schalke 04 Reserves (24/3).
The squad for the international friendly is:
QANTAS SOCCEROOS SQUAD – Tuesday 15 March 2011
Tim CAHILL – Everton FC, England 52 (23) FW
David CARNEY -Blackpool FC, England 38 (5) DF
Brett EMERTON – Blackburn Rovers, England 83 (17) MF
Brett HOLMAN – AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands 45 (6) MF
Mile JEDINAK – Genclerbirligi SK, Turkey 24 (2) MF
Harry KEWELL – Galatasaray SK, Turkey 53 (16) MF
Neil KILKENNY – Leeds United FC, England 7 (0) MF
Robbie KRUSE – Melbourne Victory, Australia 4 (1) FW
Mitchell LANGERAK – Borussia Dortmund, Germany – GK
Jon McKAIN – Al Nassr, Saudi Arabia 14 (0) DF
Matt McKAY – Brisbane Roar, Australia 13 (0) MF
Lucas NEILL – Galatasaray SK, Turkey 70 (0) DF
Sasa OGNENOVSKI – Seongnam Ilhwa, Korea Republic 8 (1) DF
Nikita RUKAVYTSYA – Hertha Berlin, Germany 7 (0) FW
Mark SCHWARZER – Fulham FC, England 88 (0) GK
Carl VALERI – U.S. Sassuolo Calcio, Italy 35 (1) MF
Luke WILKSHIRE – FK Dinamo Moscow, Russia 56 (3) DF
Australian National Teams Training Camp Squad
Duisburg, Germany
22nd – 25th March 2011
Shane CANSDELL-SHERRIFF – Shrewsbury Town, England DF (Qantas Socceroos)
Mitchell LANGERAK – Borussia Dortmund, Germany GK (Qantas Socceroos)
Adrian MADASCHI – Portogruara, Italy DF (Qantas Socceroos)
Adam SAROTA – FC Utrecht, Netherlands MF (Qantas Socceroos)
James TROISI – Kayserispor, Turkey FW (Qantas Socceroos)
Michael ZULLO – FC Utrecht, Netherlands DF (Qantas Socceroos)
Dean BOUZANIS – Liverpool FC, England GK (Qantas Olyroos)
Apostolos GIANNOU – AO Kavala, Greece FW (Qantas Olyroos)
Chris HERD – Aston Villa, England MF (Qantas Olyroos)
James HOLLAND – Sparta Rotterdam, Netherland (on-loan from AZ Alkmaar) MF (Qantas Olyroos)
Shane LOWRY – Sheffield United, England (on-loan from Aston Villa) DF (Qantas Olyroos)
Ryan McGOWAN – Partick Thistle, Scotland (on loan from Hearts) DF (Qantas Olyroos)
Aaron MOOY – St Mirren, Scotland MF (Qantas Olyroos)
Kearyn BACCUS – Le Mans, France MF (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Ante DRAZINA – Hertha Berlin, Germany DF (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Corey GAMIERO – Fulham FC, England FW (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Bradden INMAN – Newcastle United, England MF (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Josip KONYIT – Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia MF (Qantas Young Socceroos)
George LAMBADARIDIS – Club Brugge, Belgium MF (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Mathew LECKIE – Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany FW (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Massimo LUONGO – Tottenham Hotspurs, England MF (Qantas Young Socceroos)
Brent McGRATH – Brøndby IF, Denmark FW (Qantas Young Socceroos)
