Villa's Herd new face in Australia squad

15 May 2012 10:47

Aston Villa's Chris Herd was the only new face in a 26-man Australian squad named Tuesday for next month's friendly against Denmark and their World Cup qualifiers against Oman and Japan.

Herd was a regular starter for Villa this season and is one of 24 players in Holger Osieck's line-up who ply their trade abroad.

Only Harry Kewell and Melbourne Victory teammate Archie Thompson play in the domestic A-League.

Tim Cahill, Brett Holman and Matt McKay are among those returning after sitting out their match against Saudi Arabia in February.

Australia are in Group B, along with Japan, Iraq, Jordan and Oman, for the final round of the 2014 World Cup Asian qualifiers and will book a spot in Brazil with a top-two finish.

They face Oman in Muscat on June 8 and Japan in Brisbane four days later with a friendly against the Danes in Copenhagen on June 2 in preparation.

Squad: Mark Bresciano, Alex Brosque, Tim Cahill, David Carney, Nathan Coe, Adam Federici, Chris Herd, Brett Holman, Mile Jedinak, Josh Kennedy, Harry Kewell, Neil Kilkenny, Robbie Kruse, Matt McKay, Mark Milligan, Lucas Neill, Jade North, Sasa Ognenovski, Nikita Rukavytsya, Mark Schwarzer, Matt Spiranovic, Archie Thompson, Carl Valeri, Luke Wilkshire, Rhys Williams, Michael Zullo

Source: AFP