Uncapped trio for Socceroos

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13 May 2008 | 11:30 - AAP

Spiranovic... The young defender has experience against Bayern Munich and calls have long been made for him to make his national team debut (Getty Images)

Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has named three uncapped players in his squad to play Ghana in the the international in Sydney on May 23.

Goalkeeper Adam Federici, who plays for relegated English club Reading, gained a first senior national squad call up along with defenders Rodrigo Vargas of Melbourne Victory and Matthew Spiranovic, who plays for German team Nurnberg.

"We have always said that during the campaign to qualify for the World Cup we would need a large list of players," Verbeek said.

"This match will continue to build our depth and give us a chance to test some players out at the top level."

"Ghana are a very strong team and will provide us with the ideal match ahead of the game against Iraq the following week in Brisbane."

Verbeek named nine A-League players in his 23-man squad, which also contains four Olyroos - Mark Bridge, James Holland, James Troisi and Nikolai Topor-Stanley.

Spiranovic, Federici, Mile Sterjovski, Michael Petkovic and  Nick Carle were all named in their first camp since Verbeek took charge of the Socceroos.

However, Carle will miss out on the Ghana game if his English club Bristol City beats Crystal Palace to advance to the English Premier League promotion playoff.

The squad contained four goalkeepers, although Verbeek was adamant established custodian Mark Schwarzer would start the May 23 fixture.

With regular captain Lucas Neill missing the game to be his wife, who his due to give birth shortly, Verbeek said he had a number of options to lead the side against Ghana.

Among them was Harry Kewell, who Verbeek said did a good job as captain before and during the recent friendly game against Singapore.

Verbeek was confident Kewell would find a good club after being  released by English Premier League giant Liverpool and had no qualms about the injury-prone star's current level of fitness.

The game against Ghana leaves into four World Cup qualification matches in June for the Socceroos, who currently lead their Asian pool.

Socceroos squad: Daniel Allsopp (Melbourne Victory), Michael Beauchamp (Nurnberg, Germany), Mark Bridge (Sydney FC), Leigh Broxham (Melbourne Victory) Jacob Burns (Unirea Valahorum, Romania), Nick Carle (Bristol City, England), David Carney (Sheffield United, England), Ante Covic (Newcastle Jets), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands) Adam Federici (Reading, England), Adam Griffiths (Newcastle Jets), Joel Griffiths (Avispa Fukuoka, Japan), James Holland (Newcastle Jets), Mile Jedinak (Central Coast Mariners), Harry Kewell (Liverpool, England), Jade North (Newcastle Jets), Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor, Turkey), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England), Matthew Spiranovic (Nurnberg, Germany), Mile Sterjovski (Derby County, England), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory), James Troisi (Newcastle United, England), Carl Valeri (Grosseto, Italy), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne Victory).