Jedinak still has got a lot of football left in him: Postecoglou

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Bengaluru, September 27: Though captain Mile Jedinak has been left out of the Socceroos' 23-man squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Syria, coach Ange Postecoglou believes the door is still open for the midfielder.

The 33-year-old has played just a half for Aston Villa this season after returning from a groin injury.

He will miss Australia's crunch qualifiers against Syria, with the first leg to be played in Malaysia on October 5 and the second in Sydney five days later.

Postecoglou made five changes to the squad picked for his team's most recent matches against Japan and Thailand.

"I am confident that we have a group of players capable of achieving our goal of progressing to the next stage of qualification," he said.

"As I have mentioned on many occasions, it is important for us to have a large and vocal home crowd for the second match of this series, and I'm sure the boys will appreciate all the support from the local fans."

But he said that Jedinak still has place in his future scheme of things.

"He's still got a lot of football left in him," said Postecoglou when asked about Jedinak's future in the press conference held at Sydney Opera House.

Aziz Behich, Craig Goodwin, Nikita Rukavytsya, Matt Jurman and Josh Risdon are the five players who come into the squad.

Alex Gersbach, Awer Mabil, Jamie Maclaren, Ryan McGowan and Matthew Spiranovic drop out of the 23 that were included in the previous squad.

If the Socceroos get past Syria, they will face the fourth-placed CONCACAF nation for a spot at Russia 2018.

Squad:

Mitchell Langerak (Levante), Mat Ryan (Brighton and Hove Albion), Danny Vukovic (Genk); Aziz Behich (Bursaspor), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F Marinos), Matt Jurman (Suwon), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney Wanderers), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu Suning), Brad Smith (Bournemouth), Bailey Wright (Bristol City); Mustafa Amini (AGF Aarhus), Craig Goodwin (Sparta Rotterdam), Jackson Irvine (Hull City), Massimo Luongo (QPR), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Aaron Mooy (Melbourne Victory), Tom Rogic (Celtic), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory); Tim Cahill (Melbourne City), Tomi Juric (Luzern), Robbie Kruse (Bochum), Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin), Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa).