Australian Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has named his first squad, with some surprises. Interestingly, 39 players have been named ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Qatar on February 6 - and Verbeek has promised to cull that squad down to 18.

The squad was expected to be 23 strong and made up of mainly A-League players, with the potential for some European-based stars to be added in.

Due to scheduling, most leagues have not postponed fixtures ahead of the match. This means a number of European-based Socceroos would have to play on Sunday in Europe and fly to Melbourne to play on Wednesday. Australia has often had a tense relationship with clubs in Europe and Verbeek will not want to make this any worse and jeopardise getting key players released for the crunch qualifiers later in the schedule.

'For all Verbeek’s worry that the A-League is not up to standard, an all A-League XI is undefeated in international competition'

Verbeek has been running training camps for the best talent in the A-League over the past few weeks (which saw the senior side defeated 2-1 by the Under-23s in a training match), while also travelling the country to watch matches. His training squad of 30 A-League players was culled down to 20 A-Leaguers who have been joined by 19 foreign-based players, many of whom were members of the World Cup squad, but would be unlikely additions to the squad.

The last time an all A-League XI played for the Socceroos, they ran out winners against Bahrain in Sydney, so for all Verbeek’s worry that the A-League is not up to standard, an all A-League XI is undefeated in international competition (albeit after playing only one match).

The goalkeeper position is one that will be fiercely contested. With Mark Schwarzer, Ante Covic and Danny Vukovic in the squad, it is assumed that Schwarzer will not make the cut and  Covic and Vukovic will be fighting it out for the number two keeper position for the World Cup qualifiers,