Juric caps an extraordinary August

It will take something special to top what Western Sydney Wanderers FC young gun Tomi Juric has experienced in the last 11 days.

The in-form Juric was on Thursday called into Ange Postecoglou’s 20-man Socceroos squad for next month’s friendlies against Belgium and Saudi Arabia in Europe.

It comes on the back of a whirlwind few weeks for the 23-year-old, which included scoring against Italian champions Juventus in the Foxtel A-League All Stars clash, as well as helping the Wanderers put one foot in the ACL semi-finals after beating Guangzhou Evergrande 1-0 on Wednesday night.

But nothing beats national team selection, with Juric – who has three caps to his name at last year’s EAFF Cup – rewarded for his impressive pre-season form.

“We need some more depth and we need to give some guys an opportunity,” Postecoglou said OF the Wanderers striker’s selection.

“With Adam Taggart still out injured we’re kind of thin up front. We’ve got Tim Cahill obviously and Tomi’s one we want to have a look at.

“He’ll be given an opportunity. He’s obviously done well in the early part of pre-season and he did well last night (against Guangzhou).

“We kind of selected him before the game last night. It’s about trying to create some more depth.”

Juric was one of a few fresh selections in Postecooglou’s first squad since the World Cup.

Sydney FC youngster Terry Antonis gets a chance after also making his debut at the East Asian Cup, while Melbourne Victory midfielder Carl Valeri is back in the fold after injury ruled him out of World Cup reckoning.

“I know Carl very well. I’ve known him since he was 16-years-old and I would have loved to have had him available for the World Cup,” Postecoglou said.

“He’s had his injury problems but with this squad I was pretty mindful of the fact that players like (Mark Bresciano) and Josh Kennedy weren’t selected so I didn’t want to go with too young a squad.

“We needed some experience and Carl fits that bill. He’s still only just turned 30 so if fit and well he’s certainly someone that’s comes right into the frame for the Asia Cup. With this squad here I know he’ll provide some experience.”

Antonis, who was among Sydney FC’s best last season once he got over his injury problems, is relishing another crack in the Green and Gold.

“It’s an honour to be selected to go and play for your country and I can’t wait to get into camp,” the 20-year-old midfielder said.

“The selection definitely came as a shock especially after I’ve been out for so long and then coming back, but it’s good and I’m just really happy to get picked and hopefully I can go on from here.

“I would love to play at the Asian Cup in January. I’m going to give it everything I’ve got and hopefully I can play in front of my fantastic home fans. It’s going to be a great time but I know I’ll have to work hard when I get there.”

The 20-man Socceroos squad is:

NAME	CLUB, COUNTRY	A-International Caps (goals)
Terry ANTONIS	Sydney FC, AUSTRALIA	3 (0)
Joshua BRILLANTE	ACF Fiorentina, ITALY	1 (0)
Tim CAHILL	New York Red Bulls, USA	71 (34)
Jason DAVIDSON	West Bromwich Albion F.C., ENGLAND	10 (0)
Ben HALLORAN	Fortuna Dusseldorf, GERMANY	5 (0)
Chris HERD	Aston Villa FC, ENGLAND	–
Mile JEDINAK	Crystal Palace FC, ENGLAND	47 (5)
Tomi JURIC	Western Sydney Wanderers FC, AUSTRALIA	3 (1)
Robbie KRUSE	TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, GERMANY	29 (3)
Mitchell LANGERAK (gk)	B.V. Borussia 09 Dortmund, GERMANY	3 (0)
Matthew LECKIE	FC Ingolstadt 04, GERMANY	11 (1)
Massimo LUONGO	Swindon Town FC, ENGLAND	1 (0)
Mark MILLIGAN	Melbourne Victory FC, AUSTRALIA	30 (2)
Tommy OAR	FC Utrecht, NETHERLANDS	18 (1)
Mat RYAN (gk)	Club Brugge KV, BELGIUM	10 (0)
Trent SAINSBURY	P.E.C. Zwolle, NETHERLANDS	–
Brad SMITH	Swindon Town FC, ENGLAND	–
Carl VALERI	Melbourne Victory FC, AUSTRALIA	50 (1)
Alex WILKINSON	Jeonbuk Hyundai FC, KOREA REPUBLIC	6 (0)
Bailey WRIGHT	Preston North End FC, ENGLAND	–