Melbourne Victory will be missing their new club captain for their crunch Round 1 fixture with cross-town rivals Melbourne Heart, after Mark Milligan was named in a 24-player provisional squad to face France and Canada.
Australian coach Holger Osieck called up the 28-year-old defensive midfielder, but surprisingly left out his Victory team-mate Archie Thompson.
Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou seemed unperturbed by the news when asked about Milligan’s absence this afternoon, preferring to dwell on the positives.
“I expected both of them to be in it (Thompson and Milligan), it’s a little bit of a surprise that Archie isn’t,” he said.
“Obviously we expected Mark to be there – to be honest we were planning Round 1 without both of them so it’s a massive boost to have Archie available.
“I’m not sure the reasons why he’s been left out but I guess it’s a big season, [if he] bangs in some goals he’ll get back to being in the national team.”
The Melbourne Derby has been contested since Melbourne Heart’s introduction to the Australian top-tier competition in 2010, with both side having won three fixtures each and drawing another three meetings.
Archie Thompson is currently the leading goal scorer still playing for either team with three goals for Victory, and his talismanic qualities was not lost on his coach.
“I’m sure our supporters are pretty pleased that he will be playing in the derby because he’s done pretty well in those games,” Postecoglou said.
Milligan will be only one of two Australian-based players to be called up for the games against France (11 October) and Canada (15 October), with the other being Brisbane Roar’s Matt McKay.
Melbourne Heart will not be contributing any players to the Australian team, and will therefore likely have a full strength squad to choose from for the derby bar injury.
Socceroos Squad for France and Canada International Friendly Matches – 11 & 15 October 2013
| NAME | CLUB | Caps (goals) |
| Oliver BOZANIC | FC Luzern, SWITZERLAND |
– |
| Mark BRESCIANO | Al Gharafa, QATAR |
70 (13) |
| Tim CAHILL | New York Red Bulls, USA |
64 (28) |
| David CARNEY | New York Red Bulls, USA |
46 (6) |
| Jason DAVIDSON | SC Heracles Almelo, NETHERLANDS |
1 (0) |
| James HOLLAND | FK Austria Vienna, AUSTRIA |
10 (0) |
| Brett HOLMAN | Al Nasr Sports Club, UAE |
63 (9) |
| Jackson IRVINE | Kilmarnock FC, SCOTLAND |
– |
| Mile JEDINAK | Crystal Palace FC, ENGLAND |
39 (3) |
| Josh KENNEDY | Nagoya Grampus, JAPAN |
32 (16) |
| Robbie KRUSE | TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, GERMANY |
27 (3) |
| Mitchell LANGERAK (gk) | B.V. Borussia 09 Dortmund, GERMANY |
– |
| Matthew LECKIE | FSV Frankfurt 1899, GERMANY |
2 (0) |
| Matthew McKAY | Brisbane Roar FC, AUSTRALIA |
42 (1) |
| Mark MILLIGAN | Melbourne Victory FC, AUSTRALIA |
25 (2) |
| Lucas NEILL | Omiya Ardija, JAPAN |
93 (1) |
| Tommy OAR | FC Utrecht, NETHERLANDS |
11 (1) |
| Sasa OGNENOVSKI | Umm Salal SC, QATAR |
22 (1) |
| Tommy ROGIC | Celtic FC, SCOTLAND |
7 (0) |
| Nikita RUKAVYTSYA | FSV Frankfurt 1899, GERMANY |
11 (1) |
| Mat RYAN (gk) | Club Brugge KV, BELGIUM |
2 (0) |
| Dario VIDOSIC | FC Sion, SWITZERLAND |
18 (1) |
| Luke WILKSHIRE | FK Dinamo Moscow, RUSSIA |
78 (8) |
| Rhys WILLIAMS | Middlesbrough FC, ENGLAND |
11 (0) |
Upcoming Match Details
France v Socceroos
Friday 11 October 2013
Parc de Princes, Paris, France
Kick-off: 9.00pm CEST (6:00am AEDT)
Time Zone
CEST: Central European Summer Time (UTC + 2)
AEST: Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC + 10)
Socceroos v Canada
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Craven Cottage, Fulham, London, England
Kick-off: 8.00pm BST (6:00am AEDT)
Time Zone
BST: British Summer Time (UTC + 1)
AEST: Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC + 11)