Socceroos midfielder Mark Milligan and coach Ange Postecoglou, who has named 46 players in his Asian Cup. Picture: Jay Town Source: News Corp Australia

Asian Cup squad. Source: TheAustralian

Under the rules of the tournament, the Socceroos coach had until yesterday to provide the Asian Football Confederation with a provisional squad of up to 50 before he has to reduce it to 23 by December 30.

The significance of the selection process is that Postecoglou would only be able to call on players on that list if there were to be withdrawals from the final squad after the December 30 deadline.

There were few surprises among the 46 players as Postecoglou picked all 23 who were part of the World Cup in Brazil in June.

In a great show of faith in the A-League, he named 16 from the national competition and, in the process, revived the international career of Nathan Burns.

Burns hasn’t been seen in the green and gold since playing three games in 2011, but his outstanding goalscoring form with Wellington Phoenix this season was simply too good for Postecoglou to ignore.

But whether the 26-year-old striker makes the final cut remains to be seen, given the coach’s comments regarding the 25 or 26 names he has pencilled in.

Postecoglou said he could have gone with a narrow pool of players and stuck with it, but the opportunity was there to ensure he could cast his net wide and take into account a lot of options and scenarios.

“I don’t know about certainties for the final squad, but I have an idea of probably 25 or 26 who will figure for the 23,” Postecoglou said.

“Having said that, I don’t want to be left short like at the World Cup when we didn’t really have any options when he got some late injuries.

“It was a matter of casting the net far and wide and we will keep an eye on all the players who have been selected in this preliminary list.

“I wanted also to send a message that certain players are on my radar, not just for now but beyond the Asian Cup.”

Those players include the likes of Burns, Germany-based Mustafa Amini and Perth Glory trio Daniel De Silva, Mitch Nichols and Josh Risdon.

“I think in terms of recent form and guys like Nathan Burns, great form and goals in games really count ... they are the things I am looking for,” Postecoglou said.

Similarly, the selection of 17-year-old whiz kid De Silva is an indication that Postecoglou is going to leave nothing to chance in his search to improve a national team that has slipped to 102 in the world rankings.

“I’ve had an eye on Daniel for some time,” he said. “He was outstanding in the under-20s World Cup as the youngest player there.

“International football, even at under age level, is a good indicator of a player’s ability.

“This is great encouragement for Daniel to take his game to another level.”

Not surprisingly, Postecoglou has moved to shore up his defensive options, an area that has let him down since he took the reins of the national team 12 months ago.

The Socceroos have consistently leaked goals and Postecoglou is determined to rectify the problem.

“At the back we have probably consistently lacked real depth,” he said. “It is great, however, that the likes of Trent Sainsbury has had some opportunities between the World Cup and now.

“We also have a fit Matthew Spiranovic back and with Alex Wilkinson and Nikolai Topor-Stanley and the others, all of a sudden we have extra depth we didn’t have going into Brazil.”