Australia pair Harry Kewell and Luke Wilkshire have been ruled out of Saturday's friendly against Korea Republic, while David Carney and Danny Invincibile have also failed to make the trip to east Asia.

Kewell has been battling an ankle injury and only played 30 minutes for Galatasaray on Monday. While he scored a goal in that time, the former Liverpool and Leeds player has been told by Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek to stay in Turkey.

"Harry played 30 minutes for Galatasaray last night and scored a goal when he came on as a substitute, but his ankle is not 100 per cent," Verbeek said. "As a result it is not worth the risk of bringing Harry to Korea for the match and it is better that he receives treatment instead."

Carney has just signed for Dutch club FC Twente and Verbeek wants the wing-back to settle into his new side. Verbeek said Wilkshire had played a lot of football in recent times and could do with a rest, while Invincibile has a back injury.

"In terms of Luke Wilkshire, he has played plenty of football in the previous two months and unfortunately for Danny Invincibile, he picked up a back injury last week and it was not advisable for him to travel by plane for such a long time as part of his recovery process," he said.

There are only 20 players left in the Australia squad for the match now, but Verbeek is confident he has the depth for the match despite missing Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill as well as Kewell and Wilkshire.

Korea Republic coach Huh-Jung Moo has also had difficulty getting a full-strength squad on the park with his K-League players unavailable due to the Korean Football Association's decision to not take a break in the national league this week.