Blackburn Rovers utility Brett Emerton and captain Lucas Neill have been included in a full-strength Australian squad for this month's home internationals against the Netherlands and Oman.

Emerton is in line to play his first international since recovering from a knee injury sustained while playing for Blackburn in the English Premier League last January. Neill missed Australia's last two internationals against Republic of Ireland and Korea Republic while he switched clubs from West Ham United to Everton.

The Australians will face fellow 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifiers the Netherlands in Sydney on 10 October, before taking on Oman in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier in Melbourne four days later. Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek picked his best available squad for the two matches, recalling Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Scott Chipperfield and Luke Wilkshire, who all missed Australia's 3-1 loss to South Korea in Seoul on 5 September.

He also included former Ireland Under-21 international left-back Shane Lowry for the first time after the Australian-born defender chose to pursue his international future with Australia. Only two A-League-based players were named, Gold Coast United midfielder Jason Culina and Brisbane Roar defender Craig Moore.

Last September the Socceroos downed the Dutch 2-1 in Eindhoven after drawing 1-1 with them in Rotterdam in the lead-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Australia, currently in fourth place in their AFC Asian Cup qualification group, need to beat group leaders Oman to stay in contention for the 2011 finals in Qatar.

The Socceroos drew 1-1 with Oman in their only meeting during the group stage of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup in Bangkok where Tim Cahill scored the equaliser in the 90th minute.

Australia squad
Goalkeepers: Ante Covic (Elfsborg/Sweden), Mark Schwarzer (Fulham/England)

Defenders: David Carney (Twente/Netherlands), Scott Chipperfield (Basel, Switzerland), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leeds United/England), Mark Milligan (Shanghai Shenhua/China), Craig Moore (Brisbane Roar), Lucas Neill (Everton/England), Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough/England), Luke Wilkshire (Dinamo Moscow/Russia)

Midfielders: Mark Bresciano (Palermo/Italy), Tim Cahill (Everton/England), Nick Carle (Crystal Palace/England), Jason Culina (Gold Coast United), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers/England), Vince Grella (Blackburn Rovers/England), Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar/Netherlands), Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor/Turkey), Shane Lowry (Aston Villa/England), Carl Valeri (Grosseto/Italy)

Forwards: Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus/Japan), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray/Turkey), Scott McDonald (Celtic/Scotland), Dario Vidosic (Nuremberg/Germany)