A SWATHE of A-League players have been put on standby to face England in two and a half weeks, as Ange Postecoglou grapples with a lengthy list of likely absentees for the game against the Three Lions.

The Socceroos squad to be named this week for the game on May 27 is almost certain to be shorn of all the Australian players based in China, while Massimo Luongo and Matthew Leckie will miss out through family reasons.

It means that Postecoglou’s squad to face England for the first time in 13 years will be augmented by A-League players who in some cases will not have played for up to six weeks against Roy Hodgson’s side at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.

England by contrast will be playing 12 days after the end of the EPL season and Hodgson is likely to select a full-strength team in what is a key part of the his side’s build-up to the Euro 16 tournament that begins a fortnight later.

The game with Australia will not fall on a FIFA date, and so the quintet of Socceroos based in China — Tim Cahill, Matthew Spiranovic, Trent Sainsbury, Ryan McGowan and Apostolos Giannou — are almost certain to be refused release by their clubs.

The only exception might yet be Cahill, whose contract with Hangzhou Greentown runs only until June. The veteran striker has made clear his desperation to face England, but will still struggle to convince his club to allow him to travel.

With Luongo not selected to face England to stay with his partner for the imminent arrival of their first child, and Leckie also missing to get married, Postecoglou will take the drastic step of naming a different squad next week for the two games against Greece that follow shortly after the England clash, in Sydney and Melbourne.

In the meantime a variety of players in Australia have been told to keep themselves fit for possible inclusion against England, including Adelaide midfielder Stefan Mauk. It’s believed that Mauk, who played a significant role in Adelaide’s incredible rise from the bottom of the league to becoming champions, is under serious consideration for the squad to face England, as a replacement for Luongo.

Brisbane striker Jamie Maclaren is also likely to be close to selection, after continuing his scoring spree into the finals to become the first Australian to score 20 goals in an A-League season. With Cahill and Giannou likely to be missing, the only alternative is Tomi Juric who is fit and playing again for Roda JC in Holland, though is without a goal since December after a three-month absence through injury.

Other A-League players likely to be included are Aaron Mooy, Alex Wilkinson and Josh Risdon, even though none has played for weeks. Melbourne Victory fullback Jason Geria has the advantage of his club’s ongoing Asian Champions League campaign, but will have to play against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the Round of 16 second leg just three days before the Socceroos game, making his inclusion in the Australian squad highly questionable.