Graham Arnold is insisting that Tom Rogic reports for Asian Cup duty on December 27- two days before Celtic play in the Glasgow derby at Ibrox.
Yesterday it emerged that the Socceroos squad will gather together on December 27 to prepare for the Asian Cup which opens with a match against Jordan on January 6.
Australia also face Palestine and Syria in the group phase with the top two going through as well as four of the six third placed teams.
Jordan are sitting at 109 in the FIFA rankings but Arnold is insisting on having all of his players in place more than a week ahead of their opening group match at the Asian Cup.
“The Wizard of Oz will be there,” he told The Sun. “I spoke to Tom on Tuesday and he’s great, just fantastic.
“The Fifa rules are that the players can come in on December 24. We are giving them an extra game on Boxing Day but it’s one rule for everyone.
“I spent eight weeks in Europe recently, going around all the clubs. We had great communication with the clubs and it’s good for the players to play on Boxing Day.
“We have 12 or 13 guys who will hopefully get 90 minutes and then come to the camp. We are very happy with that.”
Celtic have had to accept that following international trips back home Rogic is unavailable for the next club match
In November Rogic played in a friendly against South Korea but stayed on in Australia although he was injured for a friendly three days later against Lebanon. He then missed Celtic’s match at Hamilton.
Celtic could have insisted that Rogic returned to Glasgow for treatment, if he misses the match at Ibrox to prepare for a group match against Jordan the Socceroos may discover that a relationship works two ways with Rogic unavailable for all matches outwith designated FIFA dates.
Australia’s natural confederation is Oceania but they shifted to Asia to take part in better quality matches and avoid World Cup play-offs against South American countries.