Verbeek has named 24 players this time around because 12 of the squad will be participating in Saturday's A-League Grand Final and he wanted to ensure he had sufficient depth in the team.

Barbiero has catapulted himself from a fringe player for Adelaide into the national squad in the space of a couple of weeks after putting on a star turn against Queensland in the Preliminary Final on Saturday.

Verbeek said Barbiero's selection was more than just about his game-winning goal on the weekend, confirming he had been on the radar for national selection for some time

"You can't select a player on five seconds. He's a good part of the Adelaide midfield, he has international experience, because he has played under-age games already. He's a good player, and intelligent player and still quite young," he said. "Hopefully this can give him a bit of push for the upcoming years."

He is one of six Adelaide players named, with clubmates Robert Cornthwaite, Paul Reid, Scott Jamieson, Eugene Galekovic and Mullen also there. But surprisingly there is still no spot for Travis Dodd.

Mullen gets a chance to emulate his father Joe, who played two games for Australia in the 1980s. Verbeek said a lack of options at the right back position had seen given the 19-year-old a chance.

"We don't have so many right full backs of that age and that quality. He can play in the Under 20s in Egypt still. He's doing very well. If he was not injured I would have selected him for the Indonesia game," he said.

Melbourne, the other team in Saturday's Grand Final, also has six players named, the same six who were in the squad for the recent match against Indonesia. Five of those, Billy Celeski, Archie Thompson, Danny Allsopp, Rodrigo Vargas and Tom Pondeljak saw action, while Michael Theoklitos is yet to make his debut.

Kantarovski, who has just turned 17 and has played just 13 games at A-League level, is the biggest shock in terms of selection, but Verbeek has confirmed he is in the squad for experience only and won't play.

Craig Moore will captain the team again, with he and Archie Thompson the only two players to have represented their country on more than five occasions, with just 22 games of international experience shared among the remaining 22 players.

Dylan Macallister was the only player left out from the previous Asian Cup squad against Indonesia with Roar youngster Nichols getting the nod.

"That's because Mitch Nichols is doing very well at the moment and at this moment I prefer Mitch because he is doing so well. He deserves to be in the group and it's a little bit useless to have five strikers," Verbeek said.

The qualifier against Kuwait in Canberra will take place on Thursday 5 March - kick-off 8.00pm AEDT.

Danny ALLSOPP (Melbourne Victory), Fabian BARBIERO (Adelaide United), Billy CELESKI (Melbourne Victory), Shannon COLE (Sydney FC), Robert CORNTHWAITE (Adelaide United), Tarek ELRICH (Newcastle Jets), Eugene GALEKOVIC (Adelaide United), Dean HEFFERNAN (Central Coast Mariners), Scott JAMIESON (Adelaide United), Ben KANTAROVSKI (Newcastle Jets), Matthew McKAY (Queensland Roar), Craig MOORE (Queensland Roar), Daniel MULLEN (Adelaide United), Mitch NICHOLS (Queensland Roar), Tom PONDELJAK (Melbourne Victory), Paul REID (Adelaide United), Matt SIMON (Central Coast Mariners), Michael THEOKLITOS (Melbourne Victory), Archie THOMPSON (Melbourne Victory), Matthew THOMPSON (Newcastle Jets), Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY (Newcastle Jets), Rodrigo VARGAS (Melbourne Victory), Danny VUKOVIC (Central Coast Mariners), Michael ZULLO (Queensland Roar).