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But midfielder Mile Jedinak said the 31-man preliminary squad couldn't be closer heading into Monday's match against New Zealand at the MCG.

Jedinak knows he is one of those players considered to be on the cusp of selection in the final squad in what is a competitive battle for the holding midfield roles.

But he said there has been no sense of players having to battle against one another for position just yet.

"I think everyone just goes about their business doing what they normally do and giving themselves every opportunity, training hard and having that confidence in themselves and at the end of the day, it's the coach's decision. We all have to accept that," he said.

The perception is that Jedinak will be competing with Carl Valeri for the role as back-up behind usual holding pair Jason Culina and Vince Grella.

Jedinak has the utmost respect for Valeri but does not feel that he needs to wage a personal battle with him over the next nine days to get himself into the squad.

"Carl's a great player and he's done exceptionally well when he come in for the Socceroos. I try and worry about my own business. People can say it's between me and him, but I just try and focus on myself and hopefully I can stake my claim like that," he said.

He sees Monday's game against New Zealand as a good shop window for those trying to clinch their spots.

"It's not just me, it's a good opportunity for everyone to stake their claim and to try and impress the coach. If his mind's not made up, which I'm sure it's not, to push for that 23," he said.

And the former Central Coast man expects a determined performance from the All Whites in what will be the first Trans Tasman battle for five years.

"There's no such thing as a friendly game I believe and I'm sure we'll be taking the game seriously and it's a good preparation for us."

Jedinak has been plying his trade with Antalyaspor this season after securing a loan move from Genclerbirligi. He had a strong year with his new club and said he feels re-invigorated as a player after his initial move to Turkey didn't yield much game time.

"It was a great opportunity. I went to Antalyaspor and had one of my best seasons to date. It did re-invigorate me. I was really enjoying my football in Turkey. Particularly this season it was good, the team did relatively well, we finished mid table but we took some big scalps along the way and certainly that didn't do me much harm in terms of World Cup selection," he said.

Turkey is becoming something of a refuge for Australian players in recent years with the likes of Jedinak, Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, Bruce Djite, Nick Carle, Mile Sterjovski, Jason Petkovic and James Troisi all spending time there over the past few years.

Jedinak said the Super Lig is a good standard and he feels he's improved greatly as a player since moving to Genclerbirligi from the Mariners early last year.

He added: "The big clubs are quality teams and they are quality players, and quality foreign players. It's a league that you can test yourself in and I've found that, it's one thing that really appeals to me is playing against these sort of players week in week out."

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