The Celtic striker, who missed his club's Scottish Premier League fixture at the weekend, has a chest infection and Socceroos coaching and medical staff decided not call him into camp to allow him to fully recover from his illness as soon as possible.

McDonald joins Brett Emerton, Vince Grella, Craig Moore, Matthew Spiranovic and Mark Milligan on the injured list ahead of the match.

Speaking after the team's latest training session Verbeek said those players who were fit enough to take part offered enough options and he didn't see it as a big problem.