Both veterans were named in Australia's extended 26-man squad for a friendly against Denmark and FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers against Oman and Japan in June.

Aston Villa utility Chris Herd won his first call-up to the national team while the likes of Adam Federici, Mile Jedinak, Josh Kennedy, Neil Kilkenny, Robbie Kruse and Michael Zullo also won selection after missing the Socceroos' clash against Saudi Arabia in February.

The 32-year-old Cahill will make his first appearance for his country since September due to a range of niggling injuries and Osieck is confident he can make a big impact upon his Socceroos return.

"I saw Tim and it was in relation to (the) game when they tied Manchester (United) 4-4, so it was quite a decent event," Osieck said.

"We had a chat for two or three hours. It was a very good chat. Tim still can bring a lot into our team. He showed a great deal of commitment. He wants to be involved.

"He is still good enough to play and I hope he can do a great job when we play in our qualifiers."

Kewell, a year older than the Everton attacker, will have not played a competitive match since March when his A-League campaign with Melbourne Victory ended.

Osieck refused to confirm that either he or team-mate Archie Thompson would play, due to their lack of competitive football, but added that he was keeping a close eye on both.

"(Harry) and I had a very, very intense chat," he said. "He is aware of the situation, he knows my point.

"He was training on a private basis with a personal trainer and I will definitely give him the opportunity to show whether it was good enough or not.

"I know that Archie is in training. They have a game against Olympiakos, so he will be monitored very closely by Aurelio Vidmar  in that game, and he will report to me.

"Then I will decide if we include him or not but the fact that these two guys are on the list doesn't really mean they will be included in the final selection."

The squad will be reduced to 23 players before the match with Oman in Muscat on June 8.

Herd, who made 19 English Premier League appearances for Villa in a breakout season, is the only newcomer in the squad, with the 23-year-old likely to make his Australian debut later than planned due to injury.

"I've been in Europe now for three weeks and I took the opportunity to travel a lot, to have talks with players," said Osieck.

"I saw him in a game against Sunderland. I had him on the list already for the last qualifiers in November but he couldn't make it because of injuries.

"Now I include him again because he plays at a decent level and hopefully he can do a good job for us as well."

Osieck said he will 'definitely talk' with Herd, as he does with everyone, about the code of conduct expected within the national team.

The West Australian was recently involved in a nightclub fight in Birmingham with team-mates Fabian Delph and Stephen Ireland.

Australia's coach also described the June 2 friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen as a 'very useful test' in preparation for the important qualifiers that follow it.