Lowry, 20, has been called up by Verbeek for the upcoming friendly against Holland on October 10 at the SFS and  an Asian Cup qualifieragainst Oman four days later at Etihad.

Verbeek described the Villa player, currently on-loan at Plymouth Argyle, as a classic central defender who can slot into the centre of defence or on the left side.

"He's tall, left footed, grown up in English football. Good header, good pass, and not afraid to make a tackle and still very young," Verbeek said at today's squad announcement.

"Like we did with Rhys Williams there are no guarantees. If he's good enough, of course that will be fantastic for us. It's a good opportunity to have him for a week in training and meet the rest of the players.

"If he's better than what we have, he will probably be in the squad for the World Cup, if he can show us in the next eight or nine months."

Verbeek suggested that the decision to declare for Australia by Lowry's friend Rhys Williams was possibly a factor in his decision after playing around eight games for the Irish youth team.

The Socceroo coach met Lowry at Villa six months ago when visiting Young Socceroo Chris Herd but said there were no discussions about a Socceroo switch.

"Later he came back with the story that he'd made up his mind," said Verbeek. 

Lowry, who was born in Perth, joins a growing list of national team and under-age players who've played or are eligible for other countries, including Dean Bouzanis (Greece), Kofi Danning (Ghana) and Williams (Wales).

Verbeek said the growing reputation of the FFA as an organisation, the A-League as a competition, and the growing international status of the national team are all contributing factors in this pleasing trend.

"And if you look at the age of those players, that is the future of Australian football," he said. "It is not because of me, it's because they feel they want to play at a World Cup for Australia. That's most important."

Elsewhere in the squad, Brett Emerton returns to the national set up after a long lay-off though injury. Verbeek said he felt the Blackburn Rovers star would be fit enough to play a full game against Oman and Holland.

"He looks very, very fit and eager and ready to play. Perfect timing," said Verbeek.

The Dutchman named only two goalkeepers as it was deemed wiser that Michael Petkovic's shoulder injury be treated at his club in Turkey. If required, an A-League keeper may be called up.

Verbeek explained that given the A-League continues during the two national team games, he was only prepared to call up starting XI players rather than take A-League players away needlessly.

Craig Moore (Brisbane) and Jason Culina (Gold Coast) have both been named making it likely both will start.

The Socceroos will arrive next Tuesday and will have their first real training session as a group on the Thursday ahead of the Dutch test on Saturday.