Neill's partner remains a mystery

Secrecy surrounds Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek's plans for Australia's starting line-up in Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier against Qatar at Brisbane Stadium.

Secrecy surrounds Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek's plans for Australia's starting line-up in Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier against Qatar at Brisbane Stadium.

While the unavailability of midfield quartet Harry Kewell, Mark Bresciano, Vince Grella and Carl Valeri will have given Verbeek plenty to think about, the Dutchman will also undoubtedly be stewing over just who should partner Lucas Neill in defence.

Chris Coyne performed the role admirably in Tashkent when Australia recorded a 1-0 victory over Uzbekistan in its first World Cup qualifier last month, but the incumbent will face stiff competition from veteran Craig Moore, who recently came out of international retirement.

Some sections of the media suggested that Moore was in the box seat to start on Wednesday, due to the fact he trained alongside Neill on Friday, but both Verbeek and Neill dismissed the notion.

"I've seen you write about that," Neill retorted. "The day before Chris Coyne played alongside me. I think that was one for you to keep guessing at, so you've jumped the gun."

Neill stated he had no preference for either Coyne or Moore and even went as so far as to suggest that he is anything but a sure starter.

"The only preference I have is for me to be playing, it's not a given that I'll be playing, so I've got to be on my toes the whole time."

"I've just got to worry about me playing first and make sure I do my job."

The modest Socceroos veteran will of course most likely not only start but captain the team on Wednesday night, but he still refused to weigh into the selection debate, apart from putting youngster Matthew Spiranovic's name forward as another possible alternative.

"We're just starting to assert ourselves defensively as a team, Chris Coyne and I have done reasonably well in the last couple of games, we've struck up a good partnership," he said.

"Craig Moore has great experience and is in good form with the Hyundai A-League, so it will be interesting to see who out of the three (will start), and possibly even Matt Spiranovic, who is a great talent coming through."

Verbeek is understandably keeping his cards very close to his chest and said he wasn't about to reveal anything until kick-off on Wednesday night.

"I keep it to Wednesday, you all know how Craig is doing, he's a great player, Chris Coyne did very well in the last three games, so I'm in the luxurious position to have at least three or four good central defenders to choose from."

If Verbeek does decide to give Moore the nod ahead of the greener Coyne, it will see the same players reunite in the Socceroos' backline who were there for the 2006 World Cup.

Moore admitted an international comeback at his home ground would be nice but still had no ideas about what Verbeek's thoughts on the matter were.

"I don't know what the selection is going to be for the team, but all I can do in the meantime is train well and try and give him a headache for that selection I guess," he said.