A-League should have a break during FIFA international windows Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson is one of 10 A-League players called to international duty in round 26. TEN of the A-Leagues biggest stars wont be playing in the competitions penultimate round and the governing body only has itself to blame. Football Federation Australia was ahead of its time in introducing breaks during FIFA international windows when the competition commenced. With only a handful and sometimes no players called up for international duty, it was rightly deemed superfluous. But the standard of play has improved 40-50 per cent from those opening few seasons and that hasn't gone unnoticed by national team coaches, including the Socceroos" own Holger Osieck. Of the 10, six (Eugene Galekovic, Archie Thompson, Mark Milligan, Michael Thwaite, Matt Ryan and Jade North) are Aussies. International recruitment has also improved markedly from the days of international duds such as Leandro Love, Michael Enfield, Steve McMahon Jr, Mario Jardel and Sean Devine. So this weekend Patrick Gerhardt will be representing Liberia while next season Costa Rican midfielder Carlos Hernandez will be back. And had Wellington's round 26 game not been brought forward it would've been close to 20 players missing. Still, the fantastic trio of Marco Rojas, Shane Smeltz and Michael McGlinchey will be unsighted. While there will be no World Cup qualifiers, FIFA's 2013-14 calendar already has four "International match days" pencilled in for next season with more set to come. The FIFA dates are as follows: September 6-10 October 11-15 November 15-19 March 5 What better opportunity to promote the Socceroos then by scheduling two or three of those four dates as home friendlies against profile opposition leading into Brazil 2014 - presuming Australia qualifies. Not only is it important for A-League players to be given the best shot at making the Socceroos World Cup squad, but it's vital that clubs" finals and title hopes aren't compromised. Clubs shouldn't be punished for recruiting quality, currently they are and Melbourne Victory's the main victim. And with the Australian public not as infatuated with the Socceroos as they were around 2006, what better time to give them standalone games so the entire football spotlight shines on them as opposed to competing with the A-League. Goal of the week Hard to go past Golgol Mebrahtu's scorcher from outside the area. The Wanderers were a tad slow in closing him down and once he struck it keeper Ante Covic had no chance. Eugene Galekovic Jade North Mike McGlinchey, Matt Ryan Patrick Gerhardt Mark Milligan, Archie Thompson, Marco Rojas Shane Smeltz, Michael Thwaite Round 26 game against Newcastle was brought forward