Mark Bosnich laments absence of Ante Covic in Ange Postecoglou's Socceroos squad The star of the Wanderers ACL campaign, Ante Covic, has returned to Australia driven to achieve further success with the club. Ante Covic has been in inspired form for the Wanderers. SOCCEROOS coach Ange Postecoglou has gone against his word by overlooking Western Sydney goalkeeper Ante Covic, says Fox Sports football analyst Mark Bosnich. While attempting to regenerate the Socceroos, Postecoglou had always maintained he would select his players on form. Covic was named player of the tournament after his heroics helped the Wanderers clinch the Asian Champions League title this month. The Wanderers have again turned Sydney's west into party central - even on a Monday night. A week removed from their Asian Champions League triumph and the team has been honured with a civic reception. At 39, Covic displayed reflexes that belied his veteran status and was hailed by Bosnich as "the best Australian goalkeeper at this time." Bosnich said based on recent performances, Covic was a shocking omission from Postecoglou's squad to face Japan in Osaka next week in favour of Belgium-based Mat Ryan and Borussia Dortmund's reserve shotstopper Mitch Langerak. With the Asian Cup in less than two months and the high expectations on Australia to succeed on home soil, Bosnich says the best players should be named. "The reason I was screaming the house down with Ante is that number one: he's been outstanding and, number two: Ange said he was going to pick players on form and he hasn't done that with Ante," Bosnich said. I know he's said he has to think about the qualifiers for the Russia World Cup and I understand that. We all need to keep an eye on the future but the most important thing is now. The Asian Cup is the most important thing. I'll ask Ange when I see him and I'm sure he'll have his reasons but I was very shocked that Ante wasn't called into the squad. Australia kick off their Asian Cup campaign against Kuwait on January 9 in Melbourne. Bosnich says the Socceroos" underwhelming form in their scoreless draw in the United Arab Emirates and their 1-0 loss to Qatar in last month's international friendlies is cause for concern. The clash against reigning Asian Cup champions Japan will be Australia's final hitout before the tournament and Bosnich says this match will be a crucial gauge. "With two months to go, you have to say we're not in the greatest of shapes," he said. But that's just going off what we've seen in the last friendly games, and that's all we can go off. Since the World Cup, there hasn't been much to show. We've got one more game against Japan and I'd be very interested to see what Ange does and how he plays. "We'd much rather they be performing really well right now than just hoping "I think they'll be alright on the day." So that's a genuine concern. Originally published as I'm shocked Ante wasn't called up: Bosnich