Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell believes his former striker Nikita Rukavytsya is good enough to go to next year's World Cup. The Ukrainian-born goal scorer left Perth to take up an offer with Dutch Eredivisie club FC Twente but failed to win regular game time last term.

Mitchell is confident, that if Rukavytsya can get regular action, he will be a useful player for Pim Verbeek's Socceroos squad to travel to South Africa.

"There's always a chance (for Socceroos' selection) but he's got to play," Mitchell told Sportal.

"They're a good side he went to.

"If he forces his way into the side quite regularly then I think he's got a chance of staking a claim in the squad (but) he has to be playing and when he's playing, he has to do well."