Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has challenged A-League players to step up ahead of Asian Cup qualifiers. The Dutchman plans to use home-based players as his fodder for getting into Qatar 2011, as European-based Socceroos will be used in qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

The Socceroos have an Asian qualifier against Indonesia next month and Verbeek wants to check out as much A-League action as he can.

"We'll see if players can step up, because the Asian Cup games will probably be mostly A-League players," Verbeek said.

"At the moment I have 34 players on my list, and we still have five weeks to go and will see around 15 games in the A-League.

"I think we have enough quality but many things can happen until January 28. It's always based on form, and we have to look at a balance - it's easy to pick 11 young players. You also need experience.

"I'm looking for individual quality. I know the standard we are looking for and the only way to see if they reach that is to play games."