Australia must finish first or among the four best second-placed teams to reach the third round, where the top two from each of two groups of six qualify for Russia, and the third-placed teams face playoffs.
Preparing for what will be Australia’s first trip to Kyrgyzstan, Postecoglou made clear that now was a time for deploying experience, not earning it.
“This is the start of the next chapter in our journey and we are all excited about what lies ahead over the next two years,” Postecoglou said.
“We’ve been open in our desire to make an impact at the 2018 World Cup but first we need to qualify and that task is immediately in front of us.
“We’ve selected a relatively settled squad made up of the core of players that brought success at the Asian Cup but also the core of players that will take us through to the next World Cup.
“Before we travel to Bishkek for the match against Kyrgyzstan we have a week long camp in Dubai and it is a good opportunity to work hard with the core group of players who have been exposed to international football and the style of football we want to play.
“We’ll work on building a strong base and then over the next two years we can expose more players to the squad as form and fitness warrants selection but those players will come into a settled unit when they get an opportunity.”
Interestingly though two of the players brought into the squad to earn their first caps for the recent friendlies with Germany and Macedonia keep their place, at opposite ends of the age spectrum - Adelaide’s 28-year-old right back Tarek Elrich, and the Lazio 20-year-old, Chris Ikonomidis.
The squad will spend a week in Dubai in preparation, thanks to having a bye for the first qualifying date.
“No Australian football team has ever been to Kyrgyzstan so we have done a lot of research, including a reconnaissance trip to Bishkek, to make sure we are well prepared for what will not be an easy task,” Postecoglou said.
“We go to Bishkek with the utmost respect for Kyrgyzstan and we know that we will have to be at our best to get off to a winning start.”
Squad: Aziz Behich, Oliver Bozanic, Nathan Burns, Tim Cahill, Jason Davidson, Tarek Elrich, Ivan Franjic, Eugene Galekovic, Chris Ikonomidis, Mile Jedinak, Tomi Juric, Mitchell Langerak, Mathew Leckie, Massimo Luongo, Matt McKay, Mark Milligan, Tommy Oar, Mat Ryan, Trent Sainsbury, Matthew Spiranovic, James Troisi, Alex Wilkinson, Bailey Wright.
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