Former Inglewood United junior Nikita Rukavytsya has been selected in the Socceroos preliminary squad for the upcoming World Cup Finals in Russia.   The 30-year old attacker is joined in Bert van Marwijk’s 32-player squad by fellow West Australian’s Brad Jones, Trent Sainsbury, Josh Risdon and Aleksander Susnjar.

Rukavytsya played juniors with Inglewood and Perth SC before embarking on a successful professional career that’s taken him to Perth Glory, FC Twente (the Netherlands), Roeselare (Belgium), Hertha BSC, Mainz 05, FSV Frankfurt (Germany) and Western Sydney Wanderers.

Rukavytsya, whose 18 national team appearances includes outings with Germany and Ghana at the 2010 World Cup, has spent the last three seasons in the Israeli Premier League with Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Haifa.   National coach Van Marwijk will trim his squad to 26-players ahead of next week’s training camp in Turkey.