Australia NewsYoung Socceroos Prepare For Thai Challenge |
YOUNG Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen has selected a squad of 20 players for the upcoming ASEAN Football Federation U19 Youth Championships which begin in Thailand next week.
“We recently held a short training camp in Europe to have a look at a number of overseas based players."As a result I have included a number of those overseas based players along with the Australian based players in this squad that will compete in Thailand,” said Versleijen.
The ASEAN tournament will be used to strengthen the team for the AFC Championships which will be held in Dammam (Saudi Arabia) starting at the end of October.
“I believe we have a good team, with a mix of players with special qualities as well as good team players.
“With this mix, we are all looking towards qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt next year," said Versleijen.
Included in the squad are thirteen Hyundai A-League players as well as James Brown and Dane Milovanovic from the Australian Institute of Sport.
The Hyundai A-League players are Luke De Vere (Queensland Roar), Nathan Elasi (Melbourne Victory), Jason Hoffman (Newcastle Jets), James Holland (Newcastle Jets), Matthew Jurman (Sydney FC), Milos Lujic, (Melbourne Victory), Tahj Minniecon (Queensland Roar), Sam Munro (Sydney FC), Jason Naidovski (Newcastle Jets), Mitchell Nichols (Queensland Roar), Thomas Oar (Queensland Roar), Andrew Redmayne (Central Coast Mariners), Sebastian Ryall (Melbourne Victory) and Nikolas Tsattalios (Sydney FC).
Versleijen has also included five overseas based players in Scott Balderson (Stevenage Borough, UK), Alex Cisak (gk) (Leicester City, UK), Peter Cvetanovski (Borussia Monchenlabach, Germany), Andreas Govas (Apollon Kalamarias, Greece) and Ryan McGowan (Hearts FC, Scotland).
The Young Socceroos will play their play their first match of the tournament against China PR on Sunday 5 October (kick-off 11.30pm AEDT), and then face the Korea Republic on Tuesday 7 October (kick-off 9:00pm AEDT) before their final group match against Thailand on Thursday 9 October (kick-off 11.30pm AEDT).
The squad will leave Australia on Wednesday 1 October and will use the AFF U19 Youth Championships Tournament as part of their preparations for the AFC U19 Youth Championships Which will be held in Saudi Arabia from the 31 October – 14 November 2008.
The top 4 nations from the AFC U19 Youth Championships will qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup which will be held in Egypt from 10-31 July 2009.
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