Mini Matildas squad announced

Belinda Wilson has named the Westfield Australian U-17 Women's National Team squad for AFC U-16 Women's Championship in Nanjing.

Westfield Australian U-17 Women-s National Team Head Coach Belinda Wilson today named her 23-player squad for the upcoming AFC U-16 Women-s Championships which will be played in Nanjing, China, between 24 September - 6 October 2013.

The AFC U-16 Women-s Championships is the official FIFA qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women-s World Cup.

The Westfield Australian U-17 Women-s National Team have been drawn into Group A at the 12-nation tournament alongside Bahrain and host nation China PR.

“It was exciting to finally get to this point with a final squad for the qualifiers,” said Wilson.

“There have been a lot of players coming in and out over a period of time. So there has been some changes for the players to deal with, including a change of coach, but we have been settled over the last two camps.

“It is good to know the squad we are working with and the challenge now is to focus on the tournament starting with the Bahrain match.

“The task ahead will be difficult due to the nature of tournament. We have only two group matches and we probably have to win both to get to semis. We also have to deal with playing against the host nation, and in my experience the locals will get out in numbers to support their team, even at this level, so that is another factor for the girls to deal with.

“Overall we have good strength, we have some young players coming through with a lot of talent and even a little bit of experience in relative terms.”

The Westfield Australian U-17 Women-s National Team reached the AFC U-16 Championship after winning last November-s preliminary round, maintaining a perfect record with wins in the Manila-based tournament over Thailand, Myanmar and Philippines.

The four group winners will progress to the semi-finals, with the two finalists and the winner of the match for third place to represent Asia at next year-s FIFA U-17 Women-s World Cup will be held in Costa Rica between 15 March - 5 April.

Name - State/Territory

Angela Beard - QLD Alexandra Chidiac - SA Isobel Dalton - QLD Eleni Fakos - VIC Sunny Franco - QLD Tia Gavin - NSW Beatrice Goad - VIC Brooke Goodrich - QLD Victoria Guzman - NSW Emily Henderson - WA Jada Mathyssen-Whyman - NSW Country Afrikah McGladrigan - QLD Teagan Micah - QLD Sophie Nenadovic - NNSW Ayesha Norrie (Kirby) - QLD Chloe O'Brien - NSW Jessica Pitts - VIC Rhianna Pollicina - NSW Matilda-Lee Potter - NSW Country Siena Senatore - ACT Madeline Stockdale - VIC Jessica Waterhouse - SA Georgina Worth - ACT