Qantas Next Young Socceroos squad named

Qantas Next Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen has selected a 25-player squad for a training camp in Sydney from Monday 29 June to Thursday 2 July as part of preparations for the upcoming ASEAN Football Federation U19 Youth Championships which will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from 4-16 August 2009.

Qantas Next Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen has selected a 25-player squad for a training camp in Sydney from Monday 29 June to Thursday 2 July as part of preparations for the upcoming ASEAN Football Federation U19 Youth Championships which will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from 4-16 August 2009.

“This is a new start for a new group of players that will now begin a two-year campaign to qualify for the 2011 FIFA U20 World Cup,” said Versleijen.

“It-s always exciting to work with these elite youth players for the first time and over the next six training sessions we will find out what sort of quality we have.

“The ASEAN tournament in August will be their first major test at this level and from then on we can focus on the qualification process towards the next World Cup," concluded Versleijen.

Later in the year, the Qantas Next Young Socceroos will compete at the AFC U19 Youth Championships Qualifier Tournament in Jakarta, with the top three teams advancing to the AFC U19 Youth Championships which will be held in 2010.

The Qantas Next Young Socceroos Squad consists of players that were born on or after 1 January 1991.

The squad is: Zachary Anderson (QAS/Gold Coast United Youth), Terry Antonis (Marconi, NSW), Kearyn Baccus (Real Mallorca, Spain), Mitchell Bevan (Gold Coast United Youth), Mark Birighitti (gk) (Adelaide United), Jacob Borg (Wollongong, NSW), Daniel Bowles (Brisbane Roar Youth), Jason Davidson (Hume City, Victoria), Nicholas Feely (gk) (Cockburn City, WA/Perth Glory Youth), Nicholas Fitzgerald (Blacktown City, NSW), Petar Franjic (Melbourne Knights, VIC), Joshua Groenewald (Melbourne Knights, Vic), Bernie Ibini-Isei (Blacktown City, NSW), Mathew Leckie (Bulleen Lions, VIC), Steven Lustica (Gold Coast United), Patrick Meehan (Sheffield Wednesday, England), Alexander Pearson (gk) (Perth Glory Youth), Jacob Pepper (NNSW/Newcastle Jets Youth), Dimitrios Petratos (Penrith, NSW), David Pollard (uncontracted), Mathew Ryan (gk) (Blacktown City, NSW), Koh Satake (QAS/Gold Coast United Youth), Kliment Taseski (Altona Magic, VIC), Lawrence Thomas (gk) (AIS), James Virgili (NNSW/Newcastle Jets Youth)