Joeys Head Coach Tony Vidmar today named a 23-player squad that will compete at the upcoming AFC U-16 Championship which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 6-20 September.
All but one player is based at the FFA Centre of Excellence in Canberra with Jake Brimmer currently based overseas at Liverpool FC in England.
Since qualifying for the tournament last September, Vidmar is confident that the Joeys will be successful at the AFC U-16 Championship
“We are all very excited about the upcoming challenge at the AFC U-16 championships,” said Vidmar
“Our goal is to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, but without compromising the way we want to play, because we believe that this is the way to make sure that the players will be ready for the next step in their football careers.
“We have a challenging group, but our preparation has been good and the boys are ready to perform,” said Vidmar.
FFA Centre of Excellence Technical Director, Peter de Roo, is also optimistic about the Joeys chances at the AFC U-16 Championship.
“We are looking forward to the tournament and are confident that we can become the second Joeys squad to qualify for the World Cup through Asia,” said de Roo.
“Our preparation has been very good with a tour to Italy in March and just having completed the NPL season in Canberra,” concluded de Roo.
The Joeys will depart for Thailand today for a pre-tournament training camp. The Joeys will open their AFC U-16 Championship campaign against China PR on Saturday 6 September and will then face Hong Kong on Monday 8 September. Their final group match will be against Japan on Wednesday 10 September. The Winners and Runners-Up from Group B will then face the Runners-Up and Winners of Group A respectively on Sunday 14 September in the quarter finals.
The winners of the quarter finals will not only advance to the semi-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship which will be played on Wednesday 17 September, but will also qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup which will be hosted by Chile from 17 October – 8 November 2015. The final of the AFC U-16 Championship will be played on Saturday 20 September at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
Joeys Squad for AFC U16 Championships – 2014 Thailand
|
Name |
Member Federation |
|
Duro DRAGICEVIC (gk) |
Football Queensland |
|
Malcolm WARD |
Football NSW |
|
Henry DAVIES |
Football NSW |
|
Kye ROWLES |
Football Queensland |
|
Zac SPETH |
Football NSW |
|
Joe CALETTI |
Football NSW |
|
Daniel MASKIN |
Football NSW |
|
Daniel ARZANI |
Football NSW |
|
Jake BRIMMER |
Football Federation Victoria & Liverpool FC |
|
Jamie DIMITROFF |
Football Queensland |
|
Peter KEKERIS |
Football NSW |
|
Brandon OSIPOV (gk) |
Football Federation Victoria |
|
Christian VERBI |
Football Federation South Australia |
|
Solomon MONAHAN-VAIIKA |
Football NSW |
|
Jackson BANDIERA |
Football NSW |
|
Danny KIM |
Football Queensland |
|
Riley McGREE |
Football Federation South Australia |
|
James DELIANOV (gk) |
Football Federation Victoria |
|
Charlie DEVEREUX |
Football Federation South Australia |
|
Perry FOTAKOPOULOS |
Football NSW |
|
Jamal REINERS |
Football West |
|
Cameron JOICE |
NNSW Football Federation |
|
Kosta PETRATOS |
Football NSW |
As at 28 August 2014
|
DATE |
Fixture |
Venue |
Kick-Off time |
Kick-Off (AEST) |
||
|
06-09-2014 |
JAPAN |
vs |
Muangthong Stadium, Bangkok |
4:00pm |
8:00pm |
|
|
vs |
Muangthong Stadium, Bangkok |
8:00pm |
12:00am |
|||
|
08-09-2014 |
vs |
Muangthong Stadium, Bangkok |
4:00pm |
8:00pm |
||
|
CHINA P.R |
vs |
JAPAN |
Muangthong Stadium, Bangkok |
8:00pm |
12:00am |
|
|
10-09-2014 |
vs |
Muangthong Stadium, Bangkok |
4:00pm |
8:00pm |
||
|
vs |
Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok |
4:00pm |
8:00pm |
|||