Canberra: The Australia squad has been announced for the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 in Bahrain from 13-30 October.
Fresh from winning the AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) U19 Championship in Hanoi last week, Young Socceroos head coach Ufuk Talay has named 24 players who will travel to Bahrain with one to be omitted from the official 23-player squad for the tournament.
The squad comprises a mix of A-League contracted and overseas based players, with six overseas players added to the squad that claimed the AFF U19 Championship.
The only significant absentee from the AFF U19 Championship squad is Kye Rowles who is out with a hamstring injury.
Talay is confident his team can take its impressive momentum from the AFF U19 Championship into the AFC U-19 Championship, which doubles as the qualifiers for next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in Papua New Guinea.
“It was great to win the AFF tournament and we’ll have a week in Dubai before we get to Bahrain which will be good to integrate the overseas players into the way we want to play,” Talay said in a media release.
“The AFF Championship was a great experience and opportunity to get games under our belt, so it’s going to be a tough challenge in Bahrain but we know where we need to get to and we’ll work hard to get there.”
“At these tournaments you have to rely on all 23 players. We’ve got a lot of depth in positions and a lot of talent on the pitch so that’s an advantage and a lot of these players have also spent time in the national setup so they know they way we want to play.”
“There’s no excuse with who we have in our group, we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”
The Young Socceroos are in Group D alongside Uzbekistan, China PR and Tajikistan for the AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016.
The top two from each group progress to the quarter-finals, with the four teams that reach the semi-finals qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Young Socceroos squad – AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016
Keanu BACCUS - Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Jackson BANDIERA - Western Sydney Wanderers FC
George BLACKWOOD - Sydney FC
Jake BRIMMER - Liverpool FC, England
Joseph CHAMPNESS - Brisbane Roar FC
Thomas DENG - PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands
Patrick FLOTTMANN - Sydney FC
Thomas GLOVER (GK) - Tottenham Hotspur, England
Jordan HOLMES (GK) - AFC Bournemouth, England
Joshua HOPE - Melbourne Victory
Anthony KALIK - Hajduk Split, Croatia
Steve KUZMANOVSKI - Melbourne City FC
Tariq MAIA - Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Daniel MARGUSH (GK) - Adelaide United
George MELLS - Adelaide United
William MUTCH - Sydney FC
Connor O’TOOLE - Brisbane Roar FC
Reno PISCOPO - Inter Milan, Italy
Jayden PRASAD - Brisbane Roar FC
Liam ROSE - Central Coast Mariners
Lachlan SCOTT - Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Mario SHABOW - Western Sydney Wanderers FC
George TIMOTHEOU - Sydney FC
Liam YOULLEY - Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Sources: FFA, FootballAustralia.com.au
Source: the-afc.com