Qantas Young Socceroos (U20) Squad

[stoyo1337]

Qantas Young Socceroo Squad For Fifa World Youth Championship Announced
Tue 10th May 2005

National Youth Coach Ange Postecoglou has named his Qantas Young Socceroo (Australia u-20) squad for June’s FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

The standard 21-player list has been expanded by one with illness forcing midfielder Stuart Musialik out of the tour of South Korea later this month, with the Newcastle United Jets midfielder included in the World Championship squad subject to fitness.

Two uncapped players have been included in the roster with midfielder Shane Huke of English Division One club Peterborough United and striker Russell Woodruffe of Hyundai A-League club Central Coast Mariners yet to make their debut for the Qantas Young Socceroos.

Other notable inclusions are Spase Dilevski who has just completed a spell at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspurs and who featured for Australia at last year’s Olympic games, plus Qantas Joey David Williams who was top scorer at the recent Oceania U-17 World Championship qualifying tournament.

The squad contains 12 Hyundai A-League players as well as seven players based in England, with striker Jay Lucas of NSW Premier League club Marconi Stallions completing the roster.

"Apart from injuries I’m very happy with the way squad is coming together," said Postecoglou.

"Preparation is the key and to be fair we have had a good preparation as a team. Having said that the players have been hindered a little by the lack of a national competition but overall I’m happy with where we are as a unit.

"Our first focus is to get out of the group stage and then face each hurdle as they come.

"They team are pretty much playing the way I would like so from that perspective I’m very happy with our progress."

The full squad is:

Goalkeepers:
Daniel Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners), Justin Pasfield (Sydney FC), Adam Federici (Reading, England)

Defenders:
Mark Milligan (Sydney FC), Trent McClenahan (West Ham, England), Adrian Leijer (Melbourne Victory), Jacob Timpano (Sydney FC), Aaron Downes (Chesterfield, England), Ryan Townsend (Burnley, England)

Midfielders:
Stuart Musialik (Newcastle United Jets) **, Vince Lia (Melbourne Victory), Billy Celeski (Perth Glory), Kristian Sarkies (Melbourne Victory), Chris Tadrosse (Melbourne Victory), Spase Dilevski (unattached), Ruben Zadkovich (Notts County, England), James Wesolowski (Leicester City, England), Shane Huke (Peterborough, England)

Forwards:
Jay Lucas (Marconi Stallions, NSW), Nick Ward (Perth Glory), David Williams (Queensland Academy of Sport), Russell Woodruffe (Central Coast Mariners)

** Subject to fitness (not travelling to South Korea)

Stand-by players (for South Korea and FIFA World Youth Championship)
Ben Griffin (Queensland Roar), Chris O'Connor (Bray Wanderers, Republic of Ireland), Joel Theissen (Central Coast United, NSW), Matthew Deegan (Adelaide Blue Eagles, SA), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Belconnen Blue Devils, ACT), Jordan Simpson (Queensland Roar), Mark Bridge (Newcastle United Jets)

The team will play three international matches in South Korea before heading from Australia to the Netherlands where they will play two matches against Dutch club teams before the opening tournament match on June 10.

The match schedule for South Korea and the FIFA World Youth Championship is:

Australia v Columbia
Sat 21 May 1.30pm (12.30pm AET), Busan

Australia v South Korea
Tue 24 May, 7pm (6pm AET), Busan

Australia v Morocco
Thur 26 May, 4.30pm (3.30pm), Busan

World Youth Championships

Australia v Benin
Friday 10 June - 4pm
(Saturday 11 March - 12am AET)

Australia v Netherlands
Wednesday 15 June - 8.30pm
(Thursday 16 March - 4.30am AET)

Australia v Japan
Saturday 18 June - 1.30pm
(Saturday 18 June - 9.30pm AET)