Aurelio Vidmar names his first Qantas Olyroos squad

Aurelio Vidmar names his first Qantas Olyroos squad for Four Nations Tournament in Vietnam.

Sydney Monday 13 September 2010

Qantas Olyroos head coach Aurelio Vidmar has selected his first squad of players that will compete at a Four Nations Tournament in Vietnam next week.

The 20-player squad will assemble in Sydney on Wednesday 15 September for a two day training camp before departing for Vietnam on Friday 17 September where they will play matches against the Under 23 National teams of DPR Korea & Kuwait and also the Vietnam National team.

On the eve of his first training camp with his new group of players, Vidmar is excited about the upcoming campaign to qualify for the 2012 London Olympic games.

“This is our first opportunity to get this particular group of players together,” said Vidmar

“There is still a long way to go before our first official qualifier next June, but camps like these are an important part of the preparation process.

“The majority of the squad that will take us through the qualifiers will be Hyundai A-League based players, so we will need to work hard to ensure that the squad is the strongest one possible for the campaign,” concluded Vidmar.

The match schedule for the Qantas Olyroos to qualify for 2012 London Olympic Games was recently announced by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and will involve thirty-five teams from the region that will compete for three-and-a-half positions in the Men-s Olympics football tournament.

Round One of qualification will see the twenty-two lowest ranked teams in Asia play home-and-away playoffs with the winners qualifying for Round Two. The first leg of Round One will be played on 23 February, 2011, while the return leg will be played on 9 March, 2011.

The Round One winners will join the 13 highest ranked teams, which will include Australia, in Round Two and 12 teams will make it to the Round Three after playing home-and-away playoffs on 19 June, 2011, and 23 June, 2011.

Round Three will see the teams divided into three groups of four teams which will play each other in a home-and-away format. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

All the second-placed teams from the three groups will play-off in a round robin format and the winner will then take on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) representative for a place at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The third round matches will be played on September 21, 2011, November 23, November 27, February 5, 2012, February 22 and March 14. The round robin matches between the second-placed teams will be played at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012.

Qantas Olyroos Squad 4 Nations Tournament - Vietnam 20-24 September 2010

Player Club
Luke BRATTAN Brisbane Roar
Oliver BOZANIC Central Coast Mariners
James BROWN Gold Coast United
Isaka CERNAK North Queensland Fury
Luke DeVERE Brisbane Roar
Mate DUGANDZIC Melbourne Victory
Diogo FERRIERA Melbourne Victory
Antony GOLEC Sydney FC
Marko JESIC Newcastle Jets
Jason HOFFMAN Melbourne Heart
Matthew JURMAN Sydney FC
Tahj MINNIECON Gold Coast United
Daniel MULLEN Adelaide United
Mitch NICHOLS Brisbane Roar
Scott NEVILLE Perth Glory
Chris PAYNE North Queensland Fury
Mirjan PAVLOVIC Wellington Phoenix
Andrew REDMAYNE (gk) Brisbane Roar
Sebastian RYALL Sydney FC
Jerrad TYSON (gk) Gold Coast United

2012 London Olympic Games - Men-s Football Competition - Asian Qualification - Match Schedule

Round 1 MATCH DAY 1: 23 February, 2011 MATCH DAY 2: 9 March, 2011

Round 2 MATCH DAY 1: 19 June, 2011 MATCH DAY 2: 23 June, 2011

Round 3 MATCH DAY 1: 21 September, 2011 MATCH DAY 2: 23 November, 2011 MATCH DAY 3: 27 November, 2011 MATCH DAY 4: 5 February, 2012 MATCH DAY 5: 22 February, 2012 MATCH DAY 6: 14 March, 2012

Playoff MATCH DAYS 1-3: 25-29 March, 2012