Joeys head to Cambodia for AFF U-16 championships

Joeys coach Tony Vidmar has named a 23-player squad that will contest the 2016 AFF U-16 Youth Championship in Cambodia later this month.

The squad includes all 18 scholarship holders at FFA’s Centre of Excellence, with Western Sydney Wanderers and Marconi Stallions contributing two players and the Emerging Jets one.

Australia’s U-17 national squad will depart for Phnom Penh over the weekend for a pre-tournament camp before their first match on 10 July.

Having been seeded third for the ASEAN tournament the Joeys were drawn in Group A and have been pitted against Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The top two teams from each pool will progress straight to the semi-finals, with the Joeys hoping to improve on last year’s third place finish.

Joeys


FFA Technical Director Peter de Roo said the tournament would bring into fruition the style of play the squad have been working on for the last five months, while also providing an opportunity for players outside their Canberra training environment.

“The expectation is that we are going to further develop and work on our playing style,” said de Roo.

“This tournament is a great opportunity to test ourselves and our playing style against Asian opposition.

“We want to take a good look at our players and where they are at as well as those that are not in our environment.”

FFA Technical Director Peter de Roo


De Roo said the tournament would also help prepare the Joeys for the AFC U-16 Championships which will be held in India later this year. 

But the squad was solely focused on winning the south-east Asia event for the first time since 2008.

“The AFC U-16 Championships are in September, we have a great draw, some tough competition in the group stage, Vietnam being one of the stronger teams in South-East Asia.

“Japan also in our group - tough group, the tougher the better as we are not afraid of any team in Asia.

“We play every game to win. Ultimately for us it is about testing ourselves and players and creating the optimal preparation for the AFC U-16 Championships.

“Of course we are going there to win, but we only think in terms of performance and improving in every match.”

Joeys

Joeys squad for 2016 AFF U-16 Youth Championship

Surname

1st Name

Club

Akbari

Rahmat

FFA Centre of Excellence

Aquilina

Thomas

Western Sydney Wanderers

Bafford

Bryce

FFA Centre of Excellence

Brook

Lachlan

FFA Centre of Excellence

Callen

Luke

FFA Centre of Excellence

Castaneda

Eduardo

FFA Centre of Excellence

Cox

Kaleb

FFA Centre of Excellence

D'Arrigo

Louis

FFA Centre of Excellence

Fletcher

James

FFA Centre of Excellence

Griffiths

Jordan

FFA Centre of Excellence

Italiano

Jacob

FFA Centre of Excellence

James

Noah

Emerging Jets FC

King

Joel

FFA Centre of Excellence

Monge

Fabian

Marconi Stallions FC

Moric

Mark

FFA Centre of Excellence

Muratovic

Mirza

FFA Centre of Excellence

Obst

Benjamin

FFA Centre of Excellence

Roberts

John

FFA Centre of Excellence

Scibilio

Patrick

FFA Centre of Excellence

Selden

Jaidon

FFA Centre of Excellence

Suman

Nicholas

Western Sydney Wanderers

Trewin

Kai

FFA Centre of Excellence

Valenti

Adrian

Marconi Stallions FC