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A massive Quarter Final clash against Iraq U20 awaits the Subway Young Socceroos on Saturday night at 10:30pm AEDT.

But despite the enormity of the occasion, the squad is taking the same approach which has gotten them this far - playing each game on its merits, sticking to their processes and focusing on themselves.

A win would not only seal a Semi-Final berth in the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2025™ but qualification to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™ in September for the first time since 2013.

Trevor Morgan's troops head into the contest with an unerring sense of belief following three wins from three in the group stage, something no Australian side at the U20 level has achieved since competing in the AFC Asian Cup.

Morgan acknowledged whilst that was a nice feat, it was a reflection of the preparation leading up to the tournament and exposing a number of players against different opponents from around the world over the previous 18 months.

Iraq come into the match as runners-up in Group B with five points, one behind table toppers Saudi Arabia.

The Lions of Mesopotamia played out a 1-1 draw against North Korea, beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 before being held to 0-0 stalemate against Jordan on matchday three.

How To Watch

All matches involving the Subway Young Socceroos, will be broadcast LIVE, EXCLUSIVE and FREE on 10 Play.

What they said

Trevor Morgan

Approaching the game like any other

I think managing your emotions when you're about to play a game (is key). You need to play the match and the moment in front of you rather than the occasion and certainly the boys will be prepared for that. That's certainly what we've been working towards. This team knows clearly who it is and what its style of play is, and then really you can chop and change the opponent and the occasion, but the important thing is for them to put their stamp on the match and have confidence that they will bring what they want.

Laying the foundations for success

We spent nearly the last 12 months, if not a bit more, exposing different players who deserve it, and there's still many more who I'd love to give the chance to, to international football. So they've had a chance at some stage over the last 12 months to represent their country. A chance to go into a match against an opponent that they've never played before, and a chance to reflect upon that and how well they did at playing their part in the team and also showing what their strengths are. So what's exciting about this age group is there's a lot of talent. You can see in the first three matches. You know, almost everyone in the squad has had game time, and that's because we trust them, and we think when we need to use them in the games, they've got the capability to affect the match.

Expecting against Iraq

We're certainly confident going into the match, that we have the quality to win the match. With regard to Iraq, they've progressed to the quarter final, which means they've earned the right to be there. Their games have been challenging for them, and even yesterday, they had to fight to progress. So obviously, they're going to take strength out of that, that they're a team that you know have been through some tests, and that they're going to try and deliver their qualities in our match. Their playing style is becoming clearer and clearer for us. Obviously, we tried to watch a broad number of possible opponents, and we're going to focus in on them today and make sure we're on top of our game plan.

Sebastian Esposito

Eagerly awaiting the match

Everyone's excited, we've kind of got through every challenge that people have thrown at us. We started really well in the first game (against Kyrgyz Republic), we came from behind in the second (game against Qatar) and then the third game, we closed it out quite well (against China PR). The boys are ready, and we're just looking forward to Saturday.

Not looking too far ahead

It's obviously the biggest honour in football - who doesn't want to go to a World Cup? But we're just focused on the next game. We've still got to get there, so we just take it game by game. We're not really looking to get to the World Cup, but we want to win this tournament. That's the goal for this camp.

Moving to Lecce from Melbourne City

Everything has moved very quickly. I think I moved to Lecce straight after like my first call up to the national team, so it was kind of like opportunity after opportunity. But it's been amazing, I got great experience while I was at Melbourne City, obviously, training a lot with the first team there, and then moving to Lecce - it's another experience and another thing that's helped me get to this point. So all these different experiences are kind of shaping my performances and helping me to play my best football, especially trying to help the squad in this tournament.