The Young Socceroos have been drawn in Group B, alongside Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia for the AFC U-19 Championship 2014.
The Young Socceroos have been drawn in Group B, alongside Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia for the AFC U-19 Championship 2014 which will be played in Myanmar from 9-23 October.
After learning of his teams grouping, Young Socceroos Head Coach Paul Okon believes that it will be a challenge for the Young Socceroos to qualify for the World Cup, but they are ready for the challenge.
“It is by no means any easy draw,” said Okon. “Uzbekistan qualified for the last FIFA U-20 World Cup and will be a difficult opponent.
“UAE did well as the hosts of the last AFC U-19 Championship and Indonesia won last year-s ASEAN Football Federation tournament last year.
“Now that we have the draw we have a local training camp next week and an overseas camp soon after to specifically prepare for our opposition.
“I am confident that when the tournament comes around in October we will be ready to perform,” concluded Okon.
The Young Socceroos will play their first match of the tournament against the UAE on Friday 10 October, and then face Indonesia on Sunday 12 October before their final group match against Uzbekistan on Tuesday 14 October.
The opening matches of the tournament will see host nation Myanmar face Yemen on Thursday 9 October.
The winners and runners-up of Group B will then face the runners-up and winners of Group A, which consists of Myanmar, IR Iran, Thailand and Yemen, in the quarter-finals.
The winners of the quarter-finals (top 4 teams) from the AFC U-19 Championship will then qualify for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be held in New Zealand from 30 May - 20 June.
Coinciding with the AFC U-19 Championship 2014 draw, Okon named a 22-player Young Socceroos squad that will head into a training camp on the Central Coast from Saturday 26 April to Wednesday 30 April.
The Young Socceroos will also play a training match against the Manly NPL team at 7pm on Wednesday 30 April at Cromer Park which will be open to the public.
Following this camp, Okon will select a squad that will travel to the United Arab Emirates from 5 to 18 May to play two international friendly matches against the Oman U-20 National Team (9 and 11 May) and another two international friendly matches against the UAE U-20 National Team (14 and 16 May).
AFC U-19 Championship 2014 groups:
Group A: Myanmar (host), IR Iran, Thailand, Yemen Group B: Uzbekistan, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia Group C: Korea Republic, Japan, China PR, Vietnam Group D: Iraq, DPR Korea, Qatar, Oman
Young Socceroos Squad - CENTRAL COAST Training Camp 26 - 30 APRIL 2014
Name - Club Daniel ALESSI Western Sydney Wanderers Shannon BRADY Brisbane Roar Brandon BORELLO Brisbane Roar Jordan BROWN Melbourne Victory Devante CLUT Brisbane Roar Daniel De SILVA Perth Glory Shayne D-CUNHA Western Sydney Wanderers Jacob ESPOSITO Sydney United Alusine FOFANAH Western Sydney Wanderers Ben GARUCCIO Melbourne Heart Hagi GLIGOR Sydney FC Paul IZZO (G/K) Adelaide United Awer MABIL Adelaide United Marc MARINO Uncontracted Stefan MAUK Melbourne Heart Liam ROSE Central Coast Mariners Jaushua SOTORIO Western Sydney Wanderers Jordan THURTELL (G/K) Uncontracted George TIMETHIOU Belconnen Blue Devils Jaiden WALKER Brisbane Roar Ben WARLAND Uncontracted Riley WOODCOCK Perth Glory
For more information regarding the AFC U-19 Championship 2014, please click here.