Young Socceroos World Cup-bound

The Qantas Young Socceroos were farewelled today at a function in Sydney as they embark on their FIFA U20 World Cup Colombia 2011 campaign.

The Qantas Young Socceroos were farewelled today at a function in Sydney as they embark on their FIFA U20 World Cup Colombia 2011 campaign. The team were presented with their jerseys by former Socceroos Paul Okon and Mark Bosnich.

The Qantas Young Socceroos will depart for USA on Saturday for a pre-tournament camp in Denver, Colorado where they will play friendly matches against fellow World Cup finalists the Korea Republic (20 July) and England (22 July). The team will move to their base camp in the Colombian city of Manizales, situated 2,180m above sea-level, where they will be based for the first phase of the tournament.

The Australian U-20 team will play their first match of the tournament against Ecuador on Sunday 31 July, and then face Costa Rica on Wednesday 3 August before their final group match against Spain on Saturday 6 August.

Sixteen members of current squad were part of the Qantas Young Socceroos squad that were runner-s up to DPR Korea at the AFC U-19 Championships last year, whilst a further five of those members, Tommy Oar, Kofi Danning, Ben Kantarovski, Rhyan Grant and Sam Gallagher, were also part of the Australian squad that competed at the FIFA U20 World Cup Egypt 2009.

The Qantas Young Socceroos matches and the Semi-Finals and Final of the FIFA U20 World Cup Colombia 2011 will be broadcast live on SBS TV.

Qantas Young Socceroos Squad for FIFA U20 World Cup Colombia 2011: Matthew ACTON (gk) - Brisbane Roar Mustafa AMINI - Central Coast Mariners Terry ANTONIS - Sydney FC Jake BARKER-DAISH - Gold Coast United Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk) - Adelaide United Kerem BULUT - Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic Kofi DANNING - Brisbane Roar Matthew FLETCHER - Uncontracted Petar FRANJIC - Melbourne Victory Sam GALLAGHER - Central Coast Mariners Rhyan GRANT - Sydney FC Brendan HAMILL - Melbourne Heart Bernie IBINI-ISEI - Central Coast Mariners Ben KANTAROVSKI - Newcastle Jets Mathew LECKIE - Borussia Monchengladbach, Germany Dylan McGOWAN - Gold Coast United Tommy OAR - FC Utrecht, Netherlands Dimitrios PETRATOS - Sydney FC Trent SAINSBURY - Central Coast Mariners Lawrence THOMAS (gk) - uncontracted Marc WARREN - Sheffield United, UK

Team Delegation:

Head of Delegation and National Technical Director - Han Berger Head Coach - Jan Versleijen Assistant Coach - Ante Milicic Goalkeeper Coach - Fernando Alves Team Manager - Simon Roberts Team Doctor - Dr Trevor Law Head Physiotherapist - Nino La Scala Massage Therapist - Martin Felice Media Manager - Adam Mark Video Analysis - Peter Cklamovski