The Olyroos training camp squad, a group assembled in preparation for the 2018 U-23 Asian Cup, was announced a few days ago.
Josep Gombau, the Olyroos coach, has chosen exclusively from the A-League, a very welcome sight indeed.
Young Australian players, largely involved in the first team at their respective A-League clubs, should always be the candidates first looked to for youth national team responsibilities.
But what the 26-man squad also highlights is just how much work the teams that are struggling this season are doing for the U-23s. The vast bulk of Gombau’s squad – 19 of 26 – have come from A-League teams currently sitting in the bottom four.
The plights of Adelaide, Central Coast, Newcastle and Western Sydney this season has a clear silver lining, with most of their selected U-23 players, who have seized a spot in the first team, now seeing the national-level fruits of their club-based labour.
Western Sydney, who have available to them probably the deepest talent pool to dip into when searching for youth products – as well as a highly respected youth set-up – have contributed seven players to the squad.
Central Coast, a club with an extremely young team, have seen five of their players selected, and Paul Okon needs to be commended – as unwise in the short-term though it has clearly been – for having such ambitious faith in his juvenescent squad. Of the top ten youngest starting XIs fielded this season, the Mariners have sent out six of them.
Newcastle United, responsible for the other four baby-faced starting XIs on that top-ten list, have had three players called up, and Adelaide have had four.
The Mariners and Newcastle won’t get much pleasure from this, mind you, except a small smile at the sight their young bucks haring joyously around in green and gold. Central Coast have, at times, put out teams that are made up essentially of kids and Roy O’Donovan. It is not a winning formula, and Okon – assuming he is given the opportunity to do so past the end of this season – will be looking to bring in some old hands to steady his flighty rabble.
Is there a correlation to draw between the involvement of these younger prospects – game-time that has led to these well-deserved call-ups – and the fact that their teams are experiencing hugely underwhelming seasons?
Or, to put it another way, is it a surprise that Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory have contributed a solitary player between them, and yet are running away with the league? To answer these questions, respectively, yes and no.
As that old adage goes, springing comfortably over the tongue and between the teeth, ‘you can’t win anything with kids’, and indeed it appears as though the A-League is still very much a veteran league, perhaps more than most.
Sydney FC have fielded three of the five oldest starting XIs this season, jostling with Brisbane in this regard.
Still, the future looks bright, with a number of exciting, Australian-based players trundling down the Roo conveyor belt, Ruon Tongyik and Bruce Kamau – both called up – have been excellent for Melbourne City this season, and both look nailed on for Socceroo caps in the near future. Young Jonathan Aspropotamitis has been impressive in the extreme for the Wanderers, tussling ably with Tim Cahill earlier in the season, a player whose visage Aspro likely had plastered to his walls only a few years ago.
Paul Izzo, who suffered through a tough 2015-16 season, has repaid the faith that Mariners have shown him, with some stolid performances in 2016-17. Players like Lachlan Scott – a striker that only a few A-League fans outside of Western Sydney will have heard of until a few days ago – can use this call-up as a springboard, bouncing themselves into a position where they might make a further telling impact at club level over the remainder of the season.
The camp will only last three days, and will involve no matches against any other nations’ U-23 teams. It will not disrupt the season. But, for these young players, this is a pleasing reward for their play over the last few months. The A-League is turning into a terrific nursery, and as we roll into its 11th year, the first few shining graduates are rolling out.
Kamau was 11 when Dwight Yorke lifted the inaugural toilet seat. A whole generation of players, who spent their formative years with the A-League, and who are becoming rounded footballers within it, are blossoming in front of us.
Olyroos squad members
Adelaide United: Benjamin Garuccio, Daniel Margush, Riley McGree, Jordan O’Doherty
Brisbane Roar: Kye Rowles
Central Coast Mariners: Adam Berry, Trent Buhagiar, Scott Galloway, Paul Izzo, Liam Rose
Melbourne City FC: Daniel Arzani, Bruce Kamau, Ruon Tongyik
Newcastle Jets: Devante Clut, Nicholas Cowburn, Lachlan Jackson
Perth Glory: Jordan Thurtell, Brandon Wilson
Sydney FC: George Blackwood
Western Sydney Wanderers: Jonathan Aspropotamitis, Keanu Baccus, Abraham Majok, Lachlan Scott, Mario Shabow, Jaushua Sotirio, Liam Youlley
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