Young Socceroos head coach Paul Okon announced his 23-man squad today for the AFC Under-19 Championship 2014, to be held in Myanmar (formerly Burma) from October 9-23, 2014.
Okon believes the squad is well placed for a strong showing at the Championship.
“We have had a good preparation leading into the tournament with a number of tours and camps where we have faced quality opposition,” he said in a press release today.
“We fly out tomorrow for a pre-tournament camp in Thailand where our overseas-based players will join us. This will allow us to acclimatise to similar conditions we will face in Myanmar and put the finishing touches on our game plan.
“Our goal is to qualify for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup and to achieve this goal we will need to string together four quality performances.”
The A-League is well represented in Okon’s squad, with 19 of the 23 players coming from Australia’s premier domestic competition.
Three of the remaining squad members are based overseas; Cameron Burgess (Fulham FC), Chris Ikonomidis (SS Lazio) and Peter Skapetis (Stoke City FC).
The final member of the squad is NSW NPL player Shayne D’Cunha, who plies his trade for Blacktown City. D’Cunha was born in Mumbai in 1996, and the young defender and his family moved to Australia four years later.
After dabbling in junior cricket, D’Cunha set his sights on football as his sport of choice.
“My father and his brothers were all handy footballers back in the day and I guess their love and football DNA is alive and kicking on in me thankfully,” D’Cunha told the FFA.
Okon’s men have been placed in Group B, and will face the UAE in their first match of the tournament on Friday October 10 at the Youth Training Centre in Yangon.
AFC U-19 Championship 23-man squad
Name Club, Country Daniel Alessi Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia Shannon Brady Brisbane Roar FC, Australia Brandon Borrello Brisbane Roar FC, Australia Anthony Bouzanis (gk) Sydney FC, Australia Jordan Brown Melbourne Victory, Australia Cameron Burgess Fulham FC, England Daniel De Silva Perth Glory, Australia Shayne D’Cunha Blacktown City, Australia Scott Galloway Melbourne Victory, Australia Hagi Gligor Sydney FC, Australia Chris Ikonomidis SS Lazio, Italy Paul Izzo (gk) Adelaide United, Australia Awer Mabil Adelaide United, Australia Stefan Mauk Melbourne City FC, Australia Dylan Murnane Melbourne Victory, Australia Christopher Naumoff Sydney FC, Australia Mark Ochieng Adelaide United, Australia Liam Rose Central Coast Mariners, Australia Peter Skapetis Stoke City FC, England Jaushua Sotirio Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia Jordan Thurtell (gk) Perth Glory, Australia Benjamin Warland Adelaide United, Australia Riley Woodcock Perth Glory, Australia
bobbym
Guest
OKON sacked? Don't forget it's all about the performance these days not the result- bit like the Pubic service - a job for life.
Catnap
Guest
Good team pity about the coach hopefully his last chance!!!!
bemused
Guest
Excited to mabil, ikonomidis, da silva, skapetis and co. Defensively though, interested to see how daniel alessi and cameron burgess play, with alessi putting in quality performances for WSW and burgess rumoured for a call up to the national team to lock him in as scotland have been interested as well.
Kurt
Guest
Good team, hope they do better, alot of promise there. Just hope okon uses them properly