Qantas Under 23 Squad To Tour Vietnam Announced
The Qantas Under 23s squad to compete in a four-nation tournament in Vietnam has been announced containing 16 players who featured with Hyundai A-League clubs last season.
The 18-man squad travel to Vietnam today for the tournament which will feature U-23 teams from Uzbekistan and Iran, plus the senior national team of the host nation. The matches will serve as the first preparatory matches for next year's qualifying campaign for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The squad will again be managed by Socceroos assistant coaches Graham Arnold and Johan Neeskens and will consist mainly of players who featured with clubs in the inaugural Hyundai A-League season. The only players that have not played in the Hyundai A-League are former Qantas Young Socceroo Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Manly United) and Adam Casey, who plays with former NSL Champions Wollongong Wolves.
The squad to tour Vietnam is:
Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners), Jacob Timpano (Sydney FC), Mark Milligan (Sutherland Sharks/Sydney FC), Adrian Leijer (Melbourne Victory), David Micevski (Perth Glory), Nick Ward (pictured above, Perth Glory), Stuart Musialik (Newcastle Jets), Spase Dilevski (Queensland Roar), Kristian Sarkies (Melbourne Victory), Ruben Zadkovich (Bulli/Sydney FC), Mark Bridge (Newcastle Jets) Justin Pasfield (Sydney United/Sydney FC), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Manly United, NSW), Vince Lia (Melbourne Victory), Tyler Simpson (Blacktown City Demons/Queensland Roar), Billy Celeski (Bulleen Zebras/Perth Glory), Adam Casey (Wollongong Wolves, NSW), Dez Giraldi (Central Coast Mariners) (05/06 Hyundai A-League club listed plus 2006 winter season club if applicable)
The match schedule is:
Australia v Iran Sunday 16 April, 3.45pm (6.45pm AEST)
Australia v Vietnam Tuesday 18 April, 5.45pm (8.45pm AEST)
Australia v Uzbekistan Thursday 20 April, 3.45pm (6.45pm AEST)
The U-23 Asian Olympic qualifiers is currently scheduled to commence next February and will see the top three teams qualifying in addition to China who automatically qualify as the host nation.
The matches in Vietnam will serve as the first for the current generation of players, and the first international fixtures for the Qantas Under 23s since the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece where Australia were eliminated in the quarter finals by Iraq.