The Young Socceroo’s uncle is Keith Barker - a former Blackburn Rovers and England U-19 player turned talented cricketer with county side Warwickshire.

And with a father and grandfather who also played first-class cricket and a mother’s side of the family from cricket-mad Barbados, Barker-Daish could’ve easily been lost to world football.

But despite having a talent with bat and ball, football was never going to lose that battle even if his Uncle was an idol to him growing up.

The Melbourne teenager honed his skills as a junior playing Futsal for Victoria before Young Socceroo coach Jan Versleijen took his game to a new level three years ago at the AIS.

Barker-Daish, who has signed for Miron Bleiberg’s Gold Coast United, may not hero worship Versleijen just yet, but huge respect and admiration is clearly there.

“There’s been a massive jump [in my development]. Jan prepares you for what it’s like in Australia and overseas. And when you go overseas and see it, it’s on a complete different level.

“It prepares you for that level," Barker-Daish told au.fourfourtwo.com.

You’ve got to be good to get into this Young Socceroo squad which makes Barker-Daish’s selection impressive. Even more so as the midfielder, who turned 18 in May, is young enough to be eligible for the following U-20 World Cup in 2013.

Barker-Daish was raised on Futsal with the Victorian state junior team. It’s served him well. “I loved it. The actual sport itself, you have the freedom to do whatever you wanted and more skill-based and tactical.

“I used to play against Terry [Antonis] every year as a junior in Futsal with Victoria versus NSW – though they used to always win.”

In fact it was Barker-Daish’s connection with Antonis which provided a somewhat bizarre scenario last year.

Socceroo talisman Tim Cahill is a fan of Antonis’s talents and invited Antonis to the Cahill home in England to watch the Socceroos play Germany.

With Barker-Daish along for the ride, the pair sat in the Everton superstar’s stunning home with the Cahill family to watch the opening World Cup 2010 match against Germany.

Cahill was sent-off controversially in the 4-0 car-crash. 

Antonis and Barker-Daish are hoping their Colombia campaign doesn’t pan out the way of the national team in South Africa. They may be the kids in this Young Socceroo squad but there’s every chance they’ll see plenty of game time, too.

The Young Socceroos have been drawn in group C, alongside Ecuador, Costa Rica and Spain. It’s no easy task, as Versleijen concedes. “It’s always said that there are no easy matches at a World Cup and from looking at our group this is definitely true.

“We played Costa Rica at the last World Cup in Egypt so we are familiar with their style of play. Spain is one of the strongest teams in Europe and are famous for their youth development programs so we are expecting them to be very tough.

“Ecuador is the unknown quantity within the group so we will have to be on our game playing them in a climate that they are accustomed to.”

Green and gold fans have been spoilt of late. The Matildas made it to the knockout stages of the World Cup and the Joeys similarly got through their group stage.

But this Young Socceroo team could potentially go even further. Barker-Daish will vie with Ben Kantarovski for the central midfield role while wide attackers Tommy Oar and Matt Leckie provide the thrust down the flanks.

AFC-19 Championships Golden Boot Kerem Bulut is likely to lead the strike-line with Antonis and Mustafa Amini just in behind. The Afro-haired creator is likely to be pivotal.

“The thing is, [on the park] he does the simple things really well. And it’s that what’s got him a lot of attention,” Barker-Daish said

“He’s a good character; we always have a good laugh together.”

Later today in Sydney the Young Socceroos will be given an official farewell before departing for Denver to prepare for the altitude of Colombia.

Barker-Daish added: “If we’re on song in Colombia, we can beat anyone.”