To see the Olyroos get together at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney...

 

The first Olyroo camp under new coach Aurelio Vidmar was held this morning at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney.

It was part of a two-day get-together before the squad leaves on Friday for a tournament in Hanoi where they will play against the U/23 national teams of DPR Korea and Kuwait as well as the Vietnamese national team.

"The majority of the squad that will take us through the qualifiers will be A-League based players, so we will need to work hard to ensure that the squad is the strongest one possible for the campaign," said Vidmar.

Olyroo striker Jason Hoffman told au.fourfourtwo.com the conditions in Vietnam will be ideal preparation. "It'll certainly different to what I'm used to in Melbourne. We're expecting it to be pretty humid but good preparation for our qualifiers."

It's a point fellow Olyroo Isaka Cernak was keen to stress. With nine players in the announced squad from Queensland A-League teams, the North Queensland Fury star told au.fourfourtwo.com this presence will work in the Olyroos' favour - particularly so when they play in hot and humid conditions across the AFC.

"There is an abundance of talent here - particularly from Queensland."

He added: "It's really good playing with Tahj [Minniecon] and Browny [James Brown] and Payney [Chris Payne], Olly [Bozanic] and Dan [Mullen].

"We've played a fair bit together with the U/17s and 20s. We've kind of got a little base already - it's not like coming into a new team."

The match schedule to qualify for 2012 London Olympic Games is long and difficult. It will involve 35 teams from the region that will compete for three-and-a-half positions in the Men's Olympics football tournament.

Round One of qualification will see the 22 lowest ranked teams in Asia play home-and-away playoffs with the winners qualifying for Round Two. The first leg of Round One will be played on 23 February, 2011, while the return leg will be played on 9 March, 2011.

The Round One winners will join the 13 highest ranked teams, which will include Australia, in Round Two and 12 teams will make it to Round Three after playing home-and-away playoffs on 19 June, 2011, and 23 June, 2011.

Round Three will see the teams divided into three groups of four teams which will play each other in a home-and-away format. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

All the second-placed teams from the three groups will play-off in a round robin format and the winner will then take on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) representative for a place at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The third round matches will be played on September 21, 2011, November 23, November 27, February 5, 2012, February 22 and March 14. The round robin matches between the second-placed teams will be played at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012.

"Of course, all of us want to get to the Olympics," added Cernak. "It is a bit unfortunate we get to miss out on club games but of course it's an honour to represent your country."

One late withdrawal from the squad due to a medical issue was Luke Brattan from Brisbane Roar. His replacement is Melbourne Victory's Matthew Foschini.

The squad is:

Matthew Foschini
Melbourne Victory

Oliver BOZANIC
Central Coast Mariners

James BROWN
Gold Coast United

Isaka CERNAK
North Queensland Fury

Luke DeVERE
Brisbane Roar

Mate DUGANDZIC
Melbourne Victory

Diogo FERRIERA
Melbourne Victory

Antony GOLEC
Sydney FC

Marko JESIC
Newcastle Jets

Jason HOFFMAN
Melbourne Heart

Matthew JURMAN
Sydney FC

Tahj MINNIECON
Gold Coast United

Daniel MULLEN
Adelaide United

Mitch NICHOLS
Brisbane Roar

Scott NEVILLE
Perth Glory

Chris PAYNE
North Queensland Fury

Mirjan PAVLOVIC
Wellington Phoenix

Andrew REDMAYNE (gk)
Brisbane Roar

Sebastian RYALL
Sydney FC

Jerrad TYSON (gk)
Gold Coast United

To see the Olyroos get together at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney...