Joeys World Cup Squad Named

Fifteen members of the squad are current scholars at the Australian Institute of Sport, with Nicholas Ansell from Melbourne Victory, Mitch Cooper from Gold Coast United, Luke Remington from the NNSW Institute of Sport and Daniel Sadaka from the Sutherland Sharks.

Western Australians Tom King and Dylan Tombides are the only two players who are currently based overseas with powerhouse English clubs Liverpool FC and West Ham United respectively.

Versleijen believes he has chosen the best possible squad to give the Qantas Joeys the best possible chance of having a successful campaign.

“This has been the longest selection process of any youth national team that I have been involved in,” said Versleijen

“The process began some three years when the age groups were lowered for the AIS football program and the players began being identified two years ago.

“This is the first time that a predominately AIS-based squad will be going to a FIFA World Cup.

“But we didn’t close our eyes to players outside the program either.  We scouted eligible players from around the world and brought many of them to Canberra to see if they could strengthen the quality of the squad.

“From here, we have the best 21 players who can make the best team on the field.

“The major benefit of having the majority of players based at the AIS and playing in the National Youth League is that the players are very familiar with the style of play and also their team-mates.

“From here, we will now go to Pachuca (Mexico) to train at altitude to acclimatise to the conditions we will face in the tournament.

“To assist our preparations we have also received fantastic advice from the AIS scientists as well as Dr Raymond Verheijen and Ken Stead in regard to preparing our players for playing at altitude.

Versleijen added: “With all this preparation in effect, we will be focussing on getting a positive result in our early matches to progress in the competition.”

The Joeys are currently in a training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, under the supervision of Assistant coach Gary van Egmond and FFA Assistant Technical Director Alistair Edwards whilst Jan Versleijen is in Europe with the Qantas Young Socceroos. 

During this camp, the Joeys have been put through their paces by the presenters and candidates of the Pro-Diploma Coaching course including the well respected Football Conditioning expert, Dr Raymond Verheijen and former National Youth Coach and current Hyundai A-League championship winning coach Ange Postecoglou.

The Joeys will assemble in Sydney on Tuesday to attend a farewell function and then travel to Mexico on Wednesday for a pre-tournament camp in Pachuca, where they will play friendly matches against Canada (June 13) and Uruguay (June15). They will then move to their base camp in the city of Guadalajara, during the first phase of the tournament on June 16.

The Joeys have been drawn in Group F alongside Côte d'Ivoire, Brazil and Denmark for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 which will be played from June 18 to July 10.

The Joeys will play their first match of the tournament against Côte d'Ivoire on Monday June 20, and then face Brazil on Thursday June 23 before their final group match against Denmark on Sunday June 26.

The Joeys will be playing Côte d'Ivoire and Brazil in Guadalajara on an artificial grass field with the final group match against Denmark on a grass field in Queretaro.

The Pachuca training camp venue will have both artificial and grass training fields to help the Qantas Joeys adjust to their tournament conditions.

The Qantas Joeys qualified for the FIFA U17 World Cup having made semi-final of the AFC U16 Youth Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last year.

The Joeys matches and the Semi-Finals and Final of the FIFA U17 World Cup Mexico 2011 will be broadcast live on SBS TV.

Qantas Joeys Squad for FIFA U17 World Cup 2011 Mexico