A squad of sixteen young footballers from across Northern NSW has been selected to represent Australia in an international football tournament in Japan in April.

An invitation was made to the NSW Government by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for Australia to participate in the Tokyo tournament and Northern NSW Football has been selected to represent Australia.

Ten nations are participating including Germany, England, France, Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, Russia, Egypt and host nation Japan.

Sixteen players in the 13-14 years age group, selected from across Northern NSW, will be travelling, accompanied by four (4) coaching and support staff from Northern NSW, departing on 21st April and returning 29th April.

Football Manager for Northern NSW Football, David Smith, said that the tournament would provide many of the young players with their first taste of international representative competition.

‘This will be a great learning experience for most of these players, both culturally and in relation to their game,’ Smith said. ‘To play against Asian nations who these boys may one day face in World Cup qualifying, will provide them with an insight into how advanced these nations are on the world stage, even at this junior level.’

Despite the daunting task ahead of them, the players are counting the days until they can touchdown in Japan.

‘There’s a great buzz amongst the kids about the tournament,’ Smith said. ‘This age group is the next to be targeted for the World Under 17 qualifiers which commence in 2009. They are treating it like a ‘world cup’ and if their enthusiasm and energy levels are any indication, they will follow the example set by the Socceroos and do Northern NSW and Australia proud,’ Smith concluded.

The full list of selected players and touring officials are as follows.

Northern NSW Squad Members

James Eccles – Armidale
Sam Jarrett – Coffs Harbour
Ryan Cole – Coffs Harbour
George Rixon – Tamworth
Sterling Wylie – Tamworth
Michael Finlayson – Coffs Harbour
Reece Coleman – Kempsey
Patrick Coelho- Port Macquarie
Patrick Brown – Redhead
Abe Wheelhouse – Rathmines
Luke Remington – Rathmines
Dominic Bizzarri – Valentine
Jarod Oliveri – Tingira Heights
Blake Green – Tingira Heights
Terry Surjan – Waratah
Ari Tusek – Adamstown Heights

Team Officials

Gary Phillips – Northern NSW Institute of Sport Coach
Gerard Carey – Northern NSW Football Under 14 Coach
David Smith – Football Manager, Northern NSW Football
Diago Sano – Team Liaison/Interpreter