The team rounded off their Australia-based preparations with a commanding 5-0 win over New Zealand’s Junior All Whites – but the likes of Colombia, El Salvador and Turkey lie in wait.

It’s a tough group, but the rising Aussie coach has faith to burn in this campaign-hardened squad.

au.fourfourtwo.com spoke with Okon from the team’s base ahead of their opening game in Trabzon on Saturday 22 June.

How’s the team settling in?
Good.  We had a long flight which is always the case when you have to travel from Australia to Europe. We touched down (on Wednesday) and had a light training session. We’ll have another light training session before we get into the full swing.

You’ve lined up a match against Chile today (Sunday). What do you hope to learn from that?
Well it will be the first time we’ve play against South American opposition and that’s why we’ve organised this match with Chile. It’s a training match for us and our last opportunity to try things before our first game. It will give us an indication how our style of football matches up against a South American team.

Have you prepared the team for playing Turkey in front of a massive and passionate home crowd?
We don’t want to look too far ahead.  First and foremost is our opening game against Columbia and we need to get off to a good start. Then we play El Salvador, and again we need to do well. After that it’s Turkey which will be special.  A lot of the players were excited when the draw came out and we learned we were playing the host. That’s why you come to World Cups, to play games like that in front of a full house even if they’re against you – it’s something you don’t get to experience too often. For the players to be able to experience that, at such an early stage in their football careers, is magnificent.

What are you expecting from the other teams in the group?
I’ve just finished the last two hours having a look at stuff on Colombia. You have a picture in your mind but you’re never sure until you face them on the pitch. Like ourselves, we’ve used a number of players so you don't know one hundred per cent which players are going to start, you don’t know if they’re going to change their way of playing a little bit. So we have a general idea. We’ll try not to change too much the way we approach the game – our style of play – but of course we’ll make sure the every player knows how dangerous Colombia can be.

It’s a decade since the Young Socceroos last made it out of the group stage of an U20 World Cup – is that your benchmark for success?
Success for me is helping as many of these young players go on and play for the Socceroos. That’s the ultimate success. Short term would no doubt be improving on the results of recent U20 World Cups and that would be getting out of the group stage. We have a tough group but I would be disappointed if we weren’t able to do that. I have a lot of confidence in the group of players I have here and if we can play to our potential we’ll go a long way to achieving that milestone. But of course with young players there can be some inconsistencies. In a tournament you need to be consistent over three games and that’s probably the key to every team’s ambitions.

You mentioned the Socceroos. Do you see a lot of hope for the future in this squad?
Yes I do. It’s the pathway. We know that the Socceroos are a very experienced team and in a year or two there’ll be some changes due to players retiring from the national team. No doubt this group will have some players who will hopefully be knocking on the door to make that Socceroos squad.

I know you don’t like to single out players from the team but who are the ones to watch?
I think probably from player one to player 21 – every player you need to watch. I’d be lying if I said any different. The strength of this team has been everyone playing their part and it’s never been about one individual, it’s always been about the team.  And as long as I’m here and in charge that’s how it will be.

Terry Antonis was a last minute withdrawal with a torn quadriceps muscle. Were you able to talk him through that disappointment and how is he coping?
He was with us in the hotel on the day we left from Sydney. It was very disappointing for him. It’s a nasty injury so hopefully Terry recovers as soon as possible. He’s just signed a contract to play with Parma and he wants to be fit for their preseason. It’s disappointing because Terry was an important player for the team. Then again that’s sort of the way football is. Sometimes these things happen and you need to get over them as quickly as possible. He was devastated, and everyone was devastated for Terry, but I said to him he’ll have more disappointments in his career – and hopefully it’s a long career – but it’s now about him getting fit and hopefully playing as many games as possible for Parma next season.

You captained that very successful team which reached the semi-finals of the 1991 U20 World Cup (FIFA World Youth Championship) in Portugal where you played in front of 112,000. Does this bring back memories?
There were so many great memories from that tournament. We were never expected to even get out of the group stages let alone make the semi -final against Portugal who were the eventual winners of the World Cup.  I’ve spoken briefly about that experience to some of the players and when we had our farewell last week it was something that was mentioned. To be able to play in a World Cup is a great experience. It’s something that these boys will remember for the rest of their lives, certainly their careers, irrespective of what they go on to achieve afterwards. It’s the start for them and no one ever forgets what happened at the beginning.