Olyroo Squad For Yemen Games

The decision was made after FFA was told by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that it was not advisable to travel to Yemen because of the terrrorism and revolution fears gripping the country.

Because of the strife, the Yemen FA agreed to FFA's offer to host both matches in Australia and this has now been ratified by FIFA.

Qantas Olyroos Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar was very pleased that a satisfactory resolution had been made in regard to the scheduling of these important matches.

“Obviously we are really happy with this outcome in light of the current situation in Yemen,” said Vidmar.

“It was always our preference to play both matches in Australia to avoid unnecessary travel where possible.

“FFA has done a tremendous job in negotiating this outcome and we thank Yemen for agreeing to this offer"

In addition, Vidmar today also announced his 21-player squad that will be involved in these two matches.

Led by Central Coast local Oliver Bozanic, 17 members of the squad recently toured Japan to play a friendly match against the Japanese U-22 National Team in Niigata.

Scottish-based midfielder Aaron Mooy is an addition to the squad along with Qantas Young Socceroos Mustafa Amini, Kofi Danning and goalkeeper Mark Birighitti.

Vidmar believes that the squad that he has selected will be able to get the result need to progress to the next stage of the competition.

“I was really pleased with elements of our recent trip to Japan, but there are still parts to work on," he said.

“Aaron Mooy comes into the squad to help bolster our midfield, Mark Birighitti was a late inclusion for Alex Cisak who got injured recently and Musti and Kofi were added to give us a couple of extra creative and attacking options.

“We will have a good week in camp with a training match against Singapore I believe that we will be ready for Yemen."

The Olyroos need to win these two matches on aggregate to progress to the next round of qualification which sees the 12 winners from Round 2 divided into three groups of four teams each.

The teams in each group will then play in a home-and-away format from September 21, to March 14, 2012, with the winner of each group directly qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games Football competition.

The three second-placed teams from the third round will clash in a playoff at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012, and the winners of this group will meet the representatives of CAF (Africa) for a berth in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Olyroos will assemble in camp on Friday June 10 and will play a behind closed doors training match against Singapore on Sunday June 12 in the lead up to their two matches against Yemen.

Ticketing details for the Preliminary Round 2 - 2012 London Olympic Games Asian Qualification Matches between the Qantas Olyroos and Yemen will be announced shortly.

Qantas Olyroos Squad List

Preliminary Round 2 - 2012 London Olympic Games Asian Qualification Matches – 19 & 23 June 2011