Pair Snub World Cup Call-Up

Lustica recently moved to join Ljubo Milicevic at Hajduk Split in Croatia while McGrath is currently shining for Danish side Brondby after making his debut in the senior Socceroos in March.

They both looked like certainties for the Young Socceroos squad going to Colombia for the u20s World Cup later this month.

But today FFA technical director Han Berger revealed: “Through the selection process, we were disappointed to learn that two players, Brent McGrath and Steven Lustica, declined our invitation for selection, as they both made themselves unavailable.

“I am sure that the players who have been selected will seize the opportunity to do themselves and Australia proud on the world stage.”

The 21-player squad includes 16 who were part of the Young Socceroos that were runners up to DPR Korea at the AFC U19 Championships last year.

Another five of those members, Tommy Oar, Kofi Danning, Ben Kantarovski, Rhyan Grant and Sam Gallagher, were also part of the Australian squad that competed at the U20 World Cup in Egypt in 2009.

The A-League is home for 15 of the players with four from overseas clubs and two players, former Sunderland striker Matthew Fletcher and former Sheffield United goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, currently uncontracted.

Berger said he was also confident that the squad selected will be able to perform well at the tournament.

“The FIFA U-20 World Cup is an important tournament for the development of professional footballers which sees the world’s best players in this age group compete at the highest level,” he said.

“With this in mind, and though we are very optimistic about our prospects, it is important for us all to have realistic expectations for the team as a result. 

“In putting together this squad we have had to make some concessions to secure the services of a number of overseas based players through negotiation with their respective clubs, but we believe that these concessions will not have a significant impact on the squad’s preparation for the tournament."

After a long and exhaustive selection process, Versleijen believes that the squad he has selected will be ready to perform when the tournament begins on July 29.

“I am very happy with the final selection and it is good to have the majority of the squad back together that did so well at the AFC Championships last year,” said Versleijen

“It is also good to see that since last October the majority of the players have progressed to the starting line-ups of their respective Hyundai A-League or overseas based clubs. 

“It is very exciting that the tournament is so close and we will use our training camp in Denver, where we will play two friendly matches against quality opposition, to finalise our preparations.”

The Qantas Young Socceroos will hold a farewell function in Sydney at the end of the week before travelling to the USA on Saturday for a pre-tournament camp in Denver, Colorado where they will play friendly matches against fellow World Cup finalists the Korea Republic (July 20) and England (July 22).

The Young Socceroos will then move to their base camp in the Colombian city of Manizales, situated 2,180m above sea-level, where they will be based the first phase of the tournament.

The Young Socceroos will play their first match of the tournament against Ecuador on Sunday  July 31, and then face Costa Rica on Wednesday August 3before their final group match against Spain on Saturday August 6.

The top two teams from each of the groups and the four third placed teams with the highest number of points will then progress to the round of 16 (August 9 &10). The Quarter-Finals will be played on August 13 & 14, Semi-Finals on August 17 with the Final and 3^rd/4^th place play-off on Saturday August 20.

Qantas Young Socceroos Squad for FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011