http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/Qantas-Joeys-in-Group-B-for-AFC-U16-Championship/47285
Qantas Joeys in Group B for AFC U-16 Championship Friday, 11 May 2012 11:16 AM


The Qantas Joeys have been drawn with Iraq, Oman & Thailand in Group B for the AFC U-16 Championship 2012, which will be held in Tehran, Iran from 21 September to 6 October.

The draw was conducted in Tehran by Shin Man Gil, the AFC Director of National Team Competitions.

The Qantas Joeys were seeded in Pot 1 as the fourth ranked team in the competition along with host nation Iran, DPR Korea and Uzbekistan, by virtue of their placing at the 2010 edition of the tournament.

Qantas Joeys Head Coach Alistair Edwards is excited about the challenges his squad will face as part of the upcoming campaign.

"The standard of youth football throughout Asia has risen considerably over the past decade, there are no longer any easy games, which I think is a positive development”, said Edwards.

"At the recent qualifying tournament (for the AFC U-16 Championship) we lost to Thailand (2-3) so that gives you an indication of how competitive it is going to be to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

"Each of the groups have quality teams and each country will be travelling to Iran with the objective of qualification.

"Having said that Group C looks particularly strong with four traditional powerhouses who heavily invest and recognise the importance of providing opportunities for the players and coaches to develop.

"The situation with the draw means that two high quality teams will not even make it out of the group stage.

"It’s now down to narrowing our focus on selecting the tournament squads, not an easy task with such a good base of quality players.

"I am very happy with how the Qantas Joeys program is going, the regular weekend camps have been excellent. Getting to work with the players every three weeks has enabled the players to bond on and off the park and for Tony and I, in conjunction with a great group of NTC coaches to monitor them closely through regular contact.

"We can't wait to start playing the upcoming high quality international games to continue our development, the countdown to Iran has begun and we can now look at who we will be playing in more detail,” concluded Edwards.

The Qantas Joeys will prepare for the competition by competing at the ASEAN Football Federation U-16 Preparatory Tournament in Vientiane, Laos from 2-8 June and will then travel to Saudi Arabia for a tournament in late July before heading to South America in August for an altitude training camp in Bolivia where they will play 5 friendly matches against quality local opposition.

The top two teams from each group of the AFC U-16 Championship 2012 will progress to the knockout stage (quarter-finals) and the four winners of the quarter-finals will then play in the semi-finals with the winners advancing to the final.

The semi-finalists will also automatically qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates in late 2013.



Edited by slee45: 26/5/2012 08:32:39 PM

This is a point made by many stakeholders.

Many Asian teams are quickly improving. Yet in Australia we have media pundits who simply expect us to beat anyone in Asia pretty easily.

http://www.footballnsw.com.au/index.php?id=17&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6403&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=16&cHash=01e92762fa

Ten NSW based players selected in Qantas Joeys squad
22.05.12 18:15

Qantas Joeys coach Alistair Edwards
Ten NSW based players were recently selected to be part of the Qantas Joeys squad bound for the ASEAN Football Federation U16 Preparatory Tournament in Vientiane, Laos from 2nd to the 8th of June 2012.

Qantas Joeys Head Coach Alistair Edwards has selected a 20-player squad with New South Welshmen Darcy Madden (Figtree), Aaron Calver (Helensburgh), Kevin Ly (Liverpool), Steve Kuzamnovski (Mortdale), Liam Rose (Mt Pritchard), Lawrence Hanna (Condell Park), Alex Gersbach (Yowie Bay), Joshua MacDonald (Farmborough), Lukas Stergiou (Mangerton) and Bright Appiah (Kensington) all part of the squad.

The Qantas Joeys will play three matches in the four-nation tournament against Japan, Laos and Thailand.

Following last week’s draw announcement for the AFC U-16 Championship 2012, Edwards is using this tournament for competitive match experience and to blood some younger players.

“We are really looking forward to this opportunity to gain much needed International football experience,” said Edwards.

“I have always admired the way in which Japan approach the game and Laos & Thailand have improved greatly in the past few years at youth level.

“During the last few training camps the focus has been on identifying the players that best suit our style of play and I’m pleased to see that our young Australian footballers have adapted well.

“Tony and I have been mindful of the Relative Age Effect and this squad is reflective of this. Some really promising younger players have caught my eye and as such, in line with the national long term player development philosophy, there are five 1997 born players included in this Australian-based Qantas Joeys squad, the youngest being Lawrence Hanna who is 14 years old.

“We have a 12 game international program leading up to Iran (AFC U-16 Championship) and the experience gained in Laos, Saudi Arabia and Bolivia will provide an excellent platform for the players to develop,” concluded Edwards.

The Qantas Joeys will assemble in Canberra on Sunday (27 May) for a short pre-tournament training camp before heading to Laos next Wednesday.

Football Federation Australia would like to thank the AIS for their ongoing support for this training camp & tournament and the Qantas Joeys Football Program.

Qantas Joeys squad for ASEAN Football Federation U-16 Preparatory Tournament - Vientiane, Laos - 2-8 June 2012

Jordan Thurtell (gk) AIS

Darcy Madden AIS

Aaron Calver NSWIS

Benjamin Warland AIS

Dylan Pickert AIS

Kevin Ly NSWIS

Steve Kuzmanovski AIS

Liam Rose NSWIS

Lawrence Hanna Parramatta FC

Daniel De Silva Football West

Alex Gersbach NSWIS

Lucas Spinella (gk) AIS

Jeremy Tshongo AIS

Jack Iredale Football West

Brendan Gonano AIS

Matthew Ntoumenopoulos AIS

Joshua MacDonald NSWIS

Lukas Stergiou Sutherland Sharks FC

Bright Appiah AIS

Matthew Schmidt AIS

The fact that none of those players are contracted to an A-League club is both unsurprising and sad.

Academies are needed, full stop.

It's kind of hard actually as this age range is 14-15 and so a year or two too young for even the NYL sides. As too, a number of the boys being in the AIS or State Institutes, it reflects that they will graduate through there, or atleast spend a bit more time there, before a few of them joining A-League clubs, just like those before them.

So again, Draupnir I think you have the generations confused, IF we were talking the U18/19s with the next Young Socceroos squad, then I'd fully concur if the squad if this were the case for that squad. But odds are that squad will not only have a number of NYL/A-League boys, but some of them will be already featuring/starring in the A-League now, like Terry Antonis, Jake Barker-Daish, Curtis Good, Mitch Cooper, Josh Brillante, Jacob Melling, Jesse Makarounas, Adam Taggart and the like as too hopefully European based boys like Musti Amini, Corey Gameiro, Jamie McLaren and the like.

Those are all logical selections that Okon and co will opt for. But there may be even better, especially in Europe and here's hoping the 'European based scout' for the FFA, Stu McLaren, finds them!

For sure, I understand the problem/advantage/disadvantages that being 14-15 years old poses to both the clubs and the players wanting to be signed, simply because the NYL is the only real option these guys have at the moment.

When I said academy I was meaning from ages 10+ or so, not actually being signed simply to a professional club. Didn't mean that it's bad for our national side or bad for the players that they are either at an institute of sport or a semi pro club, more so that the professional clubs are lacking :)

Why no Teeboy?

He is too old mate, he is now on his full pro contract with AUFC as he has turned 16.

Teeboy is a 96 born ( apparently ) so he is eligible for the current Joeys. Im not sure of the rulings over whether a player can play in concurrent Youth World Cups though!!! Bright Appiah who is listed in the squad above did not make the trip to Laos. Not sure why, possible injury. I know this because my son has been training with the AIS for the last week under Ufuk Talay and Bright did not train. Although he did not seem injured.
Good luck to the boys in the tournament in Laos, hope they gain the experience needed for the up coming Asia Cup/World Cup qualifiers.

Age wise he is absolutely eligible, the question is what the rules are on consecutive WC representation at this age group.

Bright is a talented boy, seen him play futsal out our way, hope he goes well, would love to see SFC sign him into the NYL squad.

Best of luck with you boy btw! :)

Thanks thupercoach.

I wonder if these games would be telecasted on online? I hoped they would get streamed, it's Asia so you never know? :-k
What time are these played? Anyone know?

Edited by Barca4life: 1/6/2012 11:34:34 AM

No idea mate.

I'm sure I read somewhere that you can't be eligible for 2 U17 World Cups.

Im sure you are right MidfieldMaestro

I guess they need to keep him in the U20 stream then. Even if he doesn't make ther final team. And he'll be perfect age for 2015 U20 WC.

http://www.aseanfootball.org/?p=8486

AFF UNDER-16 PREPARATORY TOURNAMENT 2012

(All matches at the Lao National Stadium, KM16)


2 June 2012: Australia vs Japan (16:00)
Thailand vs Laos (19:00)


4 June 2012: Japan vs Thailand (16:00)
Laos vs Australia (19:00)


6 June 2012: Australia vs Thailand (16:00)
Japan vs Laos (19:00)


8 June 2012: 3rd position vs 4th position (16:00)
Winner vs Runner-up (19:00)

Rafa Jimenez was keen to join but wasn't registered in time

Are those times local time or EST standard time?

Assume local - or just click on link and check ;)

Just found on Alistair Edwards twitter account that we drew 1-1 with Japan which is a decent result to start the tournament.

yeah thats not too bad a start.

Thanks for that VoR - It will be interesting to see how the overseas boys or how many, how often, will be used during qualification with the Young Socceroos particularly. Understandably, at U16 level, I presume it's best not to disrupt them in Europe, but as 17/19 year olds I'm sure there are a number over there who would be willing to come over, if called upon. I'd love to see the number pushing half a dozen or more for most of the Young Socceroos' qualifiers, or the key ones atleast.

Also - I actually think it's for the best, especially after what we saw with the Olyroos. The difference in quality a Corey Gameiro, hopefully fit and firing again Dylan Tombides and the like can bring, can literally be the difference between a positive result and 0-0 draws or worse. We can't afford to slump it in selection this time. That's one thing Versleijan did well - he selected alot of Euro boys right through and that's what helped the Young Socceroos qualify through the AFC - overseas boys like Bulut clearly made a difference, as did Tombides with the previous Joeys gen. There may be a good, more creative midfielder about too - But in saying that Musti Amini is STILL about - still young enough to qualify for the Young Socceroos once more - He'll surely set a new record for all time Young Socceroo caps by the end of his spell (Maybe our version of James Milner and his 40 somoething caps for England's Under 21s rofl)! lol

Edited by gloryperth: 3/6/2012 04:43:44 AM

Can anyone give a report?

Report from the web:

http://www.aseanfootball.org/?p=8504

You do realise that the Joeys are an U/17 team right? :?

Joeys won 3-2 over Laos, again good result.

Laos :oops:

Dont judge results that easy in this age group,also these countries are investing heeps of $$$ to get better as well.

The gap at this age between countries is not as big as the older age groups so a 3-2 win is not bad. Laos beat Thailand too