The Central Cost Mariners will be represented by no less than four players at an upcoming Qantas Young Socceroos tour to South America, making it the Hyundai A-League club with the strongest representation of the tour.
The Central Coast Mariners will be represented by no less than four players at an upcoming Qantas Young Socceroos tour to South America, making it the Hyundai A-League club with the strongest representation of the tour.
Mustafa Amini, Sam Gallagher, Marc Warren and Trent Sainsbury have all won a call up to the four-match trip to Argentina and Paraguay, designed to prepare Jan Versleijen-s squad for the AFC U-19 Championship 2010 which will be held in China in October.
The group has trained just once in Yellow and Navy together since being signed by Mariners Head Coach Graham Arnold, and while the rest of their Central Coast teammates are enjoying a well-deserved holiday, their main focus will be impressing sufficiently enough to win a spot in the squad for the Asian Championship.
“It-s a great testament to the stringent recruitment policy the club has in place. These four players have been identified by our coaching staff as players of the future and that sentiment has certainly been echoed by Football Federation Australia,” said Mariners Executive Chairman Lyall Gorman.
“The club is proud to have the largest representation of players in the squad, and we of course wish them every success.”
Head Coach Graham Arnold is already in South America, combing the continent for potential additions to his squad for the coming Hyundai A-League season, and says he-s delighted for the youngsters.
“They are very, very good young players and they won-t let Jan or anybody else down. Three of the four players have worked directly under Jan at the Institute and Sam has been involved in the Young Socceroos setup as well, so this is just another step on that path,” said Arnold from Argentina.
The Qantas Young Socceroos will play two matches in Asunción on Tuesday, 6 and Thursday, 8 April against the Paraguay U-20 National team and two matches in Buenos Aires against the Argentine U-20 National Team on Tuesday, 13 and Thursday, 15 April.
The Qantas Young Socceroos will depart Sydney for South America on Saturday, 3 April and return on Monday, 19 April.
FULL SQUAD: Mustafa AMINI Central Coast Mariners), Sam GALLAGHER (Central Coast Mariners), Trent SAINSBURY (Central Coast Mariners), Marc WARREN (Central Coast Mariners), Matthew ACTON (gk) (Brisbane Roar), Daniel BOWLES Brisbane Roar), Kerem BULUT (FK Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic), Chris BUSH (Uncontracted), Stephen DOMENICI (Uncontracted), Petar FRANJIC (Melbourne Victory), Ben HALLORAN (Gold Coast United), Chris HAROLD (Gold Coast United), Ben KANTAROVSKI (Newcastle Jets), Steven LUSTICA (Gold Coast United), Theo MARKELIS (Valencia, Spain), Francesco MONTEROSSO (Adelaide United), Tom OAR (Brisbane Roar), Alex PEARSON (gk) (Perth Glory), Nikola STANOJEVIC (Uncontracted), Kliment TASESKI (Melbourne Heart).