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♔ ♕ ♚ ♛ Australia U17/U20/U23 National Team Tournaments & Discussion Thread ♔ ♕ ♚ ♛

I had noticed that Australian players do generally fail to progress from underage teams to the Socceroos. If you flick back through all the AFC Youth Championship teams since we entered Asia in 2006 (which are either u19 or u20 squads it seems), it's only really the following who became regular Socceroos:

Connor Metcalfe
Cameron Burgess
Awer Mabil
Jackson Irvine
Matt Leckie
Tommy Oar

There were a couple more with a few appearances, like Keanu Bacchus and Brendan Borrello, and it looks like Paul Okon-Engstler from last year's u20 champions will have a long Socceroos career also, but on the whole my impression is that we're worse at this than other countries.
 
There’s something to be said that historically, being selected for Aussie youth teams was a career hindrance rather than a help. Players would get 6-8 starts for their A-league team, then get pulled away on underage national team duty for a 2-3 games and lose their spot for half a season, which limited their ability to excel and move overseas. This negated them ever getting picked for the Socceroos. The most obvious examples were Galloway and Antonis.
 
Given the rumours about this kid going to the MLS as well I wonder what you guys thoughts on Akol Akon? I feel he is at a similar trajectory to Nestory Irankunda at he's age.

Although I feel Akon is more of a creative threat than a goal scoring threat like Irankunda but the potential is there.

Thoughts?
 
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Barca4life said:
Given the rumours about this kid going to the MLS as well I wonder what you guys thoughts on Akol Akon? I feel he is at a similar trajectory to Nestory Irankunda at he's age.

Although I feel Akon is more of a creative threat than a goal scoring threat like Irankunda but the potential is there.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I've also been suprised at the lack of talk about Akon.

He had that one Sydney derby where he got the hat-trick of assists but other than that hasn't had many show stopping moments like Nestory had at Adelaide.

I do agree he looks a bit more of a creator type - moves a bit more like a bigger bodied Garang Kuol. Hope he gets more first team minutes this season no matter where he plays.
 
Barca4life said:
Given the rumours about this kid going to the MLS as well I wonder what you guys thoughts on Akol Akon? I feel he is at a similar trajectory to Nestory Irankunda at he's age.

Although I feel Akon is more of a creative threat than a goal scoring threat like Irankunda but the potential is there.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
My thoughts? He’s an absolute baller!!!
 
Toebash said:
I had noticed that Australian players do generally fail to progress from underage teams to the Socceroos. If you flick back through all the AFC Youth Championship teams since we entered Asia in 2006 (which are either u19 or u20 squads it seems), it's only really the following who became regular Socceroos:

Connor Metcalfe
Cameron Burgess
Awer Mabil
Jackson Irvine
Matt Leckie
Tommy Oar

There were a couple more with a few appearances, like Keanu Bacchus and Brendan Borrello, and it looks like Paul Okon-Engstler from last year's u20 champions will have a long Socceroos career also, but on the whole my impression is that we're worse at this than other countries.
Click to expand...
I know this is an older post but it's an interesting observation. I don't think it's unique to Australia. I've noticed exactly the same thing with Argentine players at all underage levels. A shockingly small percentage tend to make the full transition.
 
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