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

To be age eligible for this Asian Cup U23's tournament players must be born on or after 1st of January 2003.

Lachlan Brook, Velupillay Not age eligible

Alex Robertson, Segecic are eligible

Jordan Bos Not age eligible
Dylan Periac-Cullen
James Overy
Alessandro Circati
Hayden Matthews
Paul Okon-Engstler
Adrian Segecic
Alex Robertson
Nestory Irankunda
Garang Kuol
Mohamed Toure
Luka Jovanovic

are all age eligible - so we got DPC and Overy. Garang's team is on a winter break. Definitely a B team and given the fact that Vidmar said he was knocked back by 10 in the ALM probably a C team
 
I see Japan sent an u21 team and still look light years above anyone so far
Japan have a habit of doing that at most levels. Watch after the World Cup - they will drop everyone that won't make 2030 and begin the cycle at the 2027 Asian cup with the basis of what will be their 2030 World Cup.

If we did that our team at the Asian Cup and their age at a 2030 world Cup could look like this. Of course individual players might be picked differently - but still that isn;t a bad side to be going forward with. i.e. some rate Teague - I don't. Volpato may change his mind.

Dylan Periac-Cullen24
Joe Gauci30
Steven Hall25
Lewis Miller30
James Overy 22
Samuel Silvera30
Jacob Farrell28
Jordan Bos28
Harry Souttar31
Alessandro Circati27
Kye Rowles32
Hayden Matthews26
Max Balard29
Joshua Nisbet31
Aiden O'Neill32
Haine Eames22
Riley McGree31
Connor Metcalfe31
Alex Robertson27
Nestory Irankunda24
Garang Kuol25
Mohamed Toure26
Nishan Velupillay29
Zac Sapsford27
Paul Okon-Engstler25
Adrian Segecic26
 
Dylan Periac-Cullen
James Overy
Alessandro Circati
Hayden Matthews
Paul Okon-Engstler
Adrian Segecic
Alex Robertson
Nestory Irankunda
Garang Kuol
Mohamed Toure
Luka Jovanovic

are all age eligible - so we got DPC and Overy. Garang's team is on a winter break. Definitely a B team and given the fact that Vidmar said he was knocked back by 10 in the ALM probably a C team
Luka is also in the side?
 
To be age eligible for this Asian Cup U23's tournament players must be born on or after 1st of January 2003.

Lachlan Brook, Velupillay Not age eligible

Alex Robertson, Segecic are eligible

Jordan Bos Not age eligible
Thanks, M.
 
Japan have a habit of doing that at most levels. Watch after the World Cup - they will drop everyone that won't make 2030 and begin the cycle at the 2027 Asian cup with the basis of what will be their 2030 World Cup.

If we did that our team at the Asian Cup and their age at a 2030 world Cup could look like this. Of course individual players might be picked differently - but still that isn;t a bad side to be going forward with. i.e. some rate Teague - I don't. Volpato may change his mind.

Dylan Periac-Cullen24
Joe Gauci30
Steven Hall25
Lewis Miller30
James Overy22
Samuel Silvera30
Jacob Farrell28
Jordan Bos28
Harry Souttar31
Alessandro Circati27
Kye Rowles32
Hayden Matthews26
Max Balard29
Joshua Nisbet31
Aiden O'Neill32
Haine Eames22
Riley McGree31
Connor Metcalfe31
Alex Robertson27
Nestory Irankunda24
Garang Kuol25
Mohamed Toure26
Nishan Velupillay29
Zac Sapsford27
Paul Okon-Engstler25
Adrian Segecic26
Good on you doing this, PJ.
 
I can understand that OS clubs don't want to release players outside a window but the ALM teams should be required to as part of their licensing.
IIRC when Melbourne Hearts joined they had a number of players that were compulsarily taken to the international under 20 (or 23) leaving the side depleted. This led to JVS and the club to protest. Since then, I don't think it is part of the rules or license and even if they are, they are no longer enforced.
 
I recall Scott Galloway talking about how he’d make progress with Victory, get called up to every u20 and u23 squad there was at the same time and then when he returned, have to work his work back into the first team again. Repeatedly. I think it seriously affected his development at club level, which is what full Socceroo selection decisions are made on.

Exactly the same thing happened to Terry Antonis, selected for every u20 and u23 squad there was, meaning he couldn’t consistently be on the field for his club team, however it was even worse for him because he ended up with an injury that took about a year to recover while playing in an underage national league game.

Given this tournament doesn’t lead anywhere, I understand clubs not releasing players. I’d prefer to see us send an entirely u21 team (basically last year’s u20s) to get experience for the next tournament, which qualify for the Olympics.
 
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Watched the game replay and China defended superbly. They parked the bus better than the Socceroos are under Popovic. I think their back 5 had much better positioning and I liked the midfield 3, which is something Poppa should also introduce.

As for the Aussies….. less said the better. I don’t even know if we would’ve beat Thailand if they didn’t have 10 men for 80 minutes. Vidmar can’t coach attacking football.

Hammond has been good, Rawlings bad (is this how they play in the A-league?). Dukuly pretty ineffectual given his gametime for Adelaide. I hope Drew starts the next game and Overy starts on the right.
 
I suspect I'm in the minority here, but I can't really see a lot of value in U23 international tournaments. The only slight saving grace is that the Olympics are U23 (albeit with three overage allowed), but it seems to me that football in the Olympics is seen by many countries as primarily a prestige thing rather than part of a pathway for developing international players. I think only Asia and Africa have a standard U23 confederation championship, and Africa only hold it every 4 years to find Olympic qualifiers. Europe uses their U21 championship to determine Olympic qualification.

I think that players from 20 onwards should be aiming to establish themselves in their club first team, and if they have already done that they should be aiming for senior international status. And I suspect most players would see it that way, in that U23 internationals don't really help their club careers and in fact may hinder them. This current Asian U23 championship has no real significance - players don't have to be released by their clubs, and the tournament is of little consequence, so established/ambitious Euro-based players are likely to never have any interest in it, and rightly so as the tournament has no upside and it could damage their club prospects in some situations. And even for established/semi-established A League full internationals like Velupillay (if he is even age eligible) it has little value.

Personallyl, I have long thought that U23 comps are a waste of time. Any seriously talented player over 20 will be pushing for a senior team place anyway. You only have to look at this U23 side to see that the players involved have slim to no chance of becoming NT regulars, so what is the point? All that their presence does is penalise their clubs, if they are starting players. Frankly, if they aren't they shouldn't be there anyway.

The U23 coach is on a hiding to nothing. He won't get the best players, and yet takes a hammering on social media . I don't know if Vidmar can coach, but he can't be judged on these performances. One thing is certain: no coach with any ambition should take on the role. Vidmar should go back to clubland and prove himself there. This job gets him absolutely nowhere.

As for the Olympics, the organisers have never worked out where football comes in. I would advocate for an U21 comp, NO senior players. If they are going to showcase youth, do it properly.
 
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Personallyl, I have long thought that U23 comps are a waste of time. Any seriously talented player over 20 will be pushing for a senior team place anyway. You only have to look at this U23 side to see that the players involved have slim to no chance of becoming NT regulars, so what is the point? All that their presence does is penalise their clubs, if they are starting players. Frankly, if they aren't they shouldn't be there anyway.

The U23 coach is on a hiding to nothing. He won't get the best players, and yet takes a hammering on social media . I don't know if Vidmar can coach, but he can't be judged on these performances. One thing is certain: no coach with any ambition should take on the role. Vidmar should go back to clubland and prove himself there. This job gets him absolutely nowhere.

As for the Olympics, the organisers have never worked out where football comes in. I would advocate for an U21 comp, NO senior players. If they are going to showcase youth, do it properly.
The problem is that with that attitude we don't qualify for the Olympics. That is bad for the sport in 2 ways.

1) Austealians watch the Olympics even if they don't watch football
2) Funding from the Australian Sports Commission is very much tied to the Olympics.
 
The problem is that with that attitude we don't qualify for the Olympics. That is bad for the sport in 2 ways.

1) Austealians watch the Olympics even if they don't watch football
2) Funding from the Australian Sports Commission is very much tied to the Olympics.
Even if the Olyroos don't qualify for the Olympics they can still get major tournament experience by going to all these under-23 tournaments, and I think that in addition to these under-23 tournaments the Olyroos should follow suit with the under-23 Matildas and play in senior tournaments like the ASEAN Championship so they have big game experience, which would prepare them for if and when they break into the senior national team fold.
 
Even if the Olyroos don't qualify for the Olympics they can still get major tournament experience by going to all these under-23 tournaments, and I think that in addition to these under-23 tournaments the Olyroos should follow suit with the under-23 Matildas and play in senior tournaments like the ASEAN Championship so they have big game experience, which would prepare them for if and when they break into the senior national team fold.
My point was for the good of the game qualifying for the Olympics puts football in front of people that don't watch it and secondly ASC funding is tired heavily to the Olympics.
 
My point was for the good of the game qualifying for the Olympics puts football in front of people that don't watch it and secondly ASC funding is tired heavily to the Olympics.
Even still the current format of Olympic football is flawed and if they end up delisting football from the Olympics altogether, then the ASC can at least funnel all the funding for the Olyroos that would have gone towards to the Olympics to other major tournaments instead.
 
Even still the current format of Olympic football is flawed and if they end up delisting football from the Olympics altogether, then the ASC can at least funnel all the funding for the Olyroos that would have gone towards to the Olympics to other major tournaments instead.
But they won't
 
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