Lawrence Thomas withdrawn from Qantas Young Socceroos Squad

Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen today announced that goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas has been withdrawn from his squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 due to a thigh injury.

Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen today announced that goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas has been withdrawn from his squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 due to a thigh injury.

Under the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 regulations, participating teams are able to replace players who are injured up until 24 hours before their opening match. Football Federation Australia made application to FIFA regarding Lawrence Thomas- injury and received confirmation overnight that permission had been granted to replace him with Scottish-based goalkeeper Nick Feely.

Although it was a difficult decision to make, Versleijen knew that it was in the best interest of the Qantas Young Socceroos campaign.

“Lawrence received a knock at training which resulted in a strain to his left thigh,” said Versleijen

“The team medical staff assessed his injury and determined that it would be at least 2-3 weeks before he would be fit to resume normal training.

“For a World Cup we need to have all our players fully fit and ready, so unfortunately we had to take the decision to withdraw Lawrence now and replace him with another goalkeeper, Nick Feely.

“It is sad to see a player having to leave the camp due to injury so close to the World Cup, but we wish Lawrence a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the field soon,” concluded Versleijen.

Understandably, Lawrence Thomas was disappointed that an injury has curtailed his FIFA U-20 World Cup campaign.

“It-s frustrating to pick up an injury like this at this time, but that-s football,” said Thomas.

“I-m disappointed, but I understand the decision that-s been made and having been involved with the squad so far has given me the motivation to get back as soon as I can.

“Although I won-t be there, I-m sure the lads will do well and I-ll be cheering them on from home,” concluded Thomas.

Born in Hong Kong but raised in Perth, Western Australia, Nick Feely is currently playing with Celtic FC in Scotland and will join the Qantas Young Socceroos squad tomorrow evening.

The Qantas Young Socceroos will play their final friendly training match against fellow FIFA U-20 World Cup finalists England tomorrow (22 July) in Denver, Colorado and will then travel early next week to the Colombian city of Manizales, situated 2,180m above sea-level, where they will be based the first phase of the tournament.

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

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 (9 & 10 August). The Quarter-Finals will be played on 13 & 14 August, Semi-Finals on 17 August with the Final and 3rd/4th place play-off on Saturday 20 August.

The Qantas Young Socceroos qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup having made the final of the AFC U19 Youth Championships in Zibo, China last year.

The Qantas Young Socceroos matches and the Semi-Finals and Final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 will be broadcast live on SBS TV.