Qantas Joeys squad to face USA and Brazil

Qantas Joeys Head Coach Martyn Crook has selected an 18-player squad to compete at the upcoming Nike International Friendlies which will be held at the Lancaster National Soccer Center in California from 5-8 December 2008.

Qantas Joeys Head Coach Martyn Crook has selected an 18-player squad to compete at the upcoming Nike International Friendlies which will be held at the Lancaster National Soccer Center in California from 5-8 December 2008.

The majority of the players selected recently competed at the AFC U16 Championships in Uzbekistan where the Qantas Joeys were knocked out in the quarter final stage of the competition.

David Talevski, Lawrence Thomas, Joel Miller, Alex Pearson, Julius Davies and Kerim Bulut did not travel to the tournament but have been included in the squad. One notable absence is Ben Kantarovski who will be lining up for the Newcastle Jets in the Hyundai A-League.

Crook believes that the upcoming tournament will give the Qantas Joeys much needed international experience.

“The opportunity to play matches against the USA and Brazil will give the players a taste of two very different styles of football to what we they have experienced in Asia recently,” said Crook.

“We are expecting very tough opposition, especially against the likes of Brazil, which will provide much needed international experience for the players," concluded Crook.

The Nike International Friendlies is an annual competition staged by U.S. Soccer and was first played in 2001 with national U17 teams invited to participate against the United States national teams. This year-s event includes the Under 17 National Teams from Brazil and Australia, as well as two U.S. squads comprising of all 40 players from U.S. Soccer-s Under 17 Men-s National Team Residency Program.

This will be the first time that the Qantas Joeys have participated in this tournament.

The Qantas Joeys play their first match of the tournament against USA-1 on Friday 5 December, and then face USA-2 on Sunday 7 December before playing their final match against Brazil on Monday 8 December.

The Qantas Joeys depart Australia today.

QANTAS JOEYS SQUAD - NIKE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES - USA 2008

5-8 December 2008

Kerim Bulut (NSW), Chris Bush (ACT), Joseph Costa (SA), Julius Davies (WA), Stephen Domenici (ACT), Petar Franjic (VIC), Brendan Hamill (NSW), Kamal Ibrahim (VIC), Jared Lum (NSW), Joel Miller (SA), Chahine Noujaim (SA), Alex Pearson (WA), Trent Sainsbury (WA), Nikola Stanojevic (NSW), David Talevski (NSW), Lawrence Thomas (NSW), Marc Warren (NSW) and Bailey Wright (VIC)

OFFCIAL MATCH SCHEDULE

Venue: Lancaster National Soccer Center, Lancaster, California, USA (www.lancastersoccercenter.com)

Friday, 5 December 2008 USA-2 v Brazil - 10:00am PT (Sat 6/12/2008 5:00 AM AEDT) USA-1 v Australia - 2:00pm PT (Sat 6/12/2008 9:00 AM)

Sunday, 7 December 2008 USA-2 v Australia - 10:00am PT (Mon 8/12/2008 5:00 AM AEDT) USA-1 v Brazil - 2:00pm PT (Mon 8/12/2008 9:00 AM AEDT)

Monday, 8 December 2008 Brazil v Australia - 1:00pm PT (Tues 8/12/2008 8:00 AM AEDT)

Time Code: PT = Pacific Time (UTC - 8) AEDT = Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC + 11)

For more information, please visit www.ussoccer.com