Qantas Under 23s Squad Named for Intercontinental Cup 2008

Qantas Under 23s Head Coach Graham Arnold has named a 21 man squad for this month’s Intercontinental Cup – Malaysia 2008 which will be held in Kuala Lumpur. Skipper Mark Milligan has been included in the travelling party.

Qantas Under 23s Head Coach Graham Arnold has named a 21 man squad for this month-s Intercontinental Cup - Malaysia 2008 which will be held in Kuala Lumpur.

Arnold will use the tournament as an important part of his team-s preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

“After training in Townsville for the past week, it is now important for the players to prove themselves in competitive match situations and the Intercontinental Cup is the ideal event for that purpose,” said Arnold.

“This tournament will provide us with between three to five matches under the similar conditions that we will face in China.

“At the moment, no player is guaranteed a place at the Olympics, so this tournament is also a great opportunity for these players to make their case for inclusion in the final squad,” concluded Arnold.

Included in the squad, subject to a fitness test on Monday, is Mark Milligan whose suspension for non-attendance at the Townsville training camp was reduced to two matches yesterday following frank and open discussions between Milligan, Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek and Qantas Under 23s coach Graham Arnold. It is anticipated that Milligan will play in the match against Ghana on 20 May.

The 8 team tournament, which also includes representatives from Ghana, Croatia, Chile, Nigeria, Republic of Ireland, Iraq and Malaysia, kicks off on Thursday 15 May 2008.

The Qantas Under 23s are placed in Group B and play their first match against Croatia on Friday 16 May (kick-off 11.00pm AEST), and then play Chile on Sunday 18 May (kick-ff 11:00pm AEST) before their final group match against Ghana on Tuesday 20 May (kick-off 10.45pm AEST).

The top two teams from each group then advance to the semi-finals on Friday 23 May, with the final to be played on Sunday 25 May (kick-off 10.45pm AEST)

The Intercontinental Cup - Malaysia 2008 matches will be played at the KLFA Stadium and the MBPJ Stadium.

QANTAS UNDER 23s SQUAD - INTERCONTINENTAL CUP - MALAYSIA 2008

Nigel Boogaard (Central Coast Mariners), Dean Bouzanis (Liverpool FC, England), Mark Bridge (Sydney FC), Adam D-Apuzzo (Newcastle Jets), Spase Dilevski (Universitatae Craiova, Romania), Aaron Downes (Chesterfield, England), Tarek Elrich (Newcastle Jets), Troy Hearfield (Wellington Phoenix), Jason Hoffman (Newcastle Jets), James Holland (Newcastle Jets), Adrian Leijer (Fulham, England), Trent McClenahan (Hereford United, England), Mark Milligan (Uncontracted), Stuart Musialik (Sydney FC), Nikita Rukavysta (Perth Glory), Matt Simon (Central Coast Mariners), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory), James Troisi (Uncontracted), Tando Velaphi (Perth Glory), Ruben Zadkovich (Derby County- England) and Michael Zullo (Queensland Roar).