The Qantas Young Socceroos have drawn Saudi Arabia, Syria and Qatar for the upcoming AFC Under 19 Championship.
The Qantas Young Socceroos have been drawn in Group D with Saudi Arabia, Syria and Qatar for the AFC U-19 Championship 2012 which will be held in the United Arab Emirates from 3-17 November.
The draw was conducted in Dubai, UAE which will be the host city for the tournament .
The Qantas Young Socceroos were seeded in Pot 1 as the third ranked team in the competition along with host nation UAE, DPR Korea and the Korea Republic due to the results from the 2010 edition of the AFC U-19 Championship.
Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Paul Okon knows that it will be a tough challenge to get through the group phase, but is confident his players are up to the task.
"It-s definitely a tough draw, but then again there are no easy games in international football at this level ”, said Okon.
"We-ll have to be at our best to get through to the knock-out stage and with the players that we have at our disposal this is an achievable goal.
"Our first training camp together will be early next month and with the draw now known we can all focus on the task at hand,” concluded Okon.
The top two teams from each group of the AFC U-19 Championship 2012 will progress to the knockout stage (quarter-finals) and the four winners of the quarter-finals will then play in the semi-finals with the winners advancing to the final. The semi-finalists will also automatically qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be held in Turkey from 21 June to 13 July 2013.
AFC U-19 Championship 2012 Iran - Groups
Group A: UAE, Japan, IR Iran & Kuwait Group B: Korea Republic, China PR, Thailand & Iraq Group C: DPR Korea, Uzbekistan, Vietnam & Jordan Group D: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Syria & Qatar