NSW Boys dominate Australian U-16 squad selection

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As many as 14 NSW born rising stars from various clubs in Australia’s largest member federation as well as overseas have been selected by new Joeys Head Coach Peter Cklamovski to be part of his 23-player squad for the forthcoming 2018 AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers to be held in Mongolia.

APIA Leichhardt Tigers’ Joseph Roddy, Blacktown City’s Corey Smith, Sydney Olympic’s Noah Botic, Marconi Stallions’ Dalibor Markovic and Lachlan Sepping, Western Sydney Wanderers’ Lenoado Belz and Dylan Craus while Sydney FC’s Ryan Teague, Tyson Savas, Jaiden Kucharski, Cameron Peupion and Adam Pavlesic all caught the attention of Cklamovski and will have a point to prove as they represent their country later this month.

Overseas based players Diego Alonso currently plying his trade in Spain with the Alboraya Academy and Tristan Hammond who is on the books with Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon also hail from NSW and did come through various clubs in Sydney.

Cklamovski’s squad in Mongolia features a mix of players who are currently aligned to Hyundai A-League clubs, National Premier Leagues (NPL) sides, national academies, as well as two – Diego Alonso and Tristan Hammond – who are currently based overseas.

Cklamovski said that finalising his squad for Mongolia was a difficult process, but believes that that demonstrates the depth that is coming through at youth level.

“There has been some tough decisions made to get to the final 23 and that’s a good sign of the depth starting to get created within this age group,” said Cklamovski.

“We have attempted to broaden the net in terms of player scouting and this process is in its infancy and it will continue to evolve and improve.

“We’ve had a great training camp at Valentine Sports Park and now we travel to Mongolia and fine tune our preparations for AFC Qualifiers. The players are gaining an understanding of how we want to play as a team and it’s exciting to see the progress we are making in a short space of time.

“It’s imperative we capitalise on every minute available to us and maximise our time together to ensure we hit the ground running in what will be a competitive qualification stage,” Cklamovski concluded.

The Joeys will take on hosts Mongolia, as well as Cambodia and Vietnam in Ulaanbaatar from Wednesday 20 September through to Sunday 24 September 2017.

Should the Joeys side finish top of Group I in Mongolia his squad will book its place at the 2018 AFC U-16 Championships which will be held in Malaysia next year.

The five best group runners up will also make it to Malaysia for next year’s tournament, which will be held in September and October 2018.

For more details regarding the AFC U-16 Championship, please visit: http://www.the-afc.com/competition/afc-u-16-championship

Australia U-16 Squad for 2018 AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers – Mongolia

Diego Alonso – Alboraya Academy, Spain

Leonardo Belz – Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia

Noah Botic – Sydney Olympic FC, Australia

Jordan Courtney – Queensland Academy Sport, Australia

Dylan Craus – Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia

Luke Duzel – Melbourne City FC, Australia

Tristan Hammond – Sporting CP, Portugal

Birkan Kirdar – Melbourne Victory, Australia

Jaiden Kucharski – Sydney FC, Australia

Marco Mancuso – Hume City FC, Australia

Dalibor Markovic – Marconi Stallions FC, Australia

Adam Pavlesic – Sydney FC, Australia

Cameron Peupion – Sydney FC, Australia

Joseph Roddy – APIA Leichardt Tigers FC, Australia

Tyson Savas – Sydney FC, Australia

Lachlan Sepping – Marconi Stallions FC, Australia

Jamie Signorello – Adelaide United, Australia

Corey Smith – Blacktown City FC, Australia

Ahmad Taleb – Melbourne City FC, Australia

Ryan Teague – Sydney FC, Australia

Nicholas Theodosiou – Melbourne City FC, Australia

Joshua Varga – Nunawading City FC, Australia

Jade Waring – Glen Eira FC, Australia