After failing to qualify in 2017, coach Trevor Morgan has named the 21 players heading to Brazil bidding to win the U-17 World Cup for the first time.
After two years of qualifiers, competitions and training camps, Morgan named the Joeys squad travelling to Brazil to represent the nation at the tournament starting on October 26.
Despite failing to qualify in 2017 this will be the 13th time the Joeys have played at the competition, and they’ve been named in Group B alongside Ecuador, Hungary and Nigeria.
The Joeys best ever performance in the tournament came 20 years ago when they finished as runners-up to now hosts, Brazil.
Over the last two years, the young squad has travelled all over the world including Mongolia, Turkey, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
They’ve played plenty of high-quality football against top sides including Turkey, Brazil and England in preparation and Morgan believes it has them battle-hardened and has helped with their self-belief.
In their last World Cup outing in 2015 the Joeys bowed out in the Round of 16 with only one win in the four games played.
To add further pain, they only managed to score three goals while conceding eleven. Improvement in defence and attack is absolutely crucial if the team wants to walk away with some sort of good result this WC.
The Joeys last won a trophy in 2005 in the OFC U-17 Championship, so a good performance in Brazil will be welcomed.
The squad flew out of Australia, or Europe in some cases, and have landed in Chile for a training camp before they will head to Brazil for their first game against Ecuador.
Kick-off times for all games are below.
Joeys v Ecuador, 8.00pm (local) – 10.00am (AEDT) Sunday, 27 October 2019
Joeys v Hungary, 8.00pm (local) – 10.00am (AEDT) Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Joeys v Nigeria, 5.00pm (local) – 7.00am (AEDT) Saturday, 2 November 2019
Full squad:
Idrus ABDULAHI, Ali AUGLAH, Nicholas BILOKAPIC (GK), Noah BOTIC, Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, Yaya DUKULY, Luke DUZEL, Tristan HAMMOND, Oliver KALAC (GK), Birkan KIRDAR, Luis LAWRIE-LATTANZIO, Anton MLINARIC, Trent OSTLER, Adam PAVLESIC (GK), Cameron PEUPION, Izaack POWELL, Joshua RAWLINS, Michael RUHS, Ryan TEAGUE (C), Daniel WALSH, Caleb WATTS
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