The quality and depth of young talent in Adelaide United’s squad has been exemplified with three Reds selected in the Australian Under 23s squad.
The quality and depth of young talent in Adelaide United-s squad has been exemplified with three Reds selected in the Qantas Australian Under 23s squad for the upcoming AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games.
Goalkeeper Mark Birighitti and defenders Daniel Mullen and Antony Golec make up three of the 20-player squad selected by Qantas Under 23s and former Reds Coach Aurelio Vidmar for games against Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The call up is Golec-s first for this round of the qualification campaign, while Birighitti and Mullen were part of the squad-s previous stages of qualifying. Mullen and Golec could well thank the faith showed in them by United coach John Kosmina for their selections, the duo having played every minute of the Reds- last five matches.
The Reds trio will depart for a pre-match camp in the UAE on Monday 30 January 2012 following the Reds- game against Perth Glory on Sunday, before returning to Australia on February 24.
The Qantas Australian U23s will face Uzbekistan at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent on Sunday 5 February (Kick-off 8:00pm local, 2:00am AEDT) before returning to the UAE for a training camp to prepare for their next qualification match against the UAE at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday 22 February (Kick-Off 5:30pm local, 12:30am AEDT).
Meanwhile, former Adelaide United attacking midfielder Mathew Leckie, who is currently with German club Borussia Monchengladbach, may join the Qantas Under 23s squad for the match against the UAE, depending on the ongoing discussions between the FFA and the club about his availability for the clash.
The teams in each group of the third round of qualifying play in a home-and-away format from 21 September 2011, to 14 March 14, 2012, with the winner of each group directly qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games Football competition.
The three second-placed teams from the third round will clash in a playoff at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012, and the winners of this group will meet the representatives of CAF (Africa) for a berth in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Qantas Australian U-23s Squad List
AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games – Round 3
v Uzbekistan and UAE – February 2012
Name (Club)
Terry ANTONIS (Sydney FC), Aziz BEHICH (Melbourne Heart), Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk) (Adelaide United), Oliver BOZANIC (Central Coast Mariners), Kerem BULUT (FK Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic), Isaka CERNAK (Melbourne Victory), Mate DUGANDZIC (Melbourne Heart), Diogo FERREIRA (Melbourne Victory), Matthew FOSCHINI (Melbourne Victory), Antony GOLEC (Adelaide United), Jason HOFFMAN (Melbourne Heart), Matthew JURMAN (Brisbane Roar), Ben KANTAROVSKI (Newcastle Jets), Daniel MULLEN (Adelaide United), Mitch NICHOLS (Brisbane Roar), Dimitrios PETRATOS (Sydney FC), Sebastian RYALL (Sydney FC), Mathew RYAN (gk) (Central Coast Mariners), Adam TAGGART (Perth Glory), Rocco VISCONTE (Brisbane Roar)
