Olyroos name U23 Asian Cup squad, Nestory Irankunda left out
Nestory Irankunda celebrates the second of his three goals on Friday night.Credit: Getty
Despite Irankunda’s exclusion and the unavailability of some European-based players, Vidmar has still named a relatively strong Olyroos squad, which features Socceroos Marco Tilio and Mohamed Toure, the Kuol brothers Alou and Garang, and some in-form A-League talent in Western Sydney’s Nicolas Milanovic, Macarthur’s Jake Hollman, Central Coast Mariners tyro Jacob Farrell, and Sydney FC’s defensive pairing of Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Jake Girdwood-Reich.
The Olyroos are coming off a strong performance at the West Asian Football Federation U23 Championship, a warm-up tournament in Qatar where they finished runners-up to South Korea after a penalty shootout, while they have also banked friendly wins over France and Mexico in the last 12 months.
They have been drawn in Group A in Qatar, alongside the hosts, Jordan and Indonesia. But with only three direct berths for Asian teams available, it will take a mighty effort for them to fend off the likes of Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to join the Matildas at the Olympics.
The losing semi-finalists at the U23 Asian Cup will go into a play-off against a team from Africa for the last remaining spot in Paris.
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“Everything we’ve done over the last 12 months has been focused on preparing for the Asian Cup,” Vidmar said. “We set clear goals and expectations around what we want to achieve in Doha, and I’ve been really impressed by the way the group has taken ownership of that. There’s a strong desire and belief within this group that I believe will serve us well throughout the challenging moments that an international tournament of this calibre will present.”
Arnold was the coach of the Olyroos during the last cycle as they ended a 12-year drought to qualify for Tokyo 2020, where they shocked Argentina with a 2-0 win but ultimately failed to get out of their group after defeats to Egypt and Spain.
OLYROOS SQUAD FOR U23 ASIAN CUP
Patrick Beach (GK), Lachlan Brook, Cameron Cook (GK), Jordan Courtney-Perkins, Louis D’Arrigo, Jacob Farrell, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Steven Hall (GK), Jake Hollman, Jacob Italiano, Alou Kuol, Garang Kuol, Nicolas Milanovic, Mark Natta, Alexander Popovic, Adrian Segecic, Callum Talbot, Ryan Teague, Marco Tilio, Mohamed Toure, Jordi Valadon, Nishan Velupillay, Rhys Youlley.
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