James Brown and defender Dylan McGowan have both been selected in Aurelio Vidmar’s 19-man Qantas Australian Under 23s squad for the upcoming third round of AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 Olympic Games against Iraq and Uzbekistan.
The Olyroos play Iraq in their next AFC Asian Qualifiers on Tuesday, November 22 (Al Arabi Stadium, Doha, Qatar) and then Uzbekistan five days later at Parramatta Stadium in NSW.
The teams in each group of the third round of qualifying play in a home-and-away format from September 21, 2011, to 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.
Head Coach Vidmar knows the importance of these upcoming two matches in the qualification process.
“After drawing our opening match against the UAE, we need to get a good result from these two matches to give us the best possible chance of qualifying for the Olympics,” he said.
“With injuries to a number of players we have used in the previous matches, we’ve selected a few new faces following our recent training camp in Sydney.
“It will be up to these players to take their opportunity and step up to the challenge ahead.
“We will have a short camp together in Qatar before the Iraq match to work on things and I’m confident that the boys are up to it,” he concluded.
The AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games match between the Qantas Australian Under 23s and Uzbekistan will also be broadcast live and exclusive on Fox Sports.
Full squad:
Aziz Behich – Melbourne Heart, Mark Birighitti (gk) – Adelaide United, Oliver Bozanic – Central Coast Mariners, James Brown – Gold Coast United, Kofi Danning – Brisbane Roar, Mate Dugandzic – Melbourne Heart, Matthew Foschini – Melbourne Victory, Rhyan Grant – Sydney FC, Jason Hoffman – Melbourne Heart, Marko Jesic – Newcastle Jets, Matthew Jurman – Brisbane Roar, Brad McDonald, – Central Coast Mariners, Dylan McGowan – Gold Coast United, 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.
Upcoming Match Details
AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games – Third Round:
Iraq v Qantas Australian U23s at Al Arabi Stadium, Doha, Qatar on Wednesday, November 23- Kick-off: 5.15pm local (1.15am AEDT).
Qantas Australian U23s v Uzbekistan at Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta on Sunday, November 27 – Kick-off: 7.15pm AEDT.
