Australia’s under-19 Head Coach Paul Okon has announced his 20-player squad for the AFF Championships which will include Stefan Mauk and Ben Garuccio.
Okon named his side on Wednesday for September’s ASEAN Football Federation tournament that will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam. The tournament will be an important warm-up to the AFC under-19 Championships in October.
Mauk and Garuccio have featured in Melbourne City FC’s pre-season schedule and have attended Young Socceroo camps throughout the period. Both players have impressed Okon who believes the tournament will play an important role for selection in future tournaments.
“This is another opportunity for us to get more international match experience against competitive opposition in the lead up to the AFC U-19 Championship,” said Okon.
“At this stage no player is assured a position in the final squad for the AFC U-19 Championship and their performance at this tournament will be an important factor when it comes to selection time.”
The Young Socceroos will kick of their AFF campaign against hosts Vietnam on Friday 5 September. The AFF tournament and the AFC championships will lead up to the 2015 FIFA under-20 World Cup that will be held in New Zealand next year.
