Olyroos name strong squad for November friendlies as Asian Cup prep ramps up

Olyroos head coach Tony Vidmar has named an extended 24-man squad for friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Qatar in November as preparations for next year’s AFC U23 Asian Cup ramp up.

A strong squad is headlined by European-based stars including Marco Tilio (Celtic), following his return from injury and Adrian Segecic (FC Dordrecht) who has been rewarded for his impressive start in the Netherlands, as well as Calem Nieuwenhof (Hearts), Nectar Triantis (Sunderland), Patrick Yazbek (Viking FK) and Mohamed Toure (Paris FC), fresh off a Socceroos debut.

Meanwhile, there is also a healthy contingent of Isuzu UTE A-League stars, led by the likes of Callum Talbot (Melbourne City FC), Lachlan Brook (Western Sydney Wanderers FC), Noah Botic (Western United FC) and Ryan Teague (Melbourne Victory FC).

Goalkeepers Patrick Beach (Melbourne City) and Jack Warshawsky (Central Coast Mariners) have been selected as train-on players, with only one of the pair to be included in the official squad.

The fixtures will take place on Friday, 17 November (Qatar) and Tuesday, 21 November (Saudi Arabia) and take place at the Prince Saud Bin Jalawi Stadium in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

“There’s been some really positive results in recent camps at the Maurice Rovello Tournament and in securing qualification for the U-23 Asian Cup,” Vidmar said.

“Those are important for the confidence and belief within this group, as we build towards a phase of competition that is significant within our program.

“We’ve spoken about what success at an Asian Cup and in turn, Olympic qualification looks like for the players individually and as a collective – there’s real excitement as 2024 approaches.

“We’ve secured games against teams who will provide a different challenge to those we’ve recently faced, in very similar conditions to what we’ll see in Doha next year – in terms of acclimatising the squad it ticks several boxes.

“There are four available matches to prepare ahead of our first Asian Cup group game, so every part of our preparation needs to be geared towards that, ensuring we can be at our best and effectively execute our plans on the pitch.”

The Olyroos boss added: “We’ve got some fantastic young players coming through, playing for clubs in Australia and across Europe.

“It’s important for us to ensure we have a squad that is familiar with our environment, as they may be called upon throughout our Asian Cup campaign or beyond – be it due to injuries or player availability. Having a wider group of players all on the same page is an important element to any success we collectively strive for.”

The Olyroos are one of 16 teams who have qualified for the AFC U23 Asian Cup  2024 in Qatar.

Should they finish in the top three they will automatically qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics as the AFC representatives, while the fourth-best team will play an AFC-CAF play-off match for the final qualification spot. 

Full Squad