Melbourne Victory left-back Dylan Murnane has secured his first international call-up, earning selection in Paul Okon’s 23-man Young Socceroos squad ahead of the 2014 AFC U19 Championships in October.
Murnane will be joined by fellow Victory teammates Jordan Brown and Scott Galloway, with Stefan Mauk grabbing a spot as Melbourne City’s sole representative following Ben Garuccio’s omission with an ankle injury.
The 19-year-old sign his first professional contract in February this year after impressing during a stint in Victory’s senior team.
Okon’s squad comprises of a large A-League based contingent with Cameron Burgess (Fulham FC, England), Chris Ikonomidis (SS Lazio, Italy) and Peter Skapetis (Stoke City FC, England) featuring as the three overseas-based players.
“We have had a good preparation leading into the tournament with a number of tours and camps where we have faced quality opposition,” Okon said.
“Unfortunately we have experienced a couple of injuries to the group recently, with Ben Garruccio (ankle) and Jordan Lyden (hamstring) ruled out of selection, but this has given opportunities for other players to step-up.”
Australian based players will be unavailable for the first two rounds of the 2014-15 Hyundai A-league season – Victory were seemingly prepared for Galloway and Murnane’s imminent omissions, deploying Jason Geria and Daniel Georgievski on either side of defence against Sydney FC in the club’s final pre-season friendly.
The Young Socceroos will play their first Group B match against the United Arab Emirates on Friday October 10, followed by Indonesia (Sunday October 12) and Uzbekistan (Tuesday October 14).
The top two placed teams from each group will advance through to the quarter-finals.
Victory in the quarter-finals will ensure qualification for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, held in New Zealand from 30 May – 20 June.
“We fly out tomorrow for a pre-tournament camp in Thailand where our overseas-based players will join us. This will allow us to acclimatise to similar conditions we will face in Myanmar and put the finishing touches on our game plan,” Okon said.
“Our goal is to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and to achieve this goal we will need to string together four quality performances.”
Squad:
| Daniel Alessi | Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia |
| Shannon Brady | Brisbane Roar FC, Australia |
| Brandon Borrello | Brisbane Roar FC, Australia |
| Anthony Bouzanis (gk) | Sydney FC, Australia |
| Jordan Brown | Melbourne Victory, Australia |
| Cameron Burgess | Fulham FC, England |
| Daniel De Silva | Perth Glory, Australia |
| Shayne D’Cunha | Blacktown City, Australia |
| Scott Galloway | Melbourne Victory, Australia |
| Hagi Gligor | Sydney FC, Australia |
| Chris Ikonomidis | SS Lazio, Italy |
| Paul Izzo (gk) | Adelaide United, Australia |
| Awer Mabil | Adelaide United, Australia |
| Stefan Mauk | Melbourne City FC, Australia |
| Dylan Murnane | Melbourne Victory, Australia |
| Christopher Naumoff | Sydney FC, Australia |
| Mark Ochieng | Adelaide United, Australia |
| Liam Rose | Central Coast Mariners, Australia |
| Peter Skapetis | Stoke City FC, England |
| Jaushua Sotirio | Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Australia |
| Jordan Thurtell (gk) | Perth Glory, Australia |
| Benjamin Warland | Adelaide United, Australia |
| Riley Woodcock | Perth Glory, Australia |