Amanatidis, Valkanis named on Subway Young Socceroos squad for Panda Cup

Subway Young Socceroos’ Head Coach, Trevor Morgan has selected a 23-man squad for the upcoming China Panda Cup International Tournament 2024 to be held in Chengdu, China during the November Men’s FIFA International Window.

The tournament – played out of Chengdu Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium – will feature U19 sides from China PR, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, to be contested in a round-robin format.

Trevor Morgan’s squad will assemble in Chengdu from 10 November for the tournament, which will act as preparation for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™.

Australia, China PR and Kyrgyzstan have all recently qualified for the U20 continental tournament – which serves as qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™ – to be played from 12 February to 1 March.

The China Panda Cup International Tournament 2024 will be the Young Socceroos’ final assembly prior to their return to China PR for a pre-camp ahead of the AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™.

Trevor Morgan and his staff have made several changes to the squad that successfully navigated recent qualification fixtures in Saudi Arabia, with the inclusion of a number of European-based players and a selection of talent from Isuzu UTE A-League Men set ups across the country.

Daniel Bennie (Queens Park Rangers FC) returns following his successful transition into the EFL Championship and will be joined by Sebastian Esposito (US Lecce), Paul Okon-Englstler (S.L. Benfica), Musa Toure (Clermont Foot 63) and Dimitri Valkanis (AEK Athens).

Marcus Younis will join the squad in Chengdu following his successful off-season loan to PSV Eindhoven, along with Liam Bonetig (Celtic FC) and Steven Hall (Brighton & Hove Albion FC) who have featured regularly in recent Subway Young Socceroos’ squads.

Nathan Amanatidis (Sydney FC), Dean Bosnjak (Macarthur FC), Abdul Faisal (Perth Glory FC) and Ryan White (Adelaide United FC) are amongst seven players who have received their first call up for the Subway Young Socceroos and will feature alongside Jesse Cameron (Western Sydney Wanderers FC), Tiago Quintal (Sydney FC) and Kayne Razmovski (Melbourne Victory FC).

Subway Young Socceroos’ Head Coach, Trevor Morgan said his team’s participation in the China Panda Cup International Tournament 2024 would prove invaluable ahead of their AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™ campaign.

“The ability to familiarise ourselves with conditions in the host nation of the Asian Cup and play competitive games in a tournament format will be extremely beneficial for the players and staff,” Morgan said.

“While it’s an opportunity to take some great learnings for our ongoing planning for next February, we’re also continuing to broaden the depth of players available for selection in the way we’ve structured this squad – creating competitive pressure for places is key to our success in the Asian Cup.

“Given this tournament falls within a FIFA Window, we’ve been able to bring in European-based players who have missed recent camps due to clashes with their club schedule, we feel it’s important we keep them connected with our pathway and give them every chance to stake their claim for Asian Cup selection.

“We’ve also provided opportunities to several players from the A-League Men competition – with some joining the program for the first time – and we’re looking forward to welcoming them into the environment.”

Morgan added he had been impressed with what he had seen from his squad in recent months, with many of those who have regularly featured set to remain with their clubs during this window.

“Those players performed well during our recent Asian Cup Qualifiers and our tour of South America, and we felt it was best to have that core group remain in Australia ahead of a busy few months of club football. This allows others to come into the squad, creating another opportunity for players with less international experience to show what they can bring to the team,” Morgan concluded.

MATCH DETAILS:

Subway Young Socceroos v Kyrgyzstan

Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Chengdu Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium, Chengdu

Kick-off: 3.30pm local / 6.30pm AEDT

China PR v Subway Young Socceroos

Saturday, 16 November 2024
Chengdu Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium, Chengdu

Kick-off: 7.35pm local / 10.35pm AEDT

Subway Young Socceroos v Mongolia

Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Chengdu Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium, Chengdu

Kick-off: 2.00pm local / 5.00pm AEDT

SUBWAY YOUNG SOCCEROOS SQUAD | CHINA PANDA CUP INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT 2024