Young Matildas squad named for AFC U19 Championship qualifiers

Young Matildas Head Coach Ante Juric has named a 23-player squad for the upcoming AFC U-19 Women’s Championship Qualifiers held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 5 to 9 November 2014.

The 2014 squad is a mixture of members of the 2013 AFC U19 Championships team, graduates from the 2013 Mini Matildas, members of the recent 2014 Mini Matildas and regular W-League players.

W-League players Emma Checker, Larissa Crummer, Amy Harrison, Olivia Price and Natalie Tobin all return for another campaign while several players including Jordan Barker, Gabrielle Dal Busco, Isabel Hodgson, Dylan Holmes, Natasha Prior and Monique Iannella make their first national team.

“We’ve had number of high quality training camps in Canberra recently with the majority of players currently involved in the Westfield W-League ,” said Juric on his squad selection.

“In addition I have included a number of the mini-Matildas (Ellie Carpenter, Alex Chidiac, Kobie Ferguson, Princess Ibini-Isei and Hannah Southwell) who recently performed well at the AFC U-16 Championship qualifiers in Malaysia."

Held in in Hanoi, Vietnam the qualification tournament sees 14 teams, 7 from West and South/Central Asia and 7 from East Asia and ASEAN, divided into two zones (East and West). Australia has been drawn in Group C alongside Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Juric believes his mix of youth and experience will be enough for the Young Matildas to qualify for the main tournament next year.

“We are all looking forward to the challenge of the upcoming three matches with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship next year.

“I am very confident that this group of players have the necessary qualities to be successful,” concluded Juric

The four nations will play each other once in a league style format with the winner of the group joining Korea Republic, DPR Korea, China and Japan in the eight nation finals held in Nanjing, China PR from 19 – 30 August, 2015.

The Women's Game will be reporting the campaign on Twitter and Facebook.

Young Matildas Squad

Angela Beard (Brisbane Roar), Jordan Baker (Western Sydney Wanderers), Emma Checker (Melbourne Victory), Ellie Carpenter (NSW), Alex Chidiac (Adelaide United), Emily Condon (Adelaide United), Larissa Crummer (Brisbane Roar), Gabrielle Dal Busco (Perth Glory), Kobie Ferguson (U17 WNT), Sunny Franco (Brisbane Roar), Beatrice Goad (Melbourne Victory), Brooke Goodrich (Brisbane Roar), Amy Harrison (Sydney FC), Isabel Hodgson (Adelaide United), Dylan Holmes (Adelaide United), Monique Iannella (Adelaide United), Princess Ibini (U17 WNT), Chloe O’Brien (Western Sydney Wanderers), Olivia Price (Sydney FC), Natasha Prior (FNSW Institute), Hannah Southwell (Newcastle Jets), Natalie Tobin (Sydney FC), Georgina Worth (ACTAS)