CENTRAL Coast Mariners National Youth League star Hayden Morton has today been selected in Paul Okon’s Qantas Young Socceroos squad for the upcoming international friendly matches against Portugal’s U20 Men’s National team in Lisbon on 11 and 14 October.
CENTRAL Coast Mariners National Youth League star Hayden Morton has today been selected in Paul Okon-s Qantas Young Socceroos squad for the upcoming international friendly matches against Portugal-s U20 Men-s National team in Lisbon on 11 and 14 October.
Morton was recently called into Okon-s squad for a tour of Hong Kong and Vietnam, and having impressed with the Qantas Young Socceroos will now get another chance to show his ability in Europe.
Morton will play for the Central Coast-s NYL side again this term, combining his efforts in Australia-s premier youth competition with extensive training with the Mariners Hyundai A-League squad.
Ten overseas based players from England, Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland have been included in the squad with twelve drawn from the ranks of the Hyundai A-League Clubs as well as Luke O-Dea from Bentleigh Greens in the Victorian Premier League. Former Mariner Mustafa Amini – who now plies his trade with German champions BVB Borussia Dortmund – has also been selected in the squad.
Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Paul Okon will be using these matches as another important part of his squad-s preparations for the upcoming AFC U-19 Championship which will be held in the United Arab Emirates from 1-17 November 2012.
“As this camp is held during FIFA match dates, this will be the first time that the overseas-based players will join the core of our squad in the lead up to the AFC U-19 Championship,” said Okon.
“Even though there are some Australian-based players not selected in this particular squad they are certainly not out of contention for final selection, because we are using this camp will be to see how these overseas based players adapt to our playing style and fit into the group.
“We will also be looking to maximize our training time together and the games against Portugal will give us a good indication of how well the overseas-based players can gel in a short period of time,” concluded Okon.
