Thursday, 23 February 2006 11:56 PM
The Under 17 Australian squad for the World Cup Qualifiers selected by Ange Postecoglou contains two South Melbourne Juniors that have been drafted into the Victorian Institute Of Sport.
Paul Giannou was developed by the club from the Under 11s and was selected by the VIS upon the completion of his U14 2004 Super League season for SMFC. Paul currently stands at 194cm tall at 15 years of age and has already been trialling with Melbourne Victory. He is an exiting midfielder of the Zinedene mould.
The second player from the South Melbourne Junior structure to make the Australian Under 17 team is Milos Lujic, the son of Footscray JUST legend Zdravko Lujic and part of the SMFC U15 2005 Super League team. He is a tall and skilful striker that is very powerful in the air.
The boys will travel to Laos as Australia is drawn to play Indonesia and Laos and must win the group to progress to the later stages of the Asian qualifiers in Singapore in September. Four Asian nations will qualify for the Under 17 World Cup in South Korea in 2007.
South Melbourne FC wishes the team all the best success and is proud to again be a contributor to the future of football in Australia.