Thursday, 28 November 2002 12:00 AM
South Melbourne will take on the Young Socceroos in a warm up match, before the U20’s travel to Vanuatu for the Oceania World Youth Championship Qualifying tournament.
Postecoglou’s boys will compete in an exhibition match against our own Blue and Whites, in their last full hit out before they head overseas on Wednesday 4th December 2002.
The game will be played on Tuesday 3rd December 2002 at Bob Jane Stadium. Kick off is scheduled for 7:00pm and admission is FREE.
Everybody is encouraged to come along and support the Blue and Whites and farewell our Young Socceroos before they head to Vanuatu to represent our nation. South Melbourne’s Michael Baird, Massimo Murdocca and Vince Lia have all been selected in the touring squad and they will certainly do the club and country proud.
The Young Socceroos will play only two matches in their qualifying group (Group A) due to the late withdrawal of the Cook Islands.
The fixtures are:
Saturday December 7
Vanuatu Vs Australia – 2.30pm
Monday December 9
Australia Vs Papua New Guinea – 2.30pm.
The winner of Group A will playoff against the winner of Group B, which includes Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.
Should Australia progress from its group, playoff matches are scheduled for Thursday December 19 (away match) and Sunday December 22 in Melbourne.
The winner of the playoff shall represent Oceania at the FIFA World Youth Championship to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 25 March – 16 April 2003.