Sun 29th Oct 2006

Qantas Young Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has named an attacking line-up for the opening match of the AFC Youth Championship in Kolkata, India against China, with Australian Institute of Sport central midfielder Shaun Ontong named as the captain for the tournament.

With Bruce Djite suspended for the first game, Postecoglou’s decision on who his front two would be was made a little easier, with in-form Adelaide United striker Nathan Burns to play alongside Brondby (Denmark)-based David Williams. Queensland Roar’s Dario Vidosic will play just behind the front two.

The only position, Postecoglou is yet to be certain of is who will be in goals, with Tando Velaphi the favourite to win the role, although he will wait to make a decision until after the final training session later today.

The line-up is: Tando Velaphi/Mitchell Langerak (gk); Matt Spiranovic, Stephen O’Dor, Peter Eleftherakis; James Downey, Shaun Ontong (capt), Kaz Patafta, Evan Berger; Dario Vidosic; Nathan Burns, David Williams.

In naming Ontong captain, Postecoglou has gone for consistency and believes the AIS is a natural leader.

“He has been the captain the whole way through,” Postecoglou said of Ontong’s appointment. “He is someone that has real leadership qualities, he is the hardest working player in the team and because of his work ethic the other players really look up to him.”

The team, according to Postecoglou, has been looking sharp in training, despite the tough conditions.

“The boys have looked good in training and are all pretty sharp. Conditions are very tough with the heat and humidity and the training pitches are very hard, so I will be surprised if we front up with the same eleven in each match.

“We had a run on the main stadium last night and it was very bumpy and with games on it every day, it will deteriorate even more and I think this will be a bigger factor than the conditions, which the boys seem to be coping with.”

While the first match of a tournament like this is always the most important, the fact its against China, the group favourites, makes it doubly important.

“China, we looked at them at training and they look physically big and very quick. They will be expecting to get through and have had an extensive lead-up programme and the majority of their players, play in the first eleven of their Chinese Super League teams, which has only just finished.

“It’s important that you finish first in the group and getting a good start sets you up for the rest of the tournament, so with China being the main danger, this first match is a critical one.”

Postecoglou also confirmed that he made a late change to the squad, with Oliver Bozanic coming in at the expense of Greg King, who at the three-day camp in Canberra, was struggling after just coming back from injury.

Australia’s match against China is tonight at 8.30pm AEDT.