Tough Asian test for Young Socceroos

Young Socceroos coach Paul Okon announced the 23-man squad, including 17 players from the A-League and two from the state leagues. English-based goalkeeper Aaron Lennox from Queen's Park Rangers and Giancarlo Gallifuoco from Tottenham Hotspur are the foreign-based duo.

Football Federation Australia said the decision to field the younger team would help it prepare for November's AFC U-19 Championships, which will also serve as qualifiers for next year's U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

"Our recent training camp in Brisbane was very positive and gave us a good indication on the level of the players," Okon said.

"We were planning on having more overseas-based players in the squad, but with the tournament start postponed by two weeks most of the players that we were considering already had to return to their respective clubs to commence pre-season training."

Australia's first match will be against Indonesia in Sumatra on 5 July, followed by encounters against Macau (7 July), Singapore (10 July), Timor Leste (12 July) and Japan (15 July).

"This tournament will be a tough challenge for the boys with five matches to be played in 10 days," Okon said.

"Fitness will be a key factor in dealing with the frequency of matches and the hot and humid conditions we will encounter in Indonesia.

"We will also be playing against players who are possibly two years older than most of our players so the experience and benefits that we will gain from this tournament will be double."

The Young Socceroos will assemble in Sydney on Sunday 1 July before departing for Indonesia on Monday 2 July.

The top two teams from Australia's group and the best third placed team of all groups (total 15) will then progress to the AFC U-22 Championship, which will be played in January 2014.

Young Socceroos squad: Terry ANTONIS (Sydney FC), Jake BARKER-DAISH (Adelaide United), Josh BRILLANTE (Newcastle Jets), Corey BROWN (Brisbane Roar), Reece CAIRA, Connor CHAPMAN (Newcastle Jets), Mitch COOPER (Newcastle Jets), James DONACHIE (Brisbane Roar), Jack DUNCAN (gk) (Newcastle Jets) Giancarlo GALLIFUOCO (Tottenham Hotspur, England), Ben GARUCCIO (AIS), Nicholas FITZGERALD (Brisbane Roar), Jason GERIA (Brisbane Roar), Curtis GOOD (Melbourne Heart), Aaron LENNOX (gk) (Queen’s Park Rangers, England), Jesse MAKAROUNAS (Perth Glory), Nick MUNRO (gk) (Croydon Kings - SA State League), Brandon O’NEILL (Perth Glory), Yianni PERKATIS (Blacktown City (NSW Premier League), Daniel PETKOVSKI (Sydney FC), Anthony PROIA (Brisbane Roar), Adam TAGGART (Newcastle Jets), Riley WOODCOCK (Perth Glory).