While the Isuzu UTE A-League has been taking a break, a number of our boys have been busy for their country, getting some vital minutes in Melbourne, Western Sydney and China.
Here’s what happened in the first week of matches.
Socceroos
Anthony Caceres made his debut for the Socceroos and received his first cap at any level on Thursday night in a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in Melbourne.
The midfielder came on with 15 minutes to play and looked calm and composed on the ball and set up the Aussie’s best chance of the match.
Rhyan Grant was an unused sub while Hayden Matthews was left out of the matchday squad all together in what is his first senior call up in a whirlwind 10 months of professional football.
They will now take on Bahrain on Wednesday morning (Australian time) in what is becoming an even more hotly contested group.
Olyroos (U23’s)
Adrian Segecic has spent this week in a training camp with Tony Vidmar’s Olyroos side.
The Sydney FC number seven joined the camp last week and over the six days was put their their paces ahead of a big 2025 for the side.
The camp culminated with a training match against Western Sydney Wanderers Isuzu UTE A-league side where Adrian Segecic wore the captain’s armband and got on the scoresheet twice.
Young Socceroos (U20’s)
Four Sky Blues are currently in China with the Young Socceroos, taking part in the Panda Cup.
They are playing three matches across the space of the week and opened their tournament with a 4-2 victory over Kyrgyzstan with Nathan Amanatidis starting up top for the Aussies in that one.
In the second match against the hosts China, Tyler Williams played all 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Tiago Quintal also starting and seeing 79 minutes of action in the midfield in what was a tight contest.
They will conclude their tournament with a clash against Mongolia on Tuesday evening, with Gus Hoefsloot hopeful of some minutes with Trevor Morgan rotating his keepers in each match so far.
