Sixteen young men departed Tullamarine International Airport last month on their way to a “world tour” that saw them visit 3 countries across two different continents.
The Australian Football Skool U17 Representative Squad flew to Los Angeles for a practice game against the USA Chivas SC Academy team whose senior team competes in the MLS.
They then made their way to Toronto, Canada where they participated in the Canadian Shield International Football Tournament.
In Canada they faced teams from across the world that were exclusively invited, powerhouse club Corinthians from Brazil was the strongest team to attend this year’s tournament beating Canadian National Champions Ajax in a thrilling 4-2 final in front of a very vocal crowd in Burlington.
The AFS Squad was the first Australian team to attend this tournament and was pitted against teams from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada in their pool group. The team performed extremely well in the tournament but were not able to progress from the group stages, they lost 2 games against Canadian opposition including finalist Ajax and defeated teams from Puerto Rico and Mexico in action packed encounters.
The behaviour and sportsmanship from the aussie boys on and off the pitch was exemplary and the tournament organisers and coaches from other teams were full of praise for the team and can’t wait to see the AFS team in the tournament again in 2012 and beyond.
After spending an action packed week in North America, the squad departed to the United Kingdom and were based in the Northern England. The boys were put through their paces over a two week period where an intensive training camp consisting of trial games, training sessions and practice matches against illustrious English opposition took place.
The boys had the pleasure of being trained by professional and qualified coaches from academy set-ups from EPL clubs such as Manchester City, Stoke City and Everton FC. They also competed against academy players from EPL and Championship academies such as Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Stoke City.
During the England Tour the players visited various academies and stadiums and were exposed to the most professional level of junior football that England has to offer.
The trip finished off on a great note when the boys travelled to London on their last day to watch Arsenal take on Boca Juniors at the Emirates Stadium as part of the pre-season Emirates Cup Tournament.
The fortunate lads to be selected on the team are:
- Anthony Coniglio – Manningham
- James Dafoski – Manningham
- Anthony Canepa – North West
- David Boras – North West
- Dean Tirtilas – Manningham
- Alex Avramavic – Manningham
- Josh D’Monte – North West
- Jarrod Holt – Central
- Ronan Johns – Central
- Kristian Boras – North West
- Joseph Van De Garde – Central
- Justin Kiklevski – Manningham
- Daniel Petrovski – Manningham
- Mehdi Hussaini – Central
- Billie Prentice – Central
- Bobi Petrovski – Manningham
Two players from the squad caught the eye during this series of matches and training sessions and were invited to stay back for a further 3 weeks in England and trial with professional clubs.
Goalkeeper Justin Kiklevski trialed with Chesterfield FC and midfielder Josh D’Monte was invited to the Everton FC Academy. Both had amazing experiences during the tour and were exposed to a level of football that is not currently available in Australia.
Billy Rae and Andy Thomas were the Coach and Team Manager respectively for the squad. This was their third international tour with the AFS and both very much enjoyed working with this talented group of boys during that month.
This was the 13th Rep Squad that has travelled overseas under the AFS banner since 2007.
Plans are already being put in place to return to Canada and England in 2012 and offer these opportunities to more players within the AFS.
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