Western Strikers captain Michele Lastella and Campbelltown City striker Michael Matricciani have been selected in the Beach Socceroos squad for the 2013 FIFA Beach World Cup Asia Qualifiers in Qatar next week.

The pair left Adelaide on Thursday for Doha, along with coach, Football Federation SA Technical Director Airton Andrioli, to face Group A rivals Qatar, Oman and Afghanistan. 

The tournament kicks off next week and Andrioli admitted qualification for the 2013 World Cup, held in Tahiti from September 18-28, will be tough with just the top three teams qualifying. 

“Whichever way you look, there are no easy ways in this very tough Beach Soccer Asian Qualifiers, however we are quite positive about the draw,” said Andrioli

“Our biggest problem is the fact that we don’t play beach soccer competitively in Australia and the lack of matches against opposition that knows how to play beach soccer creates some obstacles but we don’t want focus on the negative.”

“Our objective is to qualify, an ambitious goal, but we will do all we can to achieve just that,” 

For Matricciani, it is his second qualifying campaign and he believes the 2013 squad is much stronger than the one that he was a part of in 2009.

Also in the squad are former Socceroos David Zdrillic and Ante Juric, while Matricciani is joined by Jim Bakis, Peter Crevani, Josh Da Palma, and George Souris who were also members of the 2009 squad.

“I’m very happy to have been selected again. 2009 was such a great experience,” he said.

“There are four others who were in the squad in 2009 and I think because of that, and with the players coming in, the squad has strengthened since then. Obviously the likes of David (Zdrilliz) and Ante (Juric), their experience certainly helps.”

“Our preparation has been a lot better this time round as well and with a bit of luck, we’ll do really well and even cause an upset.”

Matricciani admitted one of the biggest challenges is how developed some of the Asian opponents are in terms of Beach Soccer.

“We are all outfield players who don’t play regular Beach Soccer,” he said.

“Oman for example, they’re a top nation. They’re all paid professionals and play in tournaments all year round, all over the world.”

“Having said that, in 2009 we only lost 4-2 to Oman. We had a lot of chances and with a bit of luck we could have come away with a different result.”

For Lastella this will be the first time representing Australia, which he acknowledged was a special achievement.

“Representing your country in any capacity is a huge honour and I’m really glad I am able to be a part of this exciting experience,” he said.

“It has been challenging adapting to the style of play on the sand,” he said.

“You have to know how to read the tempo of the game and when you need to pick up the pace or slow it down. Obviously the technical aspects of playing in the sand are also very different to outdoor football”

“But, we’ve trained really hard and we’ve got a job to do and we’re confident of getting results.”

Australia kicks-off its qualifying campaign against Oman on Wednesday, January 23, followed by Qatar on Thursday, January 24 and finally Afghanistan on Friday, January 25.

‘Oman has a massive advantage in that they’re full-time professionals,” said Lastella.

“We’re expecting a capacity crowd against the host nation Qatar so we’re all really excited about that challenge.” 

 

Beach Socceroos Squad

Jim BAKIS, Peter CREVANI, Joshua DA PALMA, Guilherme DE SOUZA, Simon JAEGER, Ante JURIC, Antonio LASTELLA, Michael MATRICCIANI, Panagiotis NIKAS, George SOURIS, Nikolas TSATTALIOS, David ZDRILIC

Coach:                                  Airton ANDRIOLI
 Team Manager:                               Vito BASILE
 Physiotherapist:                              Andrew HUGHES

 

Groups for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Asian Qualifiers – Qatar 22-26 January 2013

GROUP A: Qatar, Oman, Australia, Afghanistan
 GROUP B: Japan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Thailand
 GROUP C: UAE, Uzbekistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia
 GROUP D: Iran, China, Iraq, Philippines