South Australians Paul Izzo and Ben Garuccio have been called up to Paul Okon’s Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach 26-player squad for a European training camp from 19-31 May.

The Adelaide United goalkeeper and Melbourne Heart midfielder will also be involved in international friendly matches against the Netherlands U-21 Men’s Team (Friday 24 May) and the German U-21 Men’s National Team (Friday 31  May).

The Qantas Young Socceroos squad includes seven (7) players from overseas clubs with the remaining 19 drawn from Hyundai A-League clubs.

 Okon will be using this European training camp as his final look at the players before naming his squad for the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 (21 June – 12 July 2013).

 “Our recent training camps in Australia have been extremely beneficial for our preparations, especially the last two weeks when we have been able to train with the older national team players,” said Okon.

 “The experience of working with the older players has given us a good indication of where we are at and what we need to do to perform at a high level.

 “ I am really pleased with the progress that we have made and the high standards we have now set.

 “For this European tour we have merged the overseas and domestic players together and we will be looking to improve even more."

“We have two tough matches against quality opposition who are both preparing for the UEFA U-21 Championships which begin next month in Israel so we know we are in for a good challenge will need to be focussed to play them at their level.

“From these matches we will get a good indication on what is required to be competitive at the FIFAU-20 World Cup. 

“This will be the last chance for the players to stake their claim for a position in the final squad which we will announce in early June,” concluded Okon.