Two promising young Greek Australian footballers have won selection in the 23 man U-15 Joeys squad, which will represent Australia in the 2019 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U-16 Championship in Thailand beginning later this month.

Melbourne-based teens George Karvounis and Alexander Menelaou will head to Thailand representing Australia for the first time in their careers.

Speaking to Neos Kosmos after the squad’s announcement earlier this week, George’s father Tom said his son was over the moon and excited upon learning of his selection, although added “I think his mum was more excited”.

“All the hard work’s paid off. A lot of travel, a lot of time in the car,” he said.

Fifteen-year-old George has been part of the Melbourne Victory junior set-up for the last three years, travelling to training several times a week from his home in the southern suburbs of Melbourne to Victory’s training facilities in the north west.

Tom says that his son’s hopes for the upcoming international tournament are “just to prove himself”.

“He wants to make the first team – there’s still a bit of work to do – put his best foot forward and show everyone that Australia’s got talent,” he said.

The left sided winger, whose idol is former Chelsea star Eden Hazard, dreams of one day having a professional football career overseas, perhaps in the English Premier League.

Joining George in the squad will be Alexander who is based at Melbourne City. It’s not the first time the two have been part of representative squads together. They’ve been team mates in Victorian representative teams at U-13 and U-14 levels.

The 15-year-old midfielder has been playing the sport for eight years and was a junior at Northcote City before joining Melbourne City two years ago.

Like George, his dream is to one day play professionally. He told Neos Kosmos that he was very happy on learning of his selection in the Joeys and that he hopes to have a successful tournament in Thailand and do the best he can for the team.

“The 2019 AFF U-15 Championship represents the start of this Joeys age group’s journey to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2021,” said head Joeys Coach Trevor Morgan.

“With a minimum of five and up to seven international matches over the two weeks of the tournament, the AFF U-15 Championship will give the players selected a great introduction to international football.
“Our time in Chonburi will also provide our staff with the chance to work on some key principles with the boys ahead of our 2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualifiers in Vietnam in September this year.”

23-player AFF U-16 Championship Squad: 
Joseph CALUSIC, Sydney FC, New South Wales
Ethan COX (GK), FFSA NTC, South Australia
Jai CURRAN-NICHOLLS, Glen Eira FC, Victoria
Massimo D’ARGENIO, Moreland Zebras, Victoria
Kane GIBBS, Brisbane Roar FC, Queensland
Sebastian GOMEZ, Perth Glory FC, Western Australia
Daniel HELWEH, Marconi Stallions, New South Wales
George KARVOUNIS, Melbourne Victory, Victoria
Alessandro LOPANE, Western Sydney Wanderers FC, New South Wales
Lachlan MACDONALD, Sutherland Sharks FC, New South Wales
Alexander MENELAOU, Melbourne City FC, Victoria
Aiden MOSTOFI, Sydney FC, New South Wales
James NIEUWENHUIZEN (GK), Goulburn Valley Suns FC, Victoria
Bernardo OLIVEIRA, FFSA NTC, South Australia
Nicholas PANUCCIO, Western Sydney Wanderers FC, New South Wales
Jack PIRONE, Gold Coast United FC, Queensland
Paolo PUSATERI, Sydney FC, New South Wales
Joshua RAWLINS, Perth Glory FC, Western Australia
Matthew SCARCELLA, Western Sydney Wanderers FC, New South Wales
Adrian SEGECIC, Sydney FC, New South Wales
Clayton TAYLOR, Sydney FC, New South Wales
Aiki TSUKAMOTO, Perth Glory FC, Western Australia
Jack WARSHAWSKY (GK), Brisbane Roar FC, Queensland