Adelaide United young gun Al Hassan Toure will be on international duty for January
Adelaide United jet Al Hassan Toure has been selected as a part of the Australia under 23 squad for the Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Thailand.
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Adelaide United’s teenage sensation Al Hassan Toure will be on international duty for most of January after he was named in Australia’s U-23s squad bound for an Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Thailand.
Toure scored on his international debut for the Olyroos in a 5-1 win over China in Chongqing last month after he was also wooed by Liberia – the birthplace of his parents.
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He rose to prominence during this year’s FFA Cup where he scored on debut in a 5-2 win over Melbourne Knights away before scoring five goals including one in the final – a 4-0 win over Melbourne City.
He scored his second A-League goal on Friday in a 3-2 loss to Western Sydney at Hindmarsh Stadium.
He is the only Adelaide United player in coach Graham Arnold’s squad for next month’s AFC U-23 Championship.
Australia faces South Korea, Iraq, Thailand and Bahrain with the top three nations qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“I am happy with the final make-up of our squad for next month’s championship,’’ Arnold said.
“Over the past twelve months we have considered many players both at home and abroad as we’ve looked to grow the pool of players available to us.
“To finalise the twenty-three players for this tournament was no simple task – we had over fifty players on our radar for this tournament, so we will arrive in Thailand with a strong squad and one that I believe will represent Australia well.
“Between arriving in camp in Kuala Lumpur and our first game of the tournament against Iraq in Bangkok we have only nine days.
“As a group it’s important that we are disciplined and focused from the outset as we seek to make the most of our time together.
“Our target in Thailand is to become the under twenty-three champions of Asia, and we know if we can achieve that further opportunities will come the team’s way in 2020.”
The Aussie coach also said there’s a strong A-League contingent among the squad.
“Supporters in Australia will be familiar with many of the Hyundai A-League-based players in the squad, but I am excited for the football community to learn more about some of the overseas-based boys throughout January, too.
“There are some fantastic young players in our squad with the potential to progress to the Socceroos in the coming years.”
Australia U-23s squad
A-League based: Keanu Baccus (Western Sydney), Trent Buhagiar (Sydney), Nicholas D’Agostino (Perth Glory), Thomas Deng (Melbourne Victory), Denis Genreau (Melbourne City), Thomas Glover (Melbourne City), Thomas Heward- Belle (Sydney FC), Connor Metcalfe (Melbourne City), Tass Mouroukoutas (Western Sydney Wanderers), Ramy Najjarine (Melbourne City), Aiden O’Neill (Brisbane Roar), Connor O’Toole (Brisbane Roar), Reno Piscopo (Wellington Phoenix), Al Hassan Toure (Adelaide United).
Internationally based: Daniel Bouman (Cambuur, Netherlands), Gabriel Cleur (Alessandria, Italy), Zach Duncan (AGF Aarhus, Denmark), Ben Folami (Ipswich Town), Alex Gersbach (AGF Aarhus, Denmark), Jordan Holmes (Ebbsfleet United, England), Jacob Italiano (Borussia Monchengladbach, Germany), Joshua Laws (Fortuna Dusseldorf II, Germany), Dylan Ryan (Willem II Tilburg, Netherlands).