Milicic takes charge of Australia U-23 squad

Recently former Socceroos assistant coach Josep Gombau received FFA’s blessing to stand down from the position of Australia U-23 head coach to take on the role of head coach at Western Sydney Wanderers FC in the A-League.

With the Socceroos’ place at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia now sealed, FFA confirmed that Milicic, himself a former Socceroo, will oversee Australia’s campaign at the U-23 level in China in January 2018. 

“It is an honour and a privilege to be part of a national team at any level,” said Milicic.

“This is the age group directly underneath the Socceroos, the next layer of players, and I think on the back of FIFA World Cup qualification January’s tournament in China will be a very good opportunity for the players selected to showcase themselves not only as individuals but as a team.

“Having worked closely with Ange (Postecoglou) over the past four years I will be looking to bring a lot of the traits from Australia’s senior national team to the 23s. We will be looking to play a very aggressive style of football in China, and aim to take the game to our opponents.

“While the AFC U-23 Championship in China is not contested in an official FIFA window it is a very important tournament that we will be taking seriously.

"We will be monitoring A-League based players and age-eligible players abroad over the next six weeks and will look to take the strongest possible squad to the competition,” concluded Milicic.