Carl Veart: We'll have a real right go at it

CommBank Joeys Head Coach Carl Veart said the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026™ was a fantastic opportunity for young players to be exposed to football at the highest level.

He was speaking to media ahead of the tournament, which kicks off on November 19.

•  READ MORE: CommBank Joeys squad named for FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026™

Excitement for what lies ahead

It's very important that the Joeys make these World Cups and for our young players to be exposed to the best players at the time in their age group. It bodes well for the road that Football Australia is going down - not just Football Australia, but also all the clubs in Australia, playing so many young players. It’s a great experience for them. Really looking forward to see how they adapt to the world stage against some really quality opposition as well. So we're really excited. 

The squad

We're very happy with the squad that we've got. There were one or two injuries that have missed out on the final selection, and it was a very difficult decision to make to come down to with the final 21 players. So we're very happy and we're very much looking forward to going to the World Cup and having some success.

Player availability

There's a lot more of our U17s now in these A-League environments, training full-time, and some of them are even playing A-League, which is fantastic. At times, it can be a little bit difficult working with those players in that environment where most of the other players are still in their youth team environment, so it's a little bit easier for us to get access to those players. But all the clubs have been very good in making their players available. We all want what's best for the player at the end of the day, and the clubs have got right behind us and supported us all the way through.

We've always worked well with Sydney FC. They have a lot of good young players at their club, and at the end of the day, we want what's best for Akol [Akon]. We did that in May when we went to the Asian Cup, Akol didn't come along because he stayed behind to play an A-League Grand Final, which we believed was a great experience for him. There’s no difference now with the World Cup. Us, and the club, and Paddy [Patrick Kisnorbo] agreed that this was a great opportunity for him to take place in. It was just a matter of a few things that needed to be discussed. We were quite open in our discussions with Paddy, and he was very open with his discussions with us. At the end of the day, we came with what was the best decision for Akol.

The clubs have to do what's best for their clubs and their fans. But at this age – or any age - it’s a great honour to play for your country, and I think it's something that's important in their development to be exposed to international football. The more exposure we can give our young players to international football, it's going to bode a lot better for our Socceroos in the future.

Youth development

You just have to look at the Socceroos, the last squad of Socceroos that went to the World Cup. A lot of those players came through the A-League. There was a lot of young players in that squad as well, and you just have to look where our young players now are playing. It has been a long time since we've had players playing at the highest level in Europe. So I think that's showing that our young players are getting better, and that is due to the A-League clubs and their academies providing good environments for these young players to progress and learn and get those early opportunities to be playing in the A-League.

Progression of youngsters through the age groups

It happens worldwide, where players that get selected for their national teams and junior teams don't then progress to the senior teams. It's something that we're well aware of, and we're making sure that we expose as many as our players to international football. 

We’ve done that through this cycle, and it's something that we'll keep carrying on through the next few cycles because it's important to how we can get more players that have played for our junior national teams into our senior national team, and make sure they keep developing and keep improving as young players.

The World Cup as a platform

All young players, they have to always be prepared to be at their best. You never know who's watching, where they're watching, or when they're watching. So it's important that they give themselves their best opportunities to be their best, and that's something that we drive quite hard with them. It’s not just what you do on the pitch; it's what you do off the pitch as well, and how you prepare yourself to be an elite footballer. And these are all the learnings that young players need to be doing, making mistakes as well, and that's how they learn quicker. 

Getting out of the group

We're very confident in the qualities of our players. Yes, we have a very difficult group, but all teams that go to the World Cup are very good sides--. So look, we're really looking forward to testing ourselves against quality opposition, and our aim is to go as far as we can in the competition. We’ve shown over the period of the last 12 months - we've played against some really good sides and we've got some good results. So it's important that we go there, and we're going to go there and play a very attacking brand of football. That's what I believe in. That’s what we've instilled in these young players, and we'll go there and we'll have a real right go at it.

Taking on Argentina in game one

It's very exciting. They’re one of the stronger sides that will be at the World Cup. We’ve already looked at a lot of their games, and they play very similar to their senior team. So it's going to be a very tough game for us, technically and physically as well. So that's exciting. That's what you want as a young player. You want to play in these games. We’ve come across Argentina with the Socceroos in the Qatar World Cup, and they did very well in that game as well. So we're going to have a good shot at them and see how we go.