Son of a gun and teen with 'x-factor' among A-Leagues cohort in Joeys squad

Melbourne City sensation Luke Becvinovski and Adelaide United’s Chris Irakoze are among the Isuzu UTE A-League prospects called up by the Subway Joeys for the upcoming Hohhot U16 Tournament in China.

There are 19 A-Leagues talents in the 23-player squad named by head coach Brad Maloney as prepare for the round-robin format tournament, which will be held from May 26 to June 2, with an eye on November’s AFC Under-17 Asian Cup qualifiers.

The tournament will also feature U16 outfits from across the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) including Vietnam (May 28), Saudi Arabia (May 30) and hosts China (June 1).

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Western Sydney Wanderers have six representatives in the squad, while Western United and Adelaide United have three players apiece.

The 19 Isuzu UTE A-Leagued-based players come from eight clubs:

Adelaide United: Chris Irakoze, Sajjib Nasiri, Hugo NG
Brisbane Roar: Kade Kerry
Macarthur Bulls: Henrique Oliveira
Melbourne City: Luke Becvinovski, Oliver O’Carroll
Perth Glory: Aaron Black
Sydney FC: Corey Da Cruz, Aston Reid
Western Sydney Wanderers: Akol Akon, Georgio Hassarati, Massimo Marrone, Jordan Owusu, Johnny Pavlovic, Marcus Savic
Western United: Winston Ashburner, William Kengni, Besian Kutleshi

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Becvinovski is the son of Sash Becvinovski, Victorian football’s greatest post-war goalscorer and he has scored a league-high 14 goals in VPL1 U23s.

“Luke, who was top scorer at the nationals last year, is a fantastic goal scorer who is learning to always be in the best positions to take his chances,” City’s senior academy manager Simon Zappia told aleagues.com.au recently.

“He has fantastic speed which allows him to be effective in behind but has also developed his game tremendously when coming to feet.

“At just 15 years of age he is currently performing very well at the level and we look forward to seeing his progression continue.”

As for Irakoze, he has scored nine goals in 13 matches for Adelaide United’s academy this year, with six of those in nine games for the reserve side.

“Chris has a bit of an x-factor about him but obviously now he needs to learn to use that more effectively because the game becomes a bit more focused on the way you want to do things, a little bit of structure,” Head of Youth Football Airton Andrioli told aleagues.com.au previously.

“Just help the players be a bit more effective with their skills and their ability.”

“With the move to an annual World Cup for this age group, we are needing to approach things differently and almost run two programs in parallel to best prepare our emerging talent for the challenges that lay ahead, both within the Subway Joeys and other national team programs,” Maloney said.

“The time we spend together during this short window will be extremely important to grow connections across the squad and staff and begin building the foundations that will give us a strong platform to be successful in this cycle.

“The quality of the opposition we will be facing and the tournament format – with games in quick succession – will be a real test for the group in terms of their application to our style of play and their overall resilience. This will be a first national team camp for most of these players, and this experience is an important step in their growth as footballers.

“As a staff we’re going to get the chance to have a first look at different players and a variety of combinations and we’re all looking forward to helping guide this group on our journey towards AFC U17 Asian Cup qualification and beyond.”