Melbourne recruit Mathew Theodore expects the inaugural National Youth League to provide plenty of goals and plenty of action and the 19-year-old can’t wait to kick it all off on Friday.
Melbourne recruit Mathew Theodore expects the inaugural National Youth League to provide plenty of goals and plenty of action and the 19-year-old can’t wait to kick it all off on Friday.
Victory’s youth team will have the honour of hosting the first-ever National Youth League match at Green Gully Reserve on Friday afternoon against the Queensland Roar.
After an unbeaten pre-season, Theodore, one of Australia’s brightest young midfield stars, is confident that the team, coached by former Socceroo Mehmet Durakovic, can start off the season with a win.
“We’ve had a long pre-season and a few games, the boys are really ready for it,” he said. “I’m expecting it to be a pretty high standard. It’s all the best young players from all over Australia. We’re expecting a tough game, but I think we’re up to it.”
“We’re feeling pretty good. All our pre-season games we’ve won and we haven’t really conceded anything. We’ve had some tough opposition, so that’s been good.”
Theodore has promised plenty of enterprising play for the cream of Australia’s youth footballers. He expects goals and plenty of end to end action.
“We’ll see attacking football. I think all the young guys are excited about playing. They’ll want to attack. And they’ll want to impress for the first team,” he said.
“I want to be a part of that. I’m an attacking midfielder. Hopefully I can create a few goals.”
One of the benefits of being aligned to a Hyundai A-League team is being able to train with the big boys. Theodore revealed that training with the likes of Kevin Muscat and Archie Thompson was having a major effect on the squad.
“They have taught us a lot about leadership, and communication. The intensity is a lot higher you have to work a lot harder,” he said.
And as for stepping into the unknown this Friday? That’s helped by the fact that Theodore knows most of the players he will come up against during the 21 round competition.
“With the national and state competitions, we know these players pretty well. Also through the VIS and AIS programs,” he said.
Victory memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 season are currently available from the Victory Shop, 236 Swan Street, Richmond, by calling 1300 GO MVFC or online by clicking here.
