Albany’s best senior soccer plays get the chance to pull on representative colours against Forrestfield

Great Southern Soccer Association will field their first senior men’s representative team in eight years when they tackle State League outfit Forrestfield United Soccer Club at Centennial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. After starting with 28 interested players the GSSA went through a selection process to cut down their squad to 16 of the best players from a range of local clubs. The game against Forrestfield was set for February after a GSSA women’s side took on UWA in a highly successful event but COVID-19 caused the delay of the men’s fixtures. Rovers have seven players in the squad, Polonia and Phoenix have three, Caledonians have two and Bayswater one. GSSA president Marcus McPharlin said his was a great opportunity for the association. “Jon Smith has some pretty good contacts up in Perth clubs wise, so he got hold of Forrestfield and they were keen to come down,” McPharlin said. “They are going to bring a strong men’s team down. “It’s a great opportunity for the local players to represent Albany. “Its good confidence for the local players to take on a top-level team, the stronger guys get the chance to get together and play against people more at their level than down here. “Hopefully we’ve got a pretty good crowd coming.” Andy Walsh and Wing Kuen Wee have been appointed as the two head coaches for the men’s team. New uniforms have been designed for the contest, mainly green with a tinge of gold and are similar to the Albany junior country week uniforms. Senior player Kieran Loveridge said he was excited to playing. “It’s a great honour to be a part, there are a lot of high-quality players around Albany that don’t often get the chance to show how good they are at a higher level, so this opportunity was one that was easy to jump at,” he said. “Albany rep soccer hasn’t been around for a number of years and it’s great to see it back, it’s a chance to further not only my game but the game in Albany was a great opportunity. “Saturday can’t come quick enough, all the boys are keen and we’ve trained hard over the past few weeks and are ready for Forrestfield.” The game will be played at Centennial Stadium at 3pm with a kids’ exhibition match beforehand at 2.15pm. The GSSA hopes to host more teams annually and for men’s and women’s teams to travel to Perth and other regions. Great Southern Soccer Association squad Lorenzo Bacco, Jean Cassou, Jeffery Lisso, Davide Scuka, Justin Bielecki, Andrew Oboh, Tasman Heath (Rovers FC), Nathan Griffiths, Kyle Taylor, Daniel Siemiginowski (Polonia FC), Cameron Dekker, Beau Timmer, Jarrad Korthuis (Phoenix FC), Chris Wallace, Kieran Loveridge (Caldedonians FC), James Opuni (Bayswater FC)