Newcastle man asked to play A-League Football

Thursday February 26, 2009

Newcastle local youth has been asked to join the Australia's premier soccer team Socceroos by the Football Federation Australia.

Ben Kantarovski, 17, from Newcastle's Lambton High School received a phone call on Tuesday from the federation to tell him that he had been chosen in the Socceroos squad against Kuwait in the Asian Cup Qualifier at Canberra.

"I was shocked. It was a bit surreal. I told my brother and he started laughing and said, 'Yeah sure, and I play for Manchester," Kantarovski told the Newcastle Herald.

The Newcastle Jets midfielder will take part in the team's training camp and while he will not play in the match, the Socceroo's coach Pim Verbeek said at a Tuesday press conference that, "We think it's good for him, his club and Australian football to let him train with the best players in the A-League for a few days."

In his final year of schooling, Kantarovski must now work out how commit to both school work as well as soccer.

"I'll have a chat with my teachers and see what's the go for next week," he said in the Newcastle Herald report. "If there's some work they're planning to do with the class, I'll try to catch up on it."

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