Tass Mourdoukoutas

[mack]

Tass Mourdoukoutas

Date Of Birth: 03/03/99
Nation: Australia
Birthplace: Sydney, Australia
Squad Number: 13
Position: Central Defender
Secondary Positions: Defensive Midfield

Joined Wanderers: 13/01/18
Contract Details: National Youth League Contract 17/18. 2 year Senior Contract signed 6/6/18. 3 year extension signed 18/2/2020
Contract Finish: 2022/23
Previous Club: Wanderers Youth
Wanderers Debut: 13th January 2018 vs Wellington Phoenix

Wanderers A-League Appearances: 39
Wanderers A-League Goals: 2

Wanderers ACL Appearances:
Wanderers ACL Goals:

Wanderers FFA Cup Appearances: 6
Wanderers FFA Cup Goals: 0

Wanderers Club World Cup Appearances:
Wanderers Club World Cup Goals:

Wanderers Total Appearances: 44
Wanderers Total Goals: 3

Yearly Appearances & Goals: 2017/18: 1 (0), 2018/19: 10 (1), 2019/20: 13 (1), 2020/21: 13 (0), 2021/22: 8 (1)

International Team: Australia
International Caps: 0
International Goals: 0

Individual Awards:

Team Honours:

Highlight: Scored his first goal for the Wanderers against Melbourne City in Round 15 of Season 2018/19.
Highlight:
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Description: Defender who made a debut after Brendan Hamill was sent off against Wellington. His performance in the youth setup & in training saw the Wanderers sign him on a 2 year senior contract. He continued to make his sporadic appearances in the Wanderers first team due to injuries and selection decisions. He earned a new 3 year contract in 2020, but struggled for game-time during the 21/22 season after which he left the club a year earlier than his contract expiry.

View full record

[mack]

Promoted to a 2 year senior deal expiring 2019/20.

All hail Aspro v2.0.

[Paul01]

2 minutes ago, mack said:

Promoted to a 2 year senior deal expiring 2019/20.

All hail Aspro v2.0.

Upgrade on Aspro in imo.

Wonder what Taurus thinks?

[Taurus]

Tass is showing good signs & deserves his opportunity.

He has decent foot skills, good positional awareness & most importantly doesn't lack pace 

[mack]

What's going on with Suman?

[Taurus]

Haven't heard much on the Suman front.

He's suffered a couple of concussions at training about 1 - 2 months ago & was rested for the remainder of the season. 

He's too good a talent to let go

[Paul01]

10 hours ago, Taurus said:

Haven't heard much on the Suman front.

He's suffered a couple of concussions at training about 1 - 2 months ago & was rested for the remainder of the season. 

He's too good a talent to let go

What's the story with the new NPL keeper from CCM?

[Taurus]

He's been brought in to fill a void in that space.

I've only seen him play for us once, v's Mt Druitt 2 weeks ago. He's a tall, lanky lad who can use both feet, but was found out a couple of times.

Apparently CCM we're impressed that he moved to us during the NPL transfer window

[Paul01]

3 minutes ago, Taurus said:

He's been brought in to fill a void in that space.

I've only seen him play for us once, v's Mt Druitt 2 weeks ago. He's a tall, lanky lad who can use both feet, but was found out a couple of times.

Apparently CCM we're impressed that he moved to us during the NPL transfer window

Mulvey thought he was a GK wiz-kid. 

So is better than Tom Glover (u23 keeper loaned from Tottenham to CCM last season? You said that Glover had NFI after you watched him play in pre-season against our senior team for the Olyroos.

[Taurus]

You sure you're name is not @Prydzopolis? 

You ask way too many questions & are therefore now restricted to 1 question per week. Make it count

[Paul01]

20 minutes ago, Taurus said:

You sure you're name is not @Prydzopolis? 

You ask way too many questions & are therefore now restricted to 1 question per week. Make it count

I am not. 

Your in the loop as far as the youth players that's why i ask. 

[Taurus]

https://dailyfootballshow.com/young-guns-western-sydney-wanderers-tass-mourdoukoutas/

On Saturday, Young Socceroos Head Coach Ante Milicic named his 25-player squad for this month’s AFC U19 Championships.

Featuring proven A-League performers such as Nathaniel Atkinson and internationally based players in the vein of John Iredale and Ben Folami, much is riding on the shoulders of the young men entrusted with pulling on the Green and Gold jersey.

Milicic’s side will take the field on 19 October against familiar foes South Korea knowing that progression to the semi-finals in Indonesia is vital, with only the last four sides remaining in the 16-team tournament punching their tickets to the U20 World Cup in Poland in 2019.

Australia hasn’t qualified for the world’s premier junior showcase since 2013, when a squad that included names such as Jamie Maclaren, Josh Brilliante, Paul Izzo, Daniel De Silva and Adam Taggart was eliminated in the tournament’s group stages.

For Western Sydney Wanderers defender Tass Mourdoukoutas, one of the 25 selected for the Indonesian mission, the prospect of representing his country in pursuit of World Cup qualification is one that will never lose its lustre.

“It’s always a great experience representing the Young Socceroos, all the players enjoy it,” Mourdoukoutas told dailyfootballshow.com.

“As much as you love your club and the training and the routine and helping out your teammates at your clubland, it’s always an honour to represent that national team.

“This is a big opportunity – the AFC U19 Championship – there’s a lot of quality players from other countries there.

“We have a good group and we’re confident we can go all the way and win it and achieve our goal of qualifying for the U20 World Cup in May next year. It’ll be a great experience.”

A number of the Young Socceroos – Mourdoukoutas not among them – were part of a select U18 squad that took part in the SBS Cup in August, a tournament derailed by a bug that swept through the side during the three games.

Further preparations for Indonesia have mainly centred around training camps, the Young Socceroos convening on the Central Coast in September for a camp in September and on the Sunshine Coast this past week before jetting off to Indonesia.

Approaching the conclusion of an A-League offseason that sometimes feels endless – a period in which young players such as Mourdoukoutas are forced to juggle representing their clubs in their local NPL leagues while simultaneously looking to impress in senior preseason training – one could be forgiven for thinking that junior international duty would be pushed to the back of a youngster’s mind.

RELATED: Milicic names Young Socceroos squad for AFC U19 Championship assault

Mourdoukoutas, however, says that playing with the national side never strays far from his consciousness.

“There’s a lot of months of preparation, it’s not all rolled into one week,” he explains.

“It’s definitely a lot of preparation. Not necessarily notes, he’s (Milicic) not giving us notes, but it’s giving his experience.

“He’s been a coach at the top level, he’s been to World Cups, he’s played at the top level and he knows what to expect, he knows what different nations are like.

“He’s watched footage and so have we. We’re fully prepared going into South Korea, for Jordan, for Vietnam, whoever we face, we’ll be ready.

“(Contact between the players and coaching staff) it’s far more frequent then you’d imagine. They always like to keep tabs on you.

“Almost every day there’s someone interested in your data, how you’re feeling, any injuries, any stress, whether you’re playing, whether you’re not playing, how many minutes… every day someone is monitoring you.

Mourdoukoutas made his A-League debut against Wellington during the 2017-18 season

“There are the camps kind of loosely every few months that go for around a week or so. These camps are good because the squad gets to come together and really engage and build some team chemistry in the lead into big tournaments such as this one.”

Young players have been making their mark on the Socceroos setup in recent times.

A barnstorming second half of the A-League season from then Melbourne City starlet Daniel Arzani resulted in a World Cup call-up and move to Celtic by way of Manchester City.

Denis Genreau and Iredale turned good form with their sides in the Netherlands to earn a call-up to Graham Arnold’s first training camp as senior boss of the Socceroos, with Genreau going on to earn a call-up to the Socceroos squad for their upcoming camp and friendly against Kuwait.

With both Arzani and Genreau playing a part in Australia’s AFC U19 Championship qualifiers against North Korea and Hong Kong as recently as November 2017, their rapid ascension hasn’t been missed by the young players that they came up alongside.

“Ante has told us many times,” Mourdoukoutas said.

“Especially recently at this training camp, he said ‘things change in football for the good and the bad, so you have to fight every day for this tracksuit that you’re wearing because there are no contracts with the national team. You play, and you get selected because you earn it. You’re always on watch.’

“I played with Daniel (Arzani) and Denny (Denis Genreau) and John Iredale and these players, they’re talented footballers.

“They’ve strung some good performances together, done well overseas and whatnot. Not even a few years ago they were, probably not even a year ago, they were nowhere near contention and now they’re fighting for spots in that Socceroos setup, which they fully deserve.

“Things can change so quickly.”

Growing up in the southern Sydney suburb of Sylvania Waters, Mourdoukoutas played with the Football NSW Institute before making the switch to NSW NPL side Sydney Olympic 2016.

Mourdoukoutas spent a year with the traditional NPL powerhouses before making the switch to Western Sydney Wanderers in 2017, forming a part of the defence that guided the Red and Black to the 2017-18 Y-League championship.

That year spent surrounded by fully grown men in one of Australia’s best competitions outside of the A-League, according to Mourdoukoutas, steeled him for the rigours that come with trying to break into Wanderers squad as a young player.

“I think that playing in the first grade with Olympic – who I have to add did really well this season, they won the NPL so congrats to them – I think 100% it prepared me for men’s football,” he said

“It’s very different playing at a high level of football compared to the second division of Australian football, but it’s in the men’s so I think it definitely prepared me physically. And then mentally it taught me respect.

“There were older players who have played for Olympic for as long as I’ve been playing altogether and just little things they did prepare you to move into an A-League club.

“There was a couple of players (that mentored Mourdoukoutas).

“A few had A-League experience, a couple had been overseas. Hagi Gligor has played for Sydney FC and the Young Socceroos and he’s a quality player, one of the best players I’ve played with.

“Max Burgess as well, he’s a quality player. Obviously, Paul Henderson as well, he’s a veteran of the club and he’s had a great established career. There’s a number of boys I could list off, they’re all great lads but they were the main ones.”

RELATED: Graham Arnold continues Roo revolution with more fresh faces

Following this months AFC U19 Championships, Mourdoukoutas thoughts will turn to securing a spot in the Wanderers first team setup.

After making his debut in a 1-1 draw against the Wellington Phoenix in Round 16 of 2017-18 season, the young defender says that he’s enjoying preseason under new Wanderers boss Markus Babel – he started the Wanderers Round of 32 clash with Hellenic Athletic – and is eagerly anticipating the upcoming A-League campaign.

Mourdoukoutas started for the Wanderers in the Round of 32 in the FFA Cup

“Markus is great,” he says.

“He’s a great manager, he was a CB himself so he knows what to expect from his players.

“He’s a great guy, he’s firm, he knows what he wants but he was a good kind of changeup.

“The boys got around him when he came in and we’re really happy to have him there. I’m enjoying preseason so far and looking forward to the season to start.

“Broadly, I’d like to play as many games as I can in the A-League and first and foremost make my starting debut.

“I’d like to have a good, comfortable year where I’m learning a lot. I’m kind of setting myself into the team and becoming comfortable with all the players and just improving day by day and making my mark in the first team and in the A-League.

“At the end of the day, every player wants to give their all and get noticed for playing well. Improve every day, that’s the goal.”

 

[Paul01]

Tass was interviewed on The Daily Football Show yesterday. Good interview.

[mack]

Left the club a year early.

[StringerBellend]

Shame never really progressed 

[mack]

Think he saw the writing on the wall when they tried to convert him into a defensive midfielder when it's not something he is suited for at all.

[Carns]

You'd assume he's been picked up by another A-league club unless he's got a gig in Asia etc.

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

its a shame that we stuck with Ziggy and McGowan for so long. definitely slowed his development, and not exactly examples of what a good CB looks like. 

this sucks.

[StringerBellend]

Only one to come over to fans after the Apia debacle for that he has my respect

[wswnick]

He's signed for York United in Canada. Hope he does well.

 

https://northerntribune.ca/york-united-tass-mourdoukoutas/

 

[MathyouWSW]

I had a look into the league he'll be playing in (Canadian Premier League), It's very new and currently it only consists of 8 teams with 4 teams qualifying in the finals round (1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd). The competition goes for 6 months (April to October). 

Anyway, hope he does well.

 

[mack]

It's basically the A-League from 15 years ago.

[MathyouWSW]

Yes...and each team play against each other 4 times during the season.

[Sithslayer1991]

All the best to him. For whatever reason he never cracked the first team like Cancar did. Hearing this premier league is a bit above NPL but more money. The MLS Canadian teams are step above

[WHACKO]

Good start for Tass at his new club...a yellow card, an own goal and a 2 nil loss.

[mack]

No red card though. That's a positive.

[mack]

I still have no idea what a "Forge FC" means.

"Own goal" is around 2:20 into the video. I wouldn't be calling that an OG, it came off him into the opposition striker's back and that deflected it to goal. Second goal he got caught on the wrong side of the attacker though.

I think they pushed him up the field to play as a left wingback for the last 20 

Not a great debut for sure.

[MathyouWSW]

Ex-Victory player Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio is also joining York United. 

[WHACKO]

15 hours ago, mack said:

I still have no idea what a "Forge FC" means.

Hamilton was linked to a professional soccer team as early as June 2013, when reports first emerged of a professional soccer league launching in Canada.^[2] Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young was part of a group of investors, predominantly from the Canadian Football League, working with the Canadian Soccer Association and president Victor Montagliani.^[2]

In February 2016, the ownership group sought permission from Hamilton City Council to erect a dome over the Tim Hortons Field playing surface to allow for year-long activity, including soccer. When the Canadian Premier League was officially announced, it was revealed that Hamilton's club would be the flagship franchise.^[3]

On May 6, 2017, Hamilton was one of two cities accepted by the Canadian Soccer Association for professional club membership when the Canadian Premier League was unanimously approved.^[4]

Forge FC was officially unveiled as the league's sixth team on July 12, 2018. The club revealed its crest, colours and branding, as well as its place in the league for the 2019 launch season.^[5] The name was chosen to represent city's industrial heritage and forging ahead building its future.^[6]