'YOUNG PLAYERS DON'T NECESSARILY CRAVE TO PLAY FOOTBALL'

Anthony Caceres says the next generation of young Australian players need to be encouraged to hone their technical skills and play as much football as possible.

The Sydney FC midfielder has made more than 100 appearances in the A-League for the Mariners, Melbourne City and the Sky Blues.

Caceres spent his youth days with Marconi FC and grew up in a football-dominated house with a Uruguayan father.

The 27-year-old would practise in the backyward with his dad, play small-sided games with his friends after school, as well as futsal and organised club matches on weekends.

He said the modern generation now has a lot more opportunity and technology at hand, which can prove to be a distraction away from football.

"The biggest challenge is that there's so much opportunity in this country that young players don't necessarily crave to play football 24/7," he told the Football Culture: Local & Global podcast.

"There's a lot of technology and maybe they're not with the ball as often as they should be to develop that side of their game, the technical side of the game. Obviously that needs to be encouraged as much as possible.

"You look at kids abroad, in South America or the Japanese or whatever, they're constantly with the ball at their feet improving their game.

"I see these days a few young players coming through who do have some good ability on the ball, we have Marko Tilio at Sydney FC who's tidy with both feet and we have to encourage him to believe in himself and believe that he has it what to takes to execute his game in the top level in this country.

"We need to encourage those sort of players and hopefully they can lead the way in the future."

To improve, Caceres says kids need to spend as much time with a football as possible.

"That was my biggest hobby growing up - kicking the ball up against the wall, or even at the dinner table I'd have a ball at my feet," he said.

"To improve technically you just have to spend a lot of time in the backyard, with your family, your old man or your siblings and just kicking the ball around."

The midfielder had a season with Al-Wasl in the Middle East in 2017 and says he does want to test himself abroad again.

"Eventually I'd love to go and play in Uruguay," he admitted.

"I'm a massive supporter of Nacional and the club is a massive part of my family. For me to play there would mean the world to my old man and the rest of my family. That's top of my list, that's the dream.

"I guess if something else came up abroad it would be something I would always think about because to experience a different culture and a different way of life is something that really interests me, not just on the pitch but off it also... but as long as I'm in Australia, Sydney FC is where I want to be."