Australian teams downed by Koreans
The Australian men’s and women’s football teams kicked off their respective campaigns at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival with narrow defeats against Korea in Sydney yesterday.
The Australian men-s and women-s football teams kicked off their respective campaigns at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival with narrow defeats against Korea in Sydney yesterday.
The women-s team had the honour of being the first team to compete across any of the 16 sports with an early morning start at Valentine Sports Park.
Korea held a two goal advantage courtesy of second half goals through So Yun Ji before Queensland striker Sophie Hogben scored a superb individual goal late in the match to reduce the arrears.
The 2-1 defeat marked the first international outing for the Australian U-17 women-s team who later this year will attempt to qualify for the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women-s World Cup to be held in New Zealand in 2008.
In the other match played today, Japan defeated China 4-2.
Australia will next meet Japan tomorrow afternoon while China will face Korea in the evening.
The women-s football tournament is for athletes under 16 years of age as at 1 January 2007.
The men-s team faced both a highly skilled opponent and extreme heat in the following match with an early goal eight minutes into the match from Bitgaram Yoon being the only difference between the teams.
The Australian team selected comprises Australian Institute of Sport scholarship athletes and today was captained by Sebastian Ryall who was part of last year-s Qantas Young Socceroo squad.
In the other match played today, Japan defeated China 5-0.
Australia will now meet Japan tomorrow evening with China to face Korea in the early match.
The men-s football tournament is for athletes under 18 years of age as at 1 January 2007.
For more information see the AYOF website:- http://www.olympics.com.au/ayof07
Women-s AYOF Football Tournament
Australia 1 (Sophie Hogben 88-) Korea 2 (So Yun Ji 51-, 74-)
Wednesday 17 January 2007, 8am Valentine Park, Sydney
Referee: Tara Milzewski
Australia: Casey Dumont, Danielle Calauti (Alisha Foote 33-), Vedrana Popovic, Melissa Redmond, Sophie Hogben, Kyah Simon, Emily Van Egmond (Alesha Clifford 45-), Samantha Spackman, Tameka Butt, Ella Mastrantonio (Elizabeth Sharpe 81-), Kirstyn Pearce Substitutes Not Used: Jenna Kingsley, Rhali Dobson, Samantha Wood, Stefania Cola
Yellow Cards: Ella Mastrantonio 34- Alesha Clifford 65-.
Korea: Ahreum Han, So Yun Ji, Yeun Kwon, Heeyoung Park (Hyunsu Mok 60-), Hyunyoung Lee, Eunji Choi, Dasom Kim (Minsun Lee 45-), Soojung Lee, Jihye Lim (Mira Moon 78-), Mina Shin, Hanna Lee
Substitutes Not Used: Hyunsook Seo, Kyung Yeon Koh, Ari Song, Boram Jung
Yellow Card: Heeyoung Park 51-
Men-s AYOF Football Tournament
Australia 0 Korea 1 (Bitgaram Yoon 8-)
Wednesday 17 January 2007, 10.30am Valentine Park, Sydney
Referee: Steven Gregory
Australia: Andrew Redmayne (gk), Luke Devere, Sebastian Ryall, James Holland, Laurence Braude (Peter Cvetanovski 62-), James Brown, Tahj Minniecon (Jason Naidovski 76-), Stefan Vrbesic (Dominic Gianpolo 85-), Isaka Cernak, Alex Sunasky, Marco Jesic Substitutes Not Used: Dane Milovanovic, Matthew Mullen, Richard Greer, Jerrad Tyson
Yellow Card: James Holland 47-
Korea: Seung Gyu Kim, Suk Young Yun, Min Woo Kim, Jong Eun Lim, Dong Cheol Kim, Beom Seok Cho (Yong Joon Lee 45-), Jin Soo Choi (Jung Hyun Kim 65-), Bitgaram Yoon, Chun Suk Bae, Jae Mun Seol (Bong Kyun Choi 73-), Jae Cheol Bak Substitutes Not Used: Sung Hwan Ju, Jae Suk Oh, Doyeon Hwang, Tae Hong Kim
Yellow Cards: Dong Cheol Kim 52-, Suk Young Yun 84-