Qantas Joeys open with narrow win - Full Report

The Qantas Joeys have kicked off the Asean Football Federation Youth Championship with a 2-1 win over Bahrain in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Qantas Joeys have kicked off the Asean Football Federation Youth Championship with a 2-1 win over Bahrain in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Victorian midfielder Kamal Ibrahim scored Australia's opening goal with NSW midfielder Jared Lum adding a second from the penalty spot.

The tournament also features teams Malaysia, Singapore and host nation Indonesia, with the tournament vital preparation for the AFC Under 16 Championship, which will be held in Uzbekistan in October.

It was a good start to the tournament, with Bahrain, who were invited to participate in the Championships, considered the next strongest team behind the favoured Australians.

But Australia had to do it the hard way, having to come from behind after Bahrain took the lead midway through the first half.

Newcastle Jets youngster Ben Kantarovski had the first chance for Australia, when he headed a free kick wide after 15 minutes.

But it was Bahrain that took the lead, when a free kick of their own was headed on and the Bahrain striker beat Robert Kolak one on one.

Australia though didn't take long to hit back when a through ball was played to Chahine Noujaim. He exchanged passes with Million Butshiire on the top of the box, who crossed and Ibrahim was able to score with an easy tap in.

Bahrain went close to taking the lead early in the second half when they struck the crossbar, while Australia had a number of half chances, mainly from free kicks.

With the game in the balance and looking destined for a draw, Australia pressed and with only three minutes to go, Brendan Hamill played a ball in behind the defence, which newly arrived substitute Kerem Bulut ran onto into the penalty box. Through on goal, Bulut was clipped from behind by the last defender, resulting in a penalty kick, which Lum coolly converted and gave Australia a valuable win.

Match Details

Qantas Joeys 2 (Kamal Ibrahim 34-, Jared Lum 87- pen) Bahrain 1

Australian line-up: Robert Kolak (GK); Trent Sainsbury, Petar Franjic, Brendan Hamill, Chahine Noujaim, Kamal Ibrahim, Jared Lum, Ben Kantarovski (Chris Bush 56-), Nikola Stanojevic, Joseph Costa (Ben Harrington 72-), Million Butshiire (Kerem Bulut 87-) Subs Not Used: Nathan Farrell, Lawrence Thomas (gk), Marc Warren, Tedros Yabio. Yellow cards: Ibrahim (90-)

Crowd: 200