The Qantas Joeys have progressed to the Quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship 2012 after defeating Oman 2-1 in Tehran.
The Qantas Joeys have progressed to the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship 2012 after defeating Oman 2-1 in Tehran.
Josh MacDonald gave the Qantas Joeys the lead in 16th minute when he successfully got on the end of an Alex Gersbach corner.
Hatem Sultan equalised from the penalty spot for the Omani-s early in the second half.
Qantas Joeys captain James Baldacchino scored the winner for his team three minutes from full-time to secure a valuable three points and progression to the next round of the competition.
Qantas Joeys head coach Alistair Edwards was very proud of his team in what was arguably their best performance of the tournament so far.
“This was a very exciting game for all to see and the first half was our best performance of the tournament so far,” Edwards said.
“With the lead at half-time, we knew that Oman would come out strong at the start of the second half and for the first 20 minutes we had weather a tough storm.
"Midway through the second half we made some tactical changes to get control of the midfield and they paid off as we took back control of the match.
“James-s winning goal was well worked and a just reward for our efforts in the lead up.
“Looking towards our next match, even though both teams have qualified for the quarter-finals, we still want to finish on top of the group and that is how we will approach the game,” Edwards said.
In the other group B match Iraq defeated Thailand 2-0.
The Qantas Joeys will meet Iraq in their final group B match on Wednesday 26 September with the winner set to meet the second placed team from Group A and second place in Group B to face the winner of Group A.
The top two teams from each group of the AFC U-16 Championship 2012 will progress to the knockout stage (quarter-finals) and the four winners of the quarter-finals will then play in the semi-finals with the winners advancing to the final.
The semi-finalists will also automatically qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup which will be held in the United Arab Emirates in late 2013.
Match Details Oman 1 (Hatem Al-Rushadi 52-(pen)) Qantas Joeys 2 (Josh MacDonald 16-, James Baldacchino 87-) Rah Ahan Stadium, Tehran, IR Iran Monday 24 September 2012
Referee: YOUSEF TH Y TH ALMARZOUQ (KUWAIT) Assistant Referees: FARES ALSHAMMARI (KUWAIT) & AZMAN BIN ISMAIL (MALAYSIA) Fourth Official: VALENTIN KOVALENKO (UZBEKISTAN) Crowd: 100
Oman: 3.Yousuf Obaid Khassaf AL-SAADI (C), 4.Said Ali Hashil Suwaid AL MUKHALLADI , 5.Issam Abdul Majeed RAMADHAN, 6.Isehaq Salim Khalfan AL-MAQBALI , 8.Marwan Taaib Marhoon MUBARAK, 10.Khalid Ismail Khamis AL-HARRASI (18.Abdulrahman Saleh Said AL SAADI 68-), 11.Samir Saleh Thuwaini AL-ALAWI , 12.Faris Ali Khalfan AL-GHAITHI (gk), 14.Rasheed Eid Harub AL-MUSHEIFRI, 15.Ayoub Saleh Ahmed AL-SHEZAWI, 17.Hatem Sultan 'Abdallah AL-RUSHADI
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Bilal Jalal Mahrab AL BALUSHI (gk), 2.Saad ALMUKHAINI, 7.Ali Khalifa Ali AL SIYABI, 9.Khalid Ali Ibrahim AL BALUSHI, 16.Qadhafi AL-MAHRUQI, 19.Mubarak Khaleef Mubarak AL-ALAWI, 20.Zakriya 'Abdullah Ali AL-OBEIDANI, 21.Mohammed Saleh Said AL-YAHMADI, 22.Ibrahim Saleh Ibrahim AL-MUKHAINI (gk), 23.Omar AL-ISHAQI,
Yellow Cards: Rasheed Eid Harub AL-Musheifri 90+1-
Qantas Joeys: 1.Andre JANNESE (gk) ,3.Aaron CALVER ,4.Jack IREDALE ,5.James BALDACCHINO (C) ,8.Kevin LY ,9.Joshua MACDONALD ,10.Daniel DE SILVA ,11.Alex GERSBACH ,13.Rocco PIZZATA (14.Matthew STEWART 66-),19.Taylor TOMBIDES (7.Steve KUZMANOVSKI 64-),20.Hyuga TANNER (6.Liam ROSE 70-)
Substitutes Not Used: 2.Darcy MADDEN, 12.Jordan THURTELL (gk),15.Matthew SCHMIDT,16.Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS,17.Bai ANTONIOU,18.Lucas SPINELLA (gk),21.Jordan PUDLER, 22.Todd NORRIS, 23.Lukas STERGIOU
Yellow Cards: Matthew Stewart 90-