Qantas Under 23 breeze past Chinese Taipei
The Qantas Under 23’s can look forward to extending its run in the 2008 Olympic qualifiers after breezing past Chinese Taipei 11-0 in the first leg of their qualifying play-off tie at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide.
The Qantas Under 23-s can look forward to extending its run in the 2008 Olympic qualifiers after breezing past Chinese Taipei 11-0 in the first leg of their qualifying play-off tie at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide.
The two teams will fly to Taipei tomorrow for the return leg, although Australia advancing to the next round of qualifiers is a mere formality, after the crushing win in the first leg.
Melbourne Victory midfielder Kristian Sarkies led the way on the goalscoring front, with a four-goal haul, while Sydney FC defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley added a double. Captain Mark Milligan, Nathan Burns, Bruce Djite, Robert Cornthwaite and Dario Vidosic also got their names on the scoresheet.
Australia led 3-0 at the break, before adding a further eight goals in the second half, including a five-goal blitz in the final 12 minutes.
The match start off on the right note though, with Topor-Stanley receiving a yellow card literally at the opening whistle after a crude tackle on his Chinese Taipei opponent.
But Australia soon got into their stride and it was Milligan, who led from the front, by claiming the first goal after just seven minutes.
Three minutes it was 2-0, as the impressive Djite laid the ball through for his Adelaide United team mate Nathan Burns, who made no mistake.
However for the rest of the half, the goals were hard to come by, despite a flurry of chances. Djite hit the post in the 35th minute and it wasn-t until right on half time that Australia made it 3-0. Chinese Taipei keeper Lu failed to hold Djite-s shot and Sarkies was on hand to stroke home the rebound.
Djite excellent display was rewarded with goal soon after half time, shooting home from the corner of the penalty box.
Topor-Stanley grabbed his first goal in the 62nd minute and that was quickly followed by Sarkies second goal two minutes later, this time perfectly executing a 25-metre free kick.
Lifting a gear, Australia now was attacking relentlessly and it was no surprise that the goal blitz came, as the Chinese Taipei players tired.
Topor-Stanley made it 7-0 in the 78th minute; Cornthwaite 8-0 in the 81st minute; Sarkies with his hat-trick on 84 minutes and then a fourth in the 89th minute.
Vidosic rounded off the scoring right on full-time, giving new FFA Technical Director and Qantas Under 23 coach Rob Baan his first win.
The 11-0 scoreline was just one-goal shy of the record score at that level by Australia, which was achieved against Vanuatu in 1996.
Match Details
Australia 11 (Mark Milligan 7-, Nathan Burns 10-, Kristian Sarkies 45-/64-/84-/89-, Bruce Djite 48-, Nikolai Topor-Stanley 62-/78-, Robert Cornthwaite 81-, Dario Vidosic 90-) Chinese Taipei 0
Australian line-up: Danny Vukovic (gk); Ruben Zadkovich, Mark Milligan, Adrian Leijer (Robert Cornthwaite 72-), Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Stuart Musialik (Leigh Broxham 46-), Kristian Sarkies, Spase Dilevski, Nathan Burns (Dario Vidosic 63-), Bruce Djite, David Williams Subs Not Used: Adam D-Apuzzo, Ben Griffin, Ben Kennedy (gk), Vince Lia Unavailable: Mark Bridge, David Micevski, Billy Celeski (all injured)
Cautions: Topor-Stanley 1-
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)