The Qantas Young Socceroos have finished their AFC U-19 Championship qualification campaign with a clinical 3-0 win over China PR at the MBPJ Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
The Qantas Young Socceroos have finished their AFC U-19 Championship qualification campaign with a clinical 3-0 win over China PR at the MBPJ Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
In hot and sunny conditions, the Qantas Young Socceroos turned on a clinical and professional display to finish the tournament with maximum points at the top of group G.
The Qantas Young Socceroos- intent was evident from the start as they set out to upset China-s rhythm. In the 3rd minute, Anthony Proia made a good run down the left wing and pulled the ball back for Terry Antonis who was not able to keep his side-foot shot from skying over the bar.
Antonis then turned provider and passed to Ryan Edwards whose fierce shot was somehow turned on to the post by Han Rongze in the China goal.
China-s midfield then began to link well with their lone forward, Wang Shangyuan, forcing the Qantas Young Socceroos goalkeeper, Jack Duncan, to make a good save to keep the scores level. However, the Qantas Young Socceroos midfield of Antonis, Edwards, Reece Caira and Jamie Maclaren were beginning to dominate their counterparts.
China were looking dangerous on the counter but the Qantas Young Socceroos continued to pressure the Chinese, and on one occasion Proia fed Maclaren whose shot went over the bar.
Just as it looked like the teams would go into the break scoreless, the Qantas Young Socceroos midfield produced a slick passing move that had become their trademark at this tournament. Maclaren finished off the move with a volley which Rongze could only catch well over the line.
The goal seemed to relax the Qantas Young Socceroos and at the beginning of the second half Head Coach Jan Versleijen brought on the speedy Liam Wooding to play on the right wing. China seemed to tire as the Qantas Young Socceroos continued to apply the pressure.
In the 48th minute China-s Li Songyi brought down Maclaren with a crude tackle and was penalised with a yellow card. From the free kick, Caira sent over a curling cross which was met by Maclaren. His strong header was finished off by Adam Taggart whose volley was unstoppable.
Shortly afterwards, Antonis and Maclaren both had good efforts saved, and in the 63rd minute Caira, Maclaren and Wooding combined in the best move of the game which resulted in Wooding passing the ball past Rongze to make the score 3-0 and the result very safe for the Qantas Young Socceroos.
In the final third of the match, the Qantas Young Socceroos played possession football and China was reduced to desperate and crude tackles.
In the 75th minute Songyi picked up his second yellow and was shown the red card, and in the 89th minute Sun Zhengao was dismissed for a dangerous sliding tackle on Corey Brown whose introduction by Versleijen caused the Chinese defence further headaches on the left flank.
In his final game in charge as Head Coach of the Qantas Young Socceroos, Versleijen was full of praise for his young team which he believes will only get better.
The Qantas Young Socceroos and China PR will now go forward to the AFC U-19 Championship 2012, which will serve as the qualifying event for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be held in the Turkey.
Match Details Qantas Young Socceroos 3 (Jamie Maclaren 39-, Adam Taggart 50-, Liam Wooding 63-) China 0 MBPJ Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tuesday 8 November 2011 Referee: Ko Hyung JIN (KOREA REPUBLIC) Assistant Referees: Yang Byoung EUN (KOREA REPUBLIC) & Ho Wai SING (HONG KONG) Fourth Official: TIMUR (KYRGYZSTAN) Crowd: 400
Qantas Young Socceroos line up: 18.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 2.Josh BRILLANTE (17.Jason GERIA 59-), 45.Daniel PETKOVSKI (5.Corey BROWN 74-), 3.Connor CHAPMAN, 4.Curtis GOOD (c), 6.Terry ANTONIS, 7.Jamie MACLAREN, 9.Adam TAGGART, 19.Reece CAIRA, 22.Ryan EDWARDS, 13.Anthony PROIA (44 Liam WOODING 46-).
Substitutes not used: 8.Jake BARKER-DAISH, 12.Nicholas MUNRO (gk), 28.Aaron LENNOX (gk), 16.Jesse MAKAROUNAS, 21.Tom KING, 26.Nicholas ANSELL, 30.James DONACHIE, 43.Allan WELSH,
Yellow Cards: Daniel Petkovski 20-, Anthony Proia 45-, Jack Duncan 58-.
Red Cards: Nil
China PR line up: 1.Han RONGZE (gk), 2.Sun ZHENGAO, 3.Shi KE (4.He GUAN 61-), 9.Wang SHANGYUAN, 11.Wu XINGHAN, 14.Li SONGYI, 15.Mi HAOLUN, 16.Chen ZHONGLIU (24.Qi TIANYU 82-), 17.Liu BIN BIN, 18.Wang TONG, 30.Zhuang JIAJIE (8.Xie PENGFEI 68-). Substitutes not used: 5.Wutikuer AISHAN, 7.Sun GUOWEN, 10.Luo SENWEN, 12.Jin BO, 19.Chen HAO, 20.Zheng DALUN, 26.Lin CHUANGYI, 31.Gao SHENG (gk), 41.Xu JIAMIN (gk).
Yellow Cards: Li Songyi 48-/75-, Mi Haolun 19-.
Red Cards: Li Songyi 75-, Sun Zhengao 89-.