The Qantas Young Socceroos have been defeated 2-3 by Costa Rica in their second match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 at the Estadio Palogrande in Manizales tonight.
The Qantas Young Socceroos have been defeated 2-3 by Costa Rica in their second match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 at the Estadio Palogrande in Manizales tonight.
Although it was a much improved performance in comparison to the 1-1 draw against Ecuador, the Qantas Young Socceroos were unable to contain Costa Rica-s Joel Campbell. Campbell scored twice in the first half and contributed with an assist for Costa Rica-s winning goal.
Going into the match, Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen made two changes to the line-up that started against Ecuador with Brendan Hamill coming in for Dylan McGowan and Terry Antonis in for Mustafa Amini.
The Qantas Young Socceroos started the match well, testing the Costa Rica defence twice in the opening 11 minutes. Kofi Danning-s shot in the third minute of the match from a tight angle went inches wide before Dimitrios Petratos perfectly executed pass was met by Kerem Bulut but Bulut-s shot was saved by the outstretched leg of the Costa Rican goalkeeper, Mauricio Vargas.
Bulut went close once again in the 18th minute, charging into the box before firing a dipping shot that went just over the bar. However, against the run of play, Costa Rica took the lead in 22nd minute. A costly turnover in midfield resulted in Campbell running with the ball into the penalty box. Campbell cut inside his defender before slipping in a shot beyond the reach of Qantas Young Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Birighitti.
But there was hope for the Qantas Young Socceroos when they equalised four minutes later. A long throw-in from Rhyan Grant found Bulut on the six yard box. Bulut-s flick-on header was touched by Tommy Oar for him to score his second goal of the tournament.
Australia-s celebrations were short lived as Costa Rica regained the lead a minute later from the restart. A cross from the right was met with a perfectly executed volley by Campbell to put Costa Rica 2-1 ahead at half time.
After the break, the Qantas Young Socceroos came close to equalising in the 53rd minute. Antonis- cross from the right was once again met by Oar. His flick on managed to elude Vargas but hit the post and bounced back into play.
Mustafa Amini and Bernie Ibini-Isei were introduced to the match in the 59th minute and the substitution paid dividend immediately as the Qantas Young Socceroos equalised again soon after their involvement in the game. Ibini-Isei managed to cut inside his defender on the left wing before executing a shot which forced Costa Rican defender Francisco Calvo to put the ball into his own net.
With 25 minutes to go, the match opened up as both teams look for the win. The goal gave the Qantas Young Socceroos momentum as they looked more likely to get the winner. However, in the 72nd minute, Australia found themselves behind for the third time in the match. A Campbell corner was met by John Ruiz-s header at the near post to score his second goal of the tournament and Costa Rica-s third for the night.
The Qantas Young Socceroos had one final chance in the 77th minute but Tommy Oar-s free kick from 30 yards was parried away by Vargas. In the end, Costa Rica managed to hang on to the one goal advantage to record their first win of the tournament.
After the match, Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen lamented the mistakes his team made today which effectively gave Costa Rica the win.
“This is a very disappointing loss, though we played a very good game,” said Versleijen.
“We were naive in certain parts of the game. If you make those kind of mistakes at this level, you will be penalised for that and that is what we faced today.
"We created some good chances, we scored good goals, but if you give away the goals, like we did today, at this level, you can never win the game.
“I think Costa Rica took the opportunities and in a certain way we gave them the opportunities, especially the first goal. That definitely made it more difficult for us.
Looking towards the Qantas Young Socceroos final group match against Spain, Versleijen is very aware of job ahead for his team.
“You must have hope. You have three games in the pool and from three games, you must have four points to qualify. We know now what our target is and that is to win against Spain.”
“So we have no other choice than find a game plan where we will be able to get a good result against Spain,” concluded Versleijen.
In the other group C match Spain qualified for the Round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Ecuador.
The Qantas Young Socceroos will play their final Group C match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 against Spain on Saturday 6 August (kick-off 5pm local, 8am AEST Sunday 7 August).
The top two teams from each of the groups and the four third placed teams with the highest number of points will then progress to the round of 16 (9 & 10 August). The Quarter-Finals will be played on 13 & 14 August, Semi-Finals on 17 August with the Final and 3rd/4th place play-off on Saturday 20 August.
The Qantas Young Socceroos matches and the Semi-Finals and Final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 will be broadcast live on SBS TV (see www.sbs.com.au for broadcast details).
Match Details: Qantas Young Socceroos 2 (Tommy Oar 26-, Francisco Calvo og 64-) Costa Rica U-20-s 3 (Joel Campbell 22-/27-, John Ruiz 72-) FIFA U-20 World Cup - Group C Wednesday 1 August Estadio Palogrande, Manizales Referee: Robert SCHOERGENHOFER (AUT) Assistant Referees: Alain HOXHA (AUT) & Mario STRUDL (AUT) Fourth Official: Abdulrahman ABDOU(QAT) Crowd: 10, 132
Qantas Young Socceroos line-up: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 2.Rhyan GRANT, 4.Trent SAINSBURY, 5.Marc WARREN, 6.Ben KANTAROVSKI (c) (17.Sam GALLAGHER 72-), 7.Kofi DANNING (19.Bernie IBINI-ISEI 59-) , 8.Terry ANTONIS, 9. Kerem BULUT, 11.Tommy OAR, 15.Brendan HAMILL, 21.Dimitrios PETRATOS (10.Mustafa AMINI 59-)
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Dylan MCGOWAN, 12. Nick FEELY (gk), 13.Matthew FLETCHER, 14. Corey GAMEIRO, 16.Petar FRANJIC, 18.Matthew ACTON (gk), 20.Jake BARKER-DAISH
Yellow Cards:Kerem Bulut 31-, Ben Kantarovski 71-
Red Cards: Nil
Costa Rica line-up: 1. Mauricio VARGAS (gk), 2. Jordan SMITH, 4. Ariel CONTRERAS, 6. John RUIZ, 7. Mynor ESCOE, 8. Juan GOLOBIO (21. Pablo MARTINEZ 74-), 10. Joel CAMPBELL (14. Vianney BLANCO 89-), 11. Bryan VEGA (12. Diego CALVO 62-), 17. Yeltsin TEJEDA (c), 20. Francisco CALVO
Substitutes Not Used: 3. Keyner BROWN, 5. Rafael CHAVEZ, 9. Joshua DIAZ, 13. Kevin BRICENO, 16. Ariel SOTO, 18. Aaron CRUZ, 19. Deyver VEGA
Yellow Cards: Yeltsin Tejeda 54-, Mynor Escoe 76-
Red Cards: Nil