Qantas Young Socceroos get a win and a loss
The Qantas Young Socceroos have kick-started their European Tour with two friendly matches against Dutch 1st Division teams De Graafschap and FC Twente U19 teams.
The Qantas Young Socceroos have kick-started their European Tour with two friendly matches against Dutch 1st Division teams De Graafschap and FC Twente U19 teams.
There was mixed results with the team losing 2-1 to De Graafschap in the first game, but winning the second game 2-0 against FC Twente.
Qantas Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen fielded two different starting eleven-s for the matches and the hit out was especially good for those players from Australia that have not played for several months.
“The idea of playing the two games today was to give all the players a full game and allowed me to see the players in a game situation,” Versleijen said.
“With the Terborg tournament only 2 days away the players needed a game especially the Australian based players who have not played since the end of the A-league season. There was a noticeable difference between the players who have been playing and those who haven't been."
The first match saw both teams create chances in the first half. De Graafschap took the lead in the 34th minute when a switch of play by Peter Cvetanovski was intercepted and the striker was quickly played through who neatly finished past Mark Birighitti to finish in bottom right corner.
Two minutes later though, it was all square again when Scottish-based midfielder Rocco Visconte raced down the left, beat defender and his cross hit the back post, deflecting back into the path of Brent McGrath to finish past keeper.
The game was decided in the final ten minutes, when from a corner, De Graafschap were the quickest to react and slam home, after Birighitti made an initial save
The second match saw the Qantas Young Socceroos grab an early two-goal initiative against FC Twente, thanks to a double from Bristol City's Robert Stambolziev.
The first goal came after 8 minutes when a corner by Aaron Mooy, was headed on by Nathan Elasi and Stambolziev was on hand to finish off.
Then in the 19th minute, Mooy and Mitch Nichols combined to set up Stambolziev, who made no mistake.
Match Details
De Graafschap 2 Qantas Young Socceroos 1 (Brent McGrath 36-)
Australian line-up: Mark Birighitti, Rhyan Grant, Dylan McGowan, Luke Brattan, Peter Cvetanosvki, Mitchell Nicholson, Kofi Danning, James Holland, Brent McGrath, Christos Tomaras (Sam Munro 68-), Rocco Visconte.
FC Twente 0 Qantas Young Socceroos 2 (Robert Stambolziev 8'/19-)
Australian line-up: Andrew Redmayne, Daniel Mullen, Luke DeVere, Ryan McGowan, Matthew Jurman, Aaron Mooy, Isaka Cernak (Tahj Minniecon h/t), Robert Stambolziev, Nathan Elasi, Mitch Nichols (Sam Munro 72-), Thomas Oar (Oliver Bozanic h/t)
The Qantas Young Socceroos will play in the Terborg Tournament which starts on Friday, with games against with matches against Valencia (Spain) and Feyenoord (Holland). The following day they will play Athletico Miniero (Brazil) and De Graafschap (Holland), with the finals on Sunday.