Australia national under-20 soccer team

Australia under-20
Nickname(s) Young Socceroos
Association Football Federation Australia
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Head coach Paul Okon
FIFA code AUS
First colours
Second colours
First international
Australia Australia 9–0 Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea
(New Zealand; 11 November 1978)
Biggest win
Australia Australia 16–0 Samoa Samoa
(Rarotonga, Cook Islands; 15 February 2001)
Biggest defeat

Australia Australia 0–4 Brazil Brazil
(Córdoba, Argentina; 27 June 2001)
Australia Australia 1–5 Spain Spain
(Manizales, Colombia; 6 August 2011)

Australia Australia 1–5 Vietnam Vietnam
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 7 October 2013)

The Australia national under-20 soccer team represents Australia in international under-20 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Federation Australia (FFA), which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) since leaving the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. The team's official nickname is the Young Socceroos.

Australia is a twelve-time OFC champion and three-time AFF champion. The team has represented Australia at the FIFA U-20 World Cup tournaments on fifteen occasions.

History

2006 AFC U-19 Championship

In their first foray into Asia in 2006 the team lost the quarterfinals of the AFC Youth Championship, to South Korea,[1] despite being considered one of the stronger teams. This was the first time the Young Socceroos had failed to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup since 1989. Subsequently on 5 February 2007 the FFA decided not to renew Ange Postecoglou's contract as head coach,[2] he was replaced by former Socceroo, and current AIS head coach of soccer, Steve O'Connor.[3]

2008 AFC U-19 Championship

On 24 June 2008 Jan Versleijen was appointed as the new U-20 coach ahead of the 2008 tournament, with the FFA eager to avoid a repeat of 2006, and qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.[4] In preparation for the tournament, Australia competed in the 2008 ASEAN Youth Championships in Thailand alongside China, Korea Republic and Thailand.[5] A competition which they ultimately won through a penalty shoot-out against Korea Republic.[6] The 2008 AFC U-19 Championship was hosted by Saudi Arabia. Australia topped Group D with wins over Thailand and Jordan and a 1–1 draw with Uzbekistan. Australia then needed an extra time winner from Mitch Nichols to overcome North Korea in the quarter final before losing 3–0 to UAE in the semi-final. However, by making it through to the semi-final was enough to qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Australia qualified for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt after finishing in the final four of the 2008 AFC U-19 Championship. A late James Holland penalty meant Australia lost their opening game to Czech Republic 2–1 before Costa Rica defeated the 'Young Socceroos' 3–0. In the final group game against Brazil, Aaron Mooy gave Australia an early lead however the final result saw Brazil win 3–1 and the Australians eliminated without a point.

2010 AFC U-19 Championship

To qualify for the tournament, Australia travelled to Bandung, Indonesia in November 2009 for the qualification group and proceeded after finishing second in a group of six nations. Wins over Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Singapore proceeded a 0–0 draw with the hosts, Indonesia and a loss to Japan.

Australia competed in the 2010 AFC Under 19 Championship Finals held in Zibo, China.[7]

The tournament was held from 3 to 17 October 2010 in Shandong province. The matches were played at the Zibo Sports Complex Stadium and Linzi Stadium.

Wins over Yemen and Iran followed by a 0–0 draw with South Korea meant Australia topped the group on goal difference. In the quarter final against United Arab Emirates, Australia twice lead before UAE equalised and took the game to extra time. Two extra time goals for Australia set up a semi-final with Saudi Arabia which Australia won 2–0 thanks to a Kerem Bulut double. The final was played on 17 October 2010 against North Korea. Despite leading in the first half, Australia couldn't hold on and lost the final 3–2. Kerem Bulut was the tournaments top scorer with 7 goals. Australia qualified for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in Colombia.

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Australia qualified for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia after finishing in the final four of the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship. Australia were drawn in a group comprising Spain, Ecuador & Costa Rica.

Australia failed to progress out of the group after finishing last with one point. The first fixture resulted in a one all draw with Ecuador after Tommy Oar scored a late equaliser. The next game saw Costa Rica defeat Australia 3–2. In the final game against Spain, Australia was down by four goals after just 18 minutes. In the 27th minute Kerem Bulut grabbed a goal back before Spain made it 5–1 with a 31st-minute penalty. This was to be the final score.

2012 AFC U-19 Championship

To participate in the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship the Young Socceroos first had to qualify. The confederation was geographically separated and Australia was grouped with other East Asian nations, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Macau. These five nations met in Malaysia in November 2011 and Australia proceeded through the group by winning all four games, scoring 20 goals and conceding just 1.

The 2012 AFC U-19 Championship was hosted by United Arab Emirates in November. Australia were seeded for the tournament along with the hosts and South Korea and North Korea. Australia's opening game was against Qatar. The only goal of the game came in the 11th minute for Australia when Corey Gameiro scored. Gameiro was on the scoresheet in both of the following group games when his 81st-minute equaliser against Syria and his 91st-minute equaliser against Saudi Arabia meant both games finished 1–1. The critical late goal to Saudi Arabia meant Australia not only proceeded on to the next stage at the expense of the Saudis, but also topped the group.

Australia took on Jordan in the quarter final and it was Gameiro scoring all three goals in a 3–0 win that put Australia through to the semi final and secured qualification to the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. Two second half goals to Iraq meant Australia were eliminated from the tournament. Gameiro's six goals was one short of the top goalscorer award.

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Paul Okon[8] coached Australia in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey where they failed to win a game despite scoring the first goal in all 3 fixtures. Daniel De Silva gave Australia the lead before Colombia levelled the game at 1–1. Joshua Brillante scored early prior to El Salvador scoring twice before halftime and Jamie Maclaren scored in the 52nd minute but again Australia couldn't hold on with the hosts, Turkey scoring twice. These results mean Australia has failed to win in any of their last 13 U-20 World Cup fixtures with the last victory coming over Brazil on 4 December 2003.

2014 AFC U-19 Championship

Australia started the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship campaign by participating in the qualfiers in October 2013. They travelled to Malaysia where they were joined by Vietnam, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei. Mongolia had withdrawn. The first game was an easy 7–0 win over Hong Kong. Peter Skapetis scored four goals. They then defeated Chinese Taipei 3–0 before a humiliating 5–1 loss to Vietnam. Despite this, Australia were to proceed to the finals tournament as one of the best second placed teams.

The 2014 AFC U-19 Championship was hosted by Myanmar in October 2014. Paul Okon again was head coach of the Young Socceroos for the tournament. The opening game was against United Arab Emirates. Brandon Borrello gave Australia a late lead but an 85th-minute penalty to the UAE saw the score end in a draw.[9] The second match was a 1–0 win over Indonesia through a Jaushua Sotirio goal. The final group game had Australia leading Uzbekistan in the 66th minute thanks to Stefan Mauk. However an 82nd-minute equaliser would prove devastating for Australia as this, and the result in the concurrent game placed UAE, Uzbekistan and Australia all on five points with Australia having the inferior goal difference and hence elimination from the tournament. Many observers sighted Australia's lack of desire to score more goals against Indonesia as the contributing factor to the elimination. Australia failed to qualify for the New Zealand 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. This is just the second time since 1989 that Australia hasn't competed in the biennial event.

2016 AFC U-19 Championship

Australia has qualified for the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship to be held in Bahrain during October 2016. In the qualifiers hosted by Laos, they finished runner-up in their group and qualified on goal difference as one of the five best second placed teams. Comfortable wins over Philippines and Laos were followed by a heavy 3–0 loss to Japan. Steve Kuzmanovski finished as Australia's top scorer with three goals. This will be the sixth consecutive U-19 Championship that Australia has qualified for.

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship qualification on 2–6 October 2015.[10] Caps and goals correct as of 7 October 2015.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Tom Glover (1997-12-24) 24 December 1997 6 0 England Tottenham Hotspur
12 1GK Jordan Holmes (1997-05-08) 8 May 1997 5 0 England A.F.C. Bournemouth
18 1GK Daniel Margush (1997-11-28) 28 November 1997 0 0 Australia Adelaide United
2 2DF Thomas Deng (1997-03-20) 20 March 1997 7 0 Australia Melbourne Victory
3 2DF Conor O'Toole 2 0 Australia Brisbane Roar
5 2DF Daniel Alessi (C) (1997-08-26) 26 August 1997 14 0 Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
13 2DF Caio De Godoy 0 0 Australia Newcastle Jets
14 2DF Alex Gersbach (1997-05-08) 8 May 1997 5 0 Norway Rosenborg
22 2DF Patrick Flottman (1997-04-19) 19 April 1997 0 0 Australia Blacktown City
23 2DF George Timotheou (1997-07-29) 29 July 1997 1 0 Australia Blacktown City
6 3MF Liam Rose (1997-04-07) 7 April 1997 8 0 Australia Central Coast Mariners
7 3MF Lachlan Roberts 2 0 Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
8 3MF Brandon Wilson 1 0 England Burnley
10 3MF Dejan Pandurevic (1997-01-16) 16 January 1997 3 1 Australia Manly United
15 3MF Adam Berry 1 0 Australia Central Coast Mariners
16 3MF George Mells (1997-07-23) 23 July 1997 3 1 Australia Adelaide United
19 3MF Liam Youlley (1997-02-20) 20 February 1997 8 0 Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
21 3MF Alusine Fofanah (1997-11-21) 21 November 1997 8 3 Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
24 3MF Cameron Devlin 1 0 Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
4 4FW Mario Shabow (1998-05-05) 5 May 1998 3 1 Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
11 4FW Nicholas D'Agostino (1998-02-25) 25 February 1998 2 1 Australia Brisbane Roar
32 4FW William Mutch 2 0 Australia Blacktown Spartans
46 4FW Steve Kuzmanovski (1997-01-04) 4 January 1997 7 4 Australia Melbourne City

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last 12 months and remain eligible for selection.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Thomas Heward-Belle (1997-03-11) 11 March 1997 1 0 Australia Central Coast Mariners v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
DF Perry Fotakopoulos (1998-09-06) 6 September 1998 1 0 Australia FFA Centre of Excellence v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
MF Jordon Lampard (1997-04-10) 10 April 1997 1 0 Australia Brisbane Roar v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
DF Benjamin Lyvidikos 1 0 Australia Brisbane Roar v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
DF Liam McGing 1 0 Australia Sydney United 58 v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
MF Daniel De Silva (1997-03-06) 6 March 1997 19 2 Netherlands Roda JC v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
MF Anthony Kalik (1997-11-05) 5 November 1997 4 0 Croatia Hajduk Split v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
MF Jesse Daley 1 0 Australia Melbourne Victory v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
MF Lachlan Hughes (1997-06-11) 11 June 1997 3 0 Australia Sydney FC v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
MF Charles Lokoli Ngoy 0 0 Australia Sutherland Sharks v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
FW George Blackwood (1997-06-04) 4 June 1997 7 1 Australia Sydney FC v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
FW Daniel Arzani (1999-01-04) 4 January 1999 5 0 Australia Sydney FC v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015
FW Lucas Derrick 4 0 Australia Melbourne Victory v.  Brazil, 27 May 2015

Recent results and fixtures

Records

Players with most appearances

As of 3 June 2012
Players in bold are still available for selection.
# Name Caps Goals
1 Tommy Oar 33 4
1 Mark Birighitti 33 0
3 Kofi Danning 30 3
4 Matthew Jurman 26 0
5 Ben Kantarovski 25 2
5 James Holland 25 5
7 Andrew Redmayne 24 0
7 Craig Moore 24 0
7 Scott McDonald 24 16
7 Dylan McGowan 24 4

Players with most Goals Scored

As of 23 June 2013
Players in bold are still available for selection.
# Name Goals Caps
1 Mark Viduka 32 20
2 Scott McDonald 16 24
3 Kostas Salapasidis 13 14
4 Kevork Gulesserian 12 12
5 Kerem Bulut 10 14
5 David Williams 10 12
7 Nick Carle 9 16
7 Jamie Maclaren 9 16
8 Ante Milicic 8 12
8 Michael Ferrante 8 10
8 Greg Owens 8 15

Competitive record

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 World Cup record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
Tunisia 1977 Did not participate
Japan 1979
Australia 1981 Quarterfinals 7th 4 1 2 1 6 6
Mexico 1983 Group stage9th 3 1 1 1 4 4
Soviet Union 1985 Round 1 11th 3 0 2 1 2 3
Chile 1987 Round 1 12th 3 1 0 2 2 6
Saudi Arabia 1989 Did not qualify
Portugal 1991 4th Place 4th 6 5 0 1 6 3
Australia 1993 4th Place 4th 6 3 0 2 8 9
Qatar 1995 Quarterfinals 7th 4 1 1 2 6 6
Malaysia 1997 Round of 16 10th 4 2 1 1 5 4
Nigeria 1999 Group stage18th 3 1 0 2 4 8
Argentina 2001 Round of 16 16th 4 1 1 2 3 8
United Arab Emirates 2003 Round of 1610th 4 2 1 1 6 5
Netherlands 2005 Group stage20th 3 0 2 1 2 5
Canada 2007 Did not qualify
Egypt 2009 Group stage23rd 3 0 0 3 2 8
Colombia 2011 Group stage21st3 0 1 2 4 9
Turkey 2013 Group stage21st 3 0 1 2 3 5
New Zealand 2015 Did not qualify
South Korea 2017 To be determined
Total 15/20 0 Titles 53 18 13 22 61 85

OFC U-20 Championship

OFC U-20 Championship record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
French Polynesia 1974 Did not participate
New Zealand 1978 Champion 1st 3 3 0 0 16 2
Fiji 1980 Runners-up 2nd 3 2 0 1 7 3
Papua New Guinea 1982 Champion 1st 4 4 0 0 15 4
Australia 1985 Champion 1st 5 5 0 0 20 4
New Zealand 1986 Champion 1st 4 3 1 0 16 1
Fiji 1988 Champion 1st 4 4 0 0 16 3
Fiji 1990 Champion 1st 4 4 0 0 22 0
French Polynesia 1992 Did not participate
Fiji 1994 Champion 1st 5 5 0 0 29 0
French Polynesia 1997 Champion 1st 4 4 0 0 25 1
Samoa 1998 Champion 1st 5 5 0 0 23 2
Cook IslandsNew Caledonia 2001 Champion 1st 7 6 0 1 50 3
FijiVanuatu 2003 Champion 1st 4 4 0 0 23 0
Solomon Islands 2005 Champion 1st 5 5 0 0 46 5
Total 13/15 12 Titles 57 54 1 2 308 28

AFC U-19 Championship

AFC U-19 Championship record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
India 2006 Quarter finals 7th 4 2 0 2 6 4
Saudi Arabia 2008 Semi finals 3rd 5 3 1 1 6 6
China 2010 Runners-up 2nd 6 4 1 1 15 6
United Arab Emirates 2012 Semi finals 4th 5 2 2 1 6 4
Myanmar 2014 Group Stage 9th 3 1 2 0 3 2
Bahrain 2016 Group Stage TBD 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 6/6 0 Titles 18 10 4 4 30 18

AFF U-19 Youth Championship

AFF U-19 Youth Championship record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
Malaysia 2006 Champion1st330080
Vietnam 2007 Did not enter
Thailand 2008 Champion1st321052
Vietnam 2009 Runner-up2nd5221114
Vietnam 2010 Champion1st321062
Myanmar 2011 Did not enter
Vietnam 2012 Third place3rd310266
Indonesia 2013 Withdrew
Vietnam 2014 Group stage5th200235
Laos 2015 Withdrew
Vietnam 2016 To be determined
Total 6/11 3 Titles 19 10 4 5 39 19

References

External links

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