Melbourne Victory’s Sebastian Ryall and Victory Youth’s Milos Lujic both scored in the Qantas Young Socceroos’ 2-1 win against Jordan overnight, sending Australia through to the AFC U-19 Championship Quarter Finals in Saudi Arabia.
Melbourne Victory-s Sebastian Ryall and Victory Youth-s Milos Lujic both scored in the Qantas Young Socceroos- 2-1 win against Jordan overnight, sending Australia through to the AFC U-19 Championship Quarter Finals in Saudi Arabia.
Lujic and Ryall sealed the important win for the Qantas Young Socceroos, although a late goal from Jordan substitute Zaid Khalil provided an exciting finish to the match.
Australia broke the deadlock on 40 minutes when Lujic hit a stinging shot from the edge of the penalty area that clipped the left post and flew past Jordan goalkeeper Emad Feras.
Australia came close to doubling its lead shortly afterwards when Lujic played a ball through to Mitch Nichols, but the Queensland Roar midfielder was unable to trouble the goalkeeper.
Jordan continued to look for an equaliser in the second half, however it was Australia which scored again when Nichols was brought down in the penalty area by a rash Ibrahim Zawahreh challenge.
Ryall made no mistake from the spot to give the Qantas Young Socceroos two-goal buffer with 20 minutes remaining.
Jordan pulled a goal back on 82 minutes through substitute Zaid Khalil and although Jordan attacked strongly for the last ten minutes, the Qantas Young Socceroos defence held firm to record a win.
Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Jan Versleijen was pleased with the result and his team-s performance during the group stage of the tournament.
“Our goal was to top the group and we have achieved this,” Versleijen said.
“Jordan were a very difficult opponent who had some good passages of play but we also lost the ball a number of times too easily giving Jordan some chances.
“We now have 90 minutes of football to qualify for the World Cup and we need to focus on this and our Quarter Finals opponent DPR Korea as they will be a very tough opposition.”
The Qantas Young Socceroos will now play DPR Korea in the Quarter Finals on Saturday, 8 November.
Should the Qantas Young Socceroos defeat DPR Korea, not only will Australia progress to the Semi Finals of the AFC U-19 Championship, but it will also qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be held in Egypt next year.
