Written by Thomas Esamie
| To start out their World Youth Cup preparations the Young Socceroos arranged to play 2 practice (hence the plethora of subs) matches against their South Koran counterparts. | ||||
| Played : February 22 | Venue : | |||
| Australia Tynan Scope (Martin Johns 46), Travis Dodd, Michael Santalab (Matthew Langdon 46), Adrian Cuzzuppe (Michael Cunico 46), Eddy Bosnar, Paul Wearne, Paul Reid, Christian Care (David Terminello 46), Ivan Ergic, Joel Griffiths, Daniel Watkins Goals : Ergic, Griffiths |
2 | - | 3 | South Korea (lineup unknown) Goals : scorers unknown |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) Referee : Brett Hugo | ||||
| Played : February 25 | Venue : | |||
| Australia Goals : |
x | - | x | South Korea (lineup unknown) Goals : scorers unknown |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) Referee : | ||||
| In what was described as an "odd" move the Australians went into camp in the Netherlands to prepare for the World youth championships in Nigeria, basing themselves in Delden. A series of matches against local club sides ensued. | ||||
| Played : March 16 | Venue : Netherlands | |||
| Heracles lineup unknown |
0 | - | 2 | Australia Anthony Breaden, Eddy Bosnar, Simon Colosimo (Paul Wearne 68), Mark Byrnes, Danny Invincibile, Lindsay Wilson, Brett Ermerton, David Terminello (Jason Culina 53 (Mile Sterjovski 73)), Marco Bresciano, Joel Griffiths (Christian Care 78), Michael Cunico Goals : Griffiths 6, Bresciano 51 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) | ||||
| The matches continued and so did the wins. | ||||
| Played : March 18 | Venue : Boekelo, Netherlands | |||
| FC Twente lineup unknown |
0 | - | 2 | Australia Anthony Breaden, Eddy Bosnar (Paul Wearne 85), Mark Byrnes, Michael Cunico, Lindsay Wilson (David Terminello 45), Brett Ermerton, Jason Culina, Vincent Grella, Marco Bresciano (Danny Invincibile 84), John Maisano, Mile Sterjovski (Christian Care 42) Goals : Emerton 11, Maisano 58 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) | ||||
| The matches continued the winning stopped. | ||||
| Played : March 23 | Venue : Waalwijk, Netherlands | |||
| RKC Waalwijk lineup unknown Goal : unknown 33 |
1 | - | 1 | Australia Anthony Breaden, Eddy Bosnar (Mark Byrnes 68), Simon Colosimo, Michael Cunico, Lindsay Wilson, Brett Ermerton (Christian Care 80), Jason Culina, Vincent Grella, Marco Bresciano (David Terminello 58), John Maisano, Mile Sterjovski (Danny Invincible 58) Goal : Colosimo 89 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) | ||||
| This was Australia's second last warm up game. | ||||
| Played : March 25 | Venue : Rotterdam, Netherlands | |||
| Feijenoord lineup unknown |
0 | - | 3 | Australia Michael Turnbull, Lindsay Wilson (Paul Wearne 45), Michael Cunico, Eddy Bosnar, Mark Byrnes, Danny Invincibile, Vincent Grella (Marco Bresciano 67), Christian Care, David Terminello, John Maisano (Jason Culina 67), Mile Sterjovski (Brett Emerton 75) Goals : Sterjovski4, Bosnar 18, Cunico 80 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) | ||||
| This was Australia's last warm up game. | ||||
| Played : March 27 | Venue : Arnhem, Netherlands | |||
| Vitesse Arnhem lineup unknown |
0 | - | 2 | Australia Anthony Breaden, Lindsay Wilson, Simon Colosimo, Eddy Bosnar, Michael Cunico, Brett Emerton, Vincent Grella, Jason Culina, Marco Bresciano, Danny Invincibile, John Maisano Goals : Colosimo 27, 62 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS) | ||||
| Australia got off to a solid start in their first group game but the late consolation goal scored by the Saudis proved very costly indeed. | ||||
| Played : April 4 | Venue : Ibadan, Nigeria | |||
| Australia Anthony Breaden, Brett Emerton, Lindsay Wilson (David Terminello 69), Simon Colosimo, Eddy Bosnar, Jason Culina, Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, John Maisano (Joel Griffiths 80), Mile Sterjovski (Christian Care 84) Goals : Culina 29, Maisano 72, Al Garni 77og |
3 | - | 1 | Saudi Arabia Mabrouk Zaid, Fouzi Al Shehri (Ahmed Albari 74), Bandr Al Mutairi, Tariq Omar, Saleh Al Saqri, Saad Al Shehri, Mohamad Dabo, Bader Al Hagbani (Fahad Al Subaie 46), Omar Al Garni, Fahad Al Zahrani, Abdulrahman Al Abeah (Talal Al Abdulaziz 80) Goal : Dabo 91 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS),
Pieter Hamberg (KSA) Referee : Gustavo Mendez Gonzales (Uruguay) Assistant Referees : Yuri Rafael Pineda Fuentes (Peru), Miguel Giacomuzzi Gotze (Paraguay) Attendance : 2000 | ||||
| A pathetically defended free kick started the rot for Australia and a missed penalty utterly ruined any hopes Australia may have had of rescuing something from the game. | ||||
| Played : April 7 | Venue : Ibadan, Nigeria | |||
| Australia Anthony Breaden, Brett Emerton, Lindsay Wilson, Simon Colosimo, Eddy Bosnar, Jason Culina, Vince Grella (David Terminello 62), Mark Bresciano (Danny Invincible 62), John Maisano (Joel Griffiths 46), Mile Sterjovski, Michael Cunico Goal : Sterjovski 45+ |
1 | - | 3 | Mexico Christian Martinez, Mario Mendez, Oscar Yaroslav Mascorro, Rafeal Marquez, Carlos Adrian Morales, Gerardo Torrado, Jose Alejandro Nava (Jose de Jesus Mendoza 67), Cesareo Victorino (Luis Ignacio Gonzales 75), Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Daniel Osorno (Rodolfo Pacheco 89), Eduardo Rodriguez Goals : Marquez 2, JP Rodriguez 58pk, Osorno 83 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS),
Jesus del Muro Lopez (MEX) Referee : Carlos Eugenio Simon (Brazil) Assistant Referees : Brighton Mudzamiri (Zimbabwe), Yuri Rafael Pineda Fuentes (Peru) Attendance : 500 | ||||
| The 3 consecutive 'early' games and Scheinflug's reluctance to change the lineup to rest players combined with a sharp Irish team to completely outclass the Aussis and send them packing....on goal difference. | ||||
| Played : April 10 | Venue : Ibadan, Nigeria | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Brett Emerton, Lindsay Wilson, Simon Colosimo, Eddy Bosnar, Jason Culina (Danny Invincible 46), Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, John Maisano (Christian Care 46), Mile Sterjovski, David Terminello (Joel Griffiths 69) |
0 | - | 4 | Republic of Ireland Dean Delaney, Thom Heary, Jason Gavin, Barry Quinn (Garry Crossley 84), Stephen McPhail, Robbie Keane (Richie Baker 79), Damien Duff, Colin Healy, Richie Sadlier (Ryan Casey 68), Paul Donnolly, Barry Ferguson Goals : Sadlier 20, Duff 73, Healy 74, Crossley 90 |
| Coaches : Les Scheinflug (AUS),
Brian Kerr (IRL) Referee : Serguey Shmolik (Byelorussia) Assistant Referees : Pedro Simao (Angola), Brighton Mudzamiri (Zimbabwe) Attendance : 800 | ||||
| Match Report by tc@zip.com.au Match Report by wilsong@uq.net.au Match Report by David Arnold | ||||