Written by Thomas Esamie
| After the Socceroos took Scotland out for a spin the previous year the Rangers Youth team came to Australia to regain some pride and help the hometeam prepare for the Oceania qualifiers for the World Youth Cup. | ||||
| Played : January 9 | Venue : AIS Athletics Oval, Canberra | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Adrian Madaschi (Mark Byrnes 46 (Ivan Karlovic 82)), Ljubo Milicevic, Patrick Kisnorbo (Iain Fyfe 82), Daniel Vasilevski, Michael Ferrante, Luke Wilkshire (Aaron Goulding 74), Simon Catanzaro (Wayne Srhoj 46), Lucas Pantelis (Greg Owens 74), Joshua Kennedy (Nick Carle 74), Scott McDonald Goals : Ferrante 52pk, 65pk, Carle 89 |
3 | - | 0 | Rangers Youth Mark Brown, Robert Malcolm, Paul Reid, Andrew Dowie, Maurice Ross, Peter Leven, Paul McHale, Stephen Hughes, Carlos Ferrari, Lee Feeney (Stephen McLean 44), Stephen Carson |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) Referee : Con Diomis | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia Match Report by Warren Green | |||
| After the Socceroos took Scotland out for a spin the previous year the Rangers Youth team came to Australia to regain some pride and help the hometeam prepare for the Oceania qualifiers for the World Youth Cup. | ||||
| Played : January 16 | Venue : North Sydney Oval | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Ahmad Elrich (Daniel Vasilevski 79), Adrian Madaschi, Ljubo Milicevic, Patrick Kisnorbo, Jade North (Luke Wilkshire 61), Wayne Srhoj, Michael Ferrante (Lucas Pantelis 61), Greg Owens, Joshua Kennedy (Scott McDonald 62), Nick Carle (c) Goal : McDonald 66 |
1 | - | 0 | Rangers Youth Mark Brown, Robert Malcolm, Andrew Dowie, Maurice Ross (Ryan McCann 5 (Alex Wilkinson 73)), Peter Leven, Peter MacDonald, Paul McHale, Stephen Hughes, Carlos Ferrari (Iain Russell 74), Steven Dobbie (Steven McLean 68), Steven Carson (Graeme Smith 79) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS),
() Referee : Matthew Breeze | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| As final preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers the Young Socceroos went into camp at Coffs Harbour, where the senior side will begin their path to the World Cup a month later, against a local representative side. | ||||
| Played : February 7 | Venue : Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Patrick Kisnorbo, Aaron Goulding, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Wayne Srhoj (Luke Wilkshire 65), Michael Ferrante, Ahmad Elrich, Greg Owens (Grant Last 74), Daniel Vasilevski (Jade North 74), Kevo Gulesserian (Scott McDonald 65), Nick Carle (Joshua Kennedy 74) Goals : Owens 8, 33, Ferrante 11, 86pk, Gulesserian 29, 38, 43, 59, Carle 74 |
9 | - | 1 | Coffs Harbour XI Chris Edwards (Adrian Eddy 46), Leo DiCarlo, Curt Dixon (Tim Tristram 85), Andrew Mallett, Dave O'Donnell, Ben Mackay (Anthony Baston 85), Sam Mackay, Anthony Wiseman (Aaron Armstrong 46), Dane Dixon (Daniel Huesten 66), Greg Thomas, Clay Urquhart (Nathan Tyson 27) Goal : Thomas 52 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Match Report by Soccer Australia | ||||
| As final preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers the Young Socceroos went into camp at Coffs Harbour, where the senior side will begin their path to the World Cup a month later, against a local representative side. | ||||
| Played : February 9 | Venue : Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Patrick Kisnorbo, Aaron Goulding, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Grant Last (Wayne Srhoj 68), Luke Wilkshire, Jade North, Daniel Vasilevski, Joshua Kennedy (Kevo Gulesserian 68), Scott McDonald, Nick Carle (Greg Owens 68) Goals : Kennedy 9, 33, 61, McDonald 30, 52, 89, Carle 41pk, Wilkshire 43, 83, Gulesserian 75 |
10 | - | 0 | Coffs Harbour XI Adrian Eddy (Chris Edwards 71), Leo DiCarlo (Aaron Armstrong 22), Curt Dixon, Andrew Mallett, Dave O'Donnell, Anthony Wiseman, Dane Dixon, Greg Thomas, Clay Urquhart (Ben Mackay 21), Nathan Tyson (Sam Mackay 40), Troy Hanley |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Match Report by Soccer Australia | ||||
| Played : February 15 | Venue : Rarotonga, Cook Islands | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Patrick Kisnorbo, Mark Byrnes, Ahmad Elrich, Lucas Pantelis, Wayne Srhoj, Michael Ferrante (Grant Last 76), Greg Owens (Luke Wilkshire 62), Scott McDonald, Nick Carle (Kevo Gulesserian 76) Goals : Milicevic 12, Owens 15, McDonald 28, 39, 43, 52, 60, Ferrante 34pk, 53, 64, own goal 57, Carle 59, 62, Wilkshire 76, 90, Gulesserian 83 |
16 | - | 0 | Samoa (lineup unknown) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Played : February 17 | Venue : Rarotonga, Cook Islands | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, John McKain, Aaron Goulding, Ljubo Milicevic, Daniel Vasilevski, Luke Wilkshire, Grant Last (Nick Carle 79), Jade North, Greg Owens (Michael Ferrante 67), Joshua Kennedy, Kevo Gulesserian (Scott McDonald 67) Goals : Milicevic 12, 34, 40, Gulesserian 13, Owens 16, 37, Wilkshire 55pk |
7 | - | 0 | Tonga (lineup unknown) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Played : February 19 | Venue : Rarotonga, Cook Islands | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Mark Byrnes, Jon McKain, Patrick Kisnorbo, Wayne Srhoj, Ahmad Elrich, Michael Ferrante (Grant Last 65), Luke Wilkshire (Jade North 65), Lucas Pantelis, Nick Carle (c), Scott McDonald (Kevo Gulesserian 82) Goals : Pantelis 11, Kisnorbo 24, McDonald 39, Ferrante 42pk, Elrich 62, Carle 65 |
6 | - | 0 | Papua New Guinea (lineup unknown) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Played : February 21 | Venue : Rarotonga, Cook Islands | |||
| Cook Islands (lineup unknown) |
0 | - | 13 | Australia Michael Turnbull, Aaron Goulding, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Patrick Kisnorbo (Jon McKain 46), Michael Ferrante (Luke Wilkshire 46), Daniel Vasilevski (Ahmad Elrich 77), Greg Owens, Grant Last, Jade North, Kevo Gulesserian, Joshua Kennedy Goals : Owens 3, Kennedy 4, Gulesserian 23, 29, 46, 60, 76, 85, 87, 88, Ferrante 28, Last 34, Milicevic 67 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| The previously unbeaten Vanuatu and Australia met in the final group match, the winner going through to the playoff against the other group winner and the loser left to prepare for the next campaign. | ||||
| Played : February 23 | Venue : Rarotonga, Cook Islands | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Mark Byrnes, Ljubo Milicevic, Patrick Kisnorbo (Jon McKain 46), Wayne Srhoj, Ahmad Elrich, Michael Ferrante (Luke Wilkshire 67), Lucas Pantelis, Greg Owens, Nick Carle, Scott McDonald (Kevo Gulesserian 78) Goals : Ferrante 18, Carle 63, Elrich 73, Owens 80 |
4 | - | 0 | Vanuatu (lineup unknown) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Having made the two legged playoff the Australians lost to the Kiwis in, at least on this side of the Tasman, a shock result. Memories of the last Confederation Cup qualifiers flooded back. | ||||
| Played : February 28 | Venue : North Harbour Stadium, Auckland | |||
| New Zealand Adam Highfield, David Rayner, Darren Young, Andy Levick, Ben Sigmund (Jonathan Rowe 72), Tim Brown, David Mulligan (Wiremu Patrick 57), Chris Killen (c), Jeremy Christie, Terry Thou, Shane Smeltz Goals : Rowe 76, Killen 85 |
2 | - | 1 | Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Mark Byrnes (Jon McKain 82), Ljubo Milicevic (c), Patrick Kisnorbo, Wayne Srhoj, Ahmad Elrich, Luke Wilkshire, Lucas Pantelis, Greg Owens (Michael Ferrante 75), Nick Carle (Joshua Kennedy 88), Kevo Gulesserian Goal : Gulesserian 21 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) Crowd : 4560 | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia do it narrowly but manage another guaranteed appearance at the next World Youth Cup. | ||||
| Played : March 4 | Venue : International Sports Centre, Coffs Harbour | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Mark Byrnes, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Adrian Madaschi, Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj, Michael Ferrante (Joshua Kennedy 46), Greg Owens, Lucas Pantelis (Jade North 69), Nick Carle (Luke Wilkshire 91), Scott McDonald Goals : Owens 37, Milicevic 80, McDonald 101 |
3 asdet | - | 1 asdet | New Zealand Adam Highfield, David Rayner, Darren Young, Andy Levick, Ben Sigmund (Wiremu Patrick 58), Tim Brown, Jonathan Rowe (Rhoordri Payne 76), Chris Killen (c), Jeremy Christie, Terry Thou, Shane Smeltz Goal : Killen 17 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia participated in the East Asia games and faced Japan, and will do so again in the World Cup in a months time. | ||||
| Played : May 21 | Venue : Osaka, Japan | |||
| Japan lineup unknown |
0 | - | 1 | Australia Michael Turnbull, Jon McKain, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Patrick Kisnorbo, Ahmad Elrich (Daniel Vasilevski 76), Gareth Edds (Louis Brain 60), Wayne Srhoj, Luke Wilkshire, Lucas Pantelis, Joshua Kennedy, Greg Owens (Franco Parisi 46') Goal : Kennedy 44 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Australia participated in the East Asia games and faced Guam, who had earlier been easily beaten by Japan. | ||||
| Played : May 23 | Venue : Osaka, Japan | |||
| Australia Brad Jones, Jon McKain, Ljubo Milicevic (c) (Patrick Kisnorbo 46), Gareth Edds, Ahmad Elrich (Greg Owens 67), Michael Ferrante, Daniel Vasilevski, Louis Brain, Jade North, Franco Parisi, Joshua Kennedy (Joey Di Iorio 77') Goals : Ferrante 7, Brain 12, 48, Parisi 57, Kennedy 64, North 90 |
6 | - | 0 | Guam lineup unknown |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Match Report by Soccer Australia | ||||
| Australia ensured their spot in the final against Japan with this win over Kazakhstan. | ||||
| Played : May 25 | Venue : Japan | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Daniel Vasilevski, Ljubo Milicevic (c), Patrick Kisnorbo, Gareth Edds (Jon McKain 74), Wayne Srhoj, Lucas Pantelis, Michael Ferrante (Ahmad Elrich 62), Greg Owens, Franco Parisi (Louis Brain 61), Joshua Kennedy Goals : Ferrante 29pk |
1 | - | 0 | Kazakhstan lineup unknown |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Australia now faces Japan, again, in the final. At this rate you could call it a local derby. | ||||
| Played : May 27 | Venue : Osaka, Japan | |||
| Japan lineup unknown Goals : ?? 30, ?? 83 |
2 | - | 1 | Australia Michael Turnbull, Jon McKain, Ljubo Milicevic, Patrick Kisnorbo, Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj, Lucas Pantelis (Jade North 58), Greg Owens (Michael Ferrante 76), Louis Brain, Joshua Kennedy, Franco Parisi (Joey Di Iorio 72) Goal : Parisi 37 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Australia participated in a small warm up event before the start of the World Cup. It appears there was a match against Chile as well as Canada and Egypt, details of this match elude us. | ||||
| Played : June 7 | Venue : Santiago, Chile | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Mark Byrnes, Patrick Kisnorbo, Ljubo Milicevic, Gareth Edds, Wayne Srhoj, Ahmad Elrich, Kevo Gulesserian (Scott McDonald 75), Joshua Kennedy, Nick Carle (Louis Brain 80), Lucas Pantelis (Daniel Vasilevski 75) Goals : Gulesserian 37, Edds 81, Kennedy 89 |
3 | - | 0 | Canada (lineup unknown) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia participated in a small warm up event before the start of the World Cup. The Young Socceroos were taken to a penalty shoot-out directly after full-time, to determine the Champion of the tournament, the Egyptians taking the series 5-4. | ||||
| Played : June 9 | Venue : Santiago, Chile | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Mark Byrnes, Adrian Madaschi, Ljubo Milicevic, Ahmad Elrich, Daniel Vasilevski (Lucas Pantelis 78), Wayne Srhoj (Louis Brain 85), Greg Owens (Nick Carle 70), Gareth Edds (Luke Wilkshire 70), Joshua Kennedy, Scott McDonald (Kevo Gulesserian 85) Goal : Madaschi 44 |
1 | - | 1 | Egypt (lineup unknown) Goal : ?? 29pk |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia had a final hit out against a local club side prior to the World Cup itself. | ||||
| Played : June 14 | Venue : | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull (Jess Vanstrattan 46), Mark Byrnes, Ljubo Milicevic (c) (Patrick Kisnorbo 46), Adrian Madaschi, Lucas Pantelis, Gareth Edds, Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj (Luke Wilkshire 70), Nick Carle, Joshua Kennedy (Kevo Gulesserian 46), Scott McDonald (Greg Owens 70) Goals : Edds 20, Carle 82 |
2 | - | 0 | Central Cordoba (lineup unknown) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | ||||
| Australia began their World Youth Cup campaign against Japan and while the other teams in the group managed a 0-0 draw Australia took full points from their game. | ||||
| Played : June 18 | Venue : Coloso Stadium, Rosario, Argentina | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Mark Byrnes, Ljubo Milicevic (c) (Patrick Kisnorbo 86), Adrian Madaschi, Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj, Greg Owens (Luke Wilkshire 69), Gareth Edds, Daniel Vasilevski, Scott McDonald (Nick Carle 82), Joshua Kennedy Goals : Haneda 59og, Owens 69 |
2 | - | 0 | Japan Yosuke Fujigaya, Shohei Ikeda (Yutaka Tahara 61), Sota Nakazawa, Kenji Haneda (c), Yuichi Komano, Takeshi Aoki, Kazuyuki Morisaki, Naohiro Ishikawa, Koji Yamase, Ryoichi Maeda (Koji Morisaki 79), Kazunori Iio (Hisato Sato 55) |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia continued their World Youth Cup campaign but stuck trouble against the Czech Republic leaving them needing to get some sort of result against Angola. | ||||
| Played : June 21 | Venue : Club Atletico Newell's Old Boys, Rosario, Argentina | |||
| Australia Michael Turnbull, Mark Byrnes, Adrian Madaschi, Patrick Kisnorbo, Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj (c), Greg Owens (Kevo Gulesserian 72), Gareth Edds (Luke Wilkshire 50), Lucas Pantelis (Daniel Vasilevski 63), Scott McDonald, Joshua Kennedy |
0 | - | 3 | Czech Republic Petr Cech, Tomas Hubschman (c), Martin Lestina, Radek Sirl (Jaroslav Sedivec 46), Michal Macek (Tomas Pesir 68), Tomas Glos, Martin Zivny, Jan Polak, Petr Musil, Tomas Jun, Pavel Besta Goals : Musil 27, Jun 30, Macek 47 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) Crowd : 1200 | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia snuck a drw and went through to the round of 16 as one of the best 3rd place getters in the group stage. Their prize? A match against Brazil. In the other match Japan beat the Czechs 3-0. | ||||
| Played : June 24 | Venue : Club Atletica Newell's Old Boys, Rosario, Argentina | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Mark Byrnes, Patrick Kisnorbo, Adrian Madaschi, Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj (c), Louis Brain (Greg Owens 46), Gareth Edds, Daniel Vasilevski, Nick Carle (Kevo Gulesserian 66), Joshua Kennedy (Scott McDonald 54 (sent off 74)) Goal : Owens 82pk |
1 | - | 1 | Angola Lama, Manuel, Nelsinho, Kikas, Dedas, Chinho (Vemba 79), Mantorras, Gilberto (c) (Riquinho 32), Castigo, Lolo (Rascas 58), Mateus Goal : Mantorras 12 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) Crowd : 3500 | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||
| Australia bowed out of the World Youth Cup after being outclassed by the Brazilians. | ||||
| Played : June 27 | Venue : Chateau Carreras, Cordoba, Argentina | |||
| Australia Jess Vanstrattan, Mark Byrnes, Adrian Madaschi, Patrick Kisnorbo (Jon McKain 82), Ahmad Elrich, Wayne Srhoj (c), Luke Wilkshire, Gareth Edds, Daniel Vasilevski, Nick Carle (Kevo Gulesserian 61), Joshua Kennedy (Greg Owens 58) |
0 | - | 4 | Brazil Rubinho, Maicon, Edu Dracena (c), Marquinhos (Santos 85), Eduardo, Pinga, Fernando, Adriano, Robert (Oliveira 76), Luizao, Kaka (Baptista 78) Goals : Adriano 27, 66, Kaka 53, Eduardo 74 |
| Coaches : Ange Postecoglou (AUS) Crowd : 7895 | ||||
| Squad Listing | Match Report by Soccer Australia | |||