De Silva starting. Kid could have a very bright future. As for the match itself... Not confident. Colombia should be too good.
it ended up being a draw great performance though. to outplay the south american champions is a huge achievement for us. hopefully we can keep this level for the rest of the tournament de silva
I wouldn't say outplay, but probably match ed the Sth American champs, and thats better than I would have hoped in the past. Quintero (sp?) looks like he has a lot of class, although wasn't quite firing, but 16yo Da Silva or Brilliante would have been close to the best of the outfield players.
You guys really impressed me.. I hope you'll keep representing Asia well in the upcoming matches Good luck!
The match highlights are up on SBS: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/match/report/277400/Colombia-U20-vs-Australia-U20 I didn't realise they were televising it otherwise I would have stayed up for it. Shattered I missed it. The highlights show some really positive signs. We were pressing high. Well organised and our interplay was all class. Okon is immediately vindicated on the tough call to leave Amini and Antonis out of the squad.
Craig Foster having a stiffy over the performance: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/craig-foster/blog/1157038/Young-Socceroos-outplay-the-misconceptions He makes some good points. His writing is far too sentimental though.
Ant Antonis was in the squad but was injured in the last friendly before the tournament. Either way I don't think there could be any improvement to the midfield. We had a central midfield trio in that game that outplayed the midfield of the Sth American champs. Not outmuscled, out ran or out worked but outplayed!! I've never seen an Australian team do that.
What was the lineup? What formation did we play? Should we look at bringing anyone in the squad to the WC? I'd be interested in a player review if anyone is keen.
I'm typing on the phone so I can't do the traditional player ratings etc. We played a true 4-3-3, 2 DM's, one to break up the opposition play and receive the ball from the backline (Irvime) and the other more box to box to provide a real transition to attack (Brilliante) with the exciting Da Silva in front of them. They played to the wings and used Taggart up front to try and beat the offside trap more than as a target man to try and hold the ball up. In saying this the whole team interchanged positions through the game, the fullbacks overlapping and even the centre backs bring the ball forward when the opportunity came around. I can honestly only remember to balls hoofed forward through the whole game (not being cleared defensively) and both times where when the opposition fullbacks were out of position. Realistically they are too young to be brought in. No individual really shone on their own like Kewell did at that age back in the day. Da Silva was fantastic and give him a year or two (he has only just turned 16) and we could have a real talent on our hands. Galloway played well at left back, but despite our desperate need in that position, he would still be out of his depth IMO. Brilliante was, well brilliant in the playmaker DM role, and would be the closest to getting in the Socceroos IMO, but that position does need an older head at senior level. The whole backline played well, I really liked the look of Gemerio (sp?) at right back, but would still prefer we bring in the likes of Williams and Lowry to the squad first. Paine and Hoole were great on the wings, Hoole outplayed the Colombian LB who is apparently a big money transfer to AC Milan, and Paine was even better, but with Kruse and Oar those two positions aren't really available. Taggart upfront played well but so did the Colombian defenders, he had his timing slightly out and was caught offside a lot, but they were almost always close calls and if he had've got one right he was through and home. Overall the whole team seemed technically superior to there older counterparts, but not enough to discount their age/ inexperience. The best part though wasn't their individual skill but they way they played together. I kept thinking at the beginning "don't play around with it there" but then realised that this team has the ability and more importantly tactical knowledge and setup to be able to play the ball out from the back even under pressure. Can I include Okon to replace Holgrer as who I would bring into the Socceroos? I can't remember the last time I was so impressed with how as Australian team has played.
Hey thanks for the write up! That's all sounds really really positive. It's been awhile since we have had a group of young players perform so well against first class opposition. And playing the right way too. It's why I think it would be beneficial to have some of the most promising players brought into the WC squad. Not necessarily as first team but in the squad for the experience. Our depth doesn't look great anyway. But I'm probably getting ahead of myself
Yeah, for the WC I guess bringing in Da Silva similarly to how Milligan went to Germany in 06 - and if he is playing enough for Glory next year he may even prove himself good enough to earn at least a squad spot anyway. I am trying not to get too excited about one game as well though
I've already got the game vs El Salvador pencilled into my calendar. Too late not to get excited. Work is going to be painful on Thursday
Really wanted to catch this, but real life intervened (not unpleasantly). Very positive signs by the looks of it.
we're dominating them, brillante scored a great goal and they got a really scrappy goal on the other end but good to see we're controlling possession pretty easily
El Salvadore are defending deep which negates the effectiveness of Taggart and Da Silva, but we are still trying to thread the needle every time.