Sydney FC midfielder Terry Antonis scored a thumping 35m strike as the Qantas Young Socceroos fell 2-1 to Uzbekistan in their opening match of the AFF U19 Tournament at Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last night.
Sydney FC midfielder Terry Antonis scored a thumping 35 metre strike as the Qantas Young Socceroos fell 2-1 to Uzbekistan in their opening match of the AFF U19 Tournament at Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last night.
Antonis opened the scoring in the 35th minute when he surged through the midfield and hit a cracking right footed strike that gave the Uzbekistan Goalkeeper, Amanov Asilbek, no chance, as the ball rocketed into the top right corner of the goal.
Antonis was joined in the starting line up by fellow Sydney FC youngster Daniel Petkovski while Hagi Gligor was also a second half substitute in the match.
The second half saw the Qantas Young Socceroos continue to dominate play and create a number of chances but couldn-t convert any to extend their lead which allowed Uzbekistan to stay in the match.
Uzbekistan equalised in the 78th minute when Abdul Aziz made the most of a cross from Muratov Azizbek.
Just when the match seemed destined to end in a draw, Uzbekistan scored the winner in the 90th minute when Abdumuminov Jahongir headed in a cross to seal the points.
Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Paul Okon was disappointed with the missed chances and final result, but was pleased with parts of his team-s performance.
“The players did well on a heavy pitch,” Okon said. “We scored a great goal in the first half and created a number of other half chances and in the last 15 minutes of the first half we really got on top of them.
“We started the second half in the same way by dominating the play but we missed a number of chances. That is the lesson we learnt today by not taking our chances against a good opposition.”
In the other match of the tournament, IR Iran defeated host nation Vietnam 2-1.
The Qantas Young Socceroos will face Vietnam in their next match of the tournament on Tuesday (4 September).
Uzbekistan 2 (Abdul Aziz 78, Abdumuminov Jahongir 90) d Australia 1 (Terry Antonis 35)
Qantas Young Socceroos line-up: Nick Munro (gk), Jason Geria, Connor Chapman, Daniel Petkovski, Corey Brown,, Reece Caira (Luke O-Dea 84-), Terry Antonis (c), Adam Taggart, Ben Garuccio (Riley Woodcock 54-), Mitch Cooper, Brandon O-Neill (Hagi Gligor 74-)
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