Matildas lose Joeys win.

A very Young Matildas side were thrashed 5-0 by China, and the Australian boys Under 17 side, The Joeys beat Bahrain 2-1. Canberrans Amy Chapman, Chris Bush and Ben Harrington all got game time for their respective sides. Match reports below from the FFA.

Matildas lose their rhythm in Tianjin

The Australian women's football team, the Matildas, were defeated 0-5 by Olympic Games hosts China, in Tianjin overnight.

China, which is aiming to be amongst the medallists in the Olympic Games women's football competition on their home turf, took the lead in the 7th minute when Han Duan struck low and hard from the edge of the box against the run of play.

Zhang Ying doubled China’s lead in the 22nd minute with a well taken volley after Han Duan had made a break down the right and supplied a pin-point cross.

Shortly after the break China extended their lead when the Chinese Captain Li Jie converted a penalty following an obvious infringement in the box.

Soon after the hour mark, Matildas captain Kate McShea had an attempt from the edge of the box but the Chinese keeper was able to block the shot to deny Australia a goal. Shortly after, Kyah Simon came close to scoring, but her shot hit the post and bounced out.

Xu Yuan added China’s fourth goal with 10 minutes remaining after pouncing on a mis-cleared ball and followed up with a strike from the right edge of the box. Yuan then claimed her second goal of the evening with a solid shot in the 87th minute to seal a 5-0 victory.

Matildas coach Tom Sermanni was disappointed with the result.

“The result highlighted the fact we're just not a cohesive unit at this point in time. It also highlighted the different stages for both teams,” said Sermanni after the match.

"China is deep in preparation for the Beijing Olympics, and we are not and a number of our more experienced players did not travel on this short trip.

“Our inexperience was also highlighted by the inconsistency in our performances, we had a good game the other night but could not back it up tonight.

“Having said that, I was extremely disappointed with some of the errors we made; errors you wouldn't expect from even a much younger side. I was also extremely disappointed in our limited mental toughness and concentration. This is probably the weakest we have performed in these two areas.

“We have to regroup now and start preparing for Saturday’s match against New Zealand,” concluded Sermanni.

The Matildas now return to Australia to face the New Zealand 's 'Football Ferns' on Saturday (12 July 2008) at North Sydney Oval (Kick-Off 12:00pm AEST) in what will be Di Alagich's final international match.

-ends-

Match Details
China PR 5 (Han Duan 7’, Zhang Ying 22’, Li Jie 48’ (pen), Xu Yuan 80’/87’)
Australia 0
Wednesday 9 July 2008
Tianjin Olympic Stadium Auxiliary Field, Tianjin, China
Crowd: 1000

Australia line-up: 1.Melissa Barbieri (gk), 2.Kate McShea (Captain), 3.Karla Reuter (24. Servet Uzunlar 62’), 6.Amber Neilson (22. Ellen Beaumont 62’), 8.Caitlin Munoz, 13.Amy Chapman (5.Renee Rollason 81’), 14.Clare Polkinghorne (10.Leena Khamis 81’), 16.Lauren Colthorpe, 17.Kyah Simon, 19.Kim Carroll (25. Brooke Spence 62’), 20.Joanne Burgess (15.Victoria Balomenos 81’).

Substitutes Not Used: 18.Lydia Williams (gk).

Next Fixture:
Matildas v New Zealand
Saturday 12 July 2008 (Kick-Off Time 12:00pm)
North Sydney Oval, North Sydney, NSW, Australia

Qantas Joeys Open Tournament with Victory over Bahrain

The Qantas Joeys have come from a goal behind to defeat Bahrain 2-1 in their opening match of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Under 16 Youth Championships in Jakarta overnight.

Bahrain opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Sayed Dhiya Saeed beat Qantas Joeys goal keeper Robert Kolak in a one-on-one situation.

Kamal Ibrahim then equalised for the Qantas Joeys in the 34th minute with a tap in from close range after being set-up by Million Butshiire.

After the half-time break both teams looked for a winner with Bahrain coming the closest when Ali Habib Ali hit the crossbar, whilst the Qantas Joeys had a number of free kicks around the box that they were unable to capitalise on.

With the match seemingly destined to end in a draw, Qantas Joey Kerem Bulut was fouled in the box by Sayed Hashem Adnan Mahfood. Jared Lum converted the resulting penalty to give the Qantas Joeys an important victory.

In the other match of the evening Malaysia defeated Singapore 2-0.

The Qantas Joeys play the host nation Indonesia in their next match of the AFF Under 16 Youth Championship on Friday 11 July 2008 (kick-off 8.30pm AEST).

-ends-

Match details
Qantas Joeys 2 (Kamal Ibrahim 34’, Jared Lum 87’(pen))
Bahrain 1 (Sayed Dhiya Saeed 20’)
Wednesday 9 July 2008
Lebak Bulus Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia
Referee: Palaniyandi Pandian (Singapore)
Crowd: 200

Qantas Joeys: Robert Kolak (gk), Trent Sainsbury, Petar Franjic, Brendan Hamill, Chahine Noujaim, Kamal Ibrahim, Jared Lum, Benjamin Kantarovski (Christopher Bush 56’), Nikola Stanojevic, Joseph Costa (Benjamin Harrington 72’), Million Butshiire ( Kerem Bulut 87’).

Substitutes Not Used: Nathan Farrell, Trent Sainsbury, Lawrence Thomas (gk), Marc Warren, Tedros Yabio.

Yellow Cards: Kamal Ibrahim 90’.

Red Cards: Nil



QANTAS JOEYS SQUAD
ASEAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
UNDER 16 YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS
INDONESIA 2008
7-19 July 2008

Kerem Bulut (NSW), Christopher Bush (ACT), Million Butshiire (WA), Joseph Costa (SA), Nathan Farrell (SA), Petar Franjic (VIC), Brendan Hamill (NSW), Benjamin Harrington (ACT), Kamal Ibrahim (VIC), Benjamin Kantarovski (NSW), Robert Kolak (gk) (NSW), Jared Lum (NSW), Chahine Noujaim (SA), Trent Sainsbury (WA), Nikola Stanojevic (NSW), Lawrence Thomas (gk) (NSW), Marc Warren (NSW) and Tedros Yabio (VIC).

For more information about the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under 16 Youth Championships – Indonesia 2008, please visit www.aseanfootball.org


DATE MATCH NOMATCHTIMEVENUE
09 July 08
(Wednesday) 1 Australia 2:1Bahrain 1500Lebak Bulus Stadium
2 Singapore Malaysia 1830
11 July 08
(Friday) 3 Bahrain VsSingapore 1500Lebak Bulus Stadium
4 Indonesia VsAustralia 1830
13 July 08
(Sunday) 5 Australia VsMalaysia 1500Lebak Bulus Stadium
6 Indonesia VsBahrain 1830
15 July 08
(Tuesday) 7 Singapore VsAustralia 1500Lebak Bulus Stadium
8 Malaysia VsIndonesia 1830
17 July 08
(Thursday) 9 Malaysia VsBahrain 1500Lebak Bulus Stadium
10 Indonesia VsSingapore 1830
19 July 08
(Saturday) 11 3rd PositionVs4th Position1500Lebak Bulus Stadium
12 (Final) Group Champion VsGroup R-up 1830

All kick off times are local
Adam Mark