Congratulations to the Under 17 Australian side (I refuse to call them the Joeys) for beating The Ivory Coast 2-1 in the U17 World cup in Mexico. Australia scored 2 well taken goals after going behind in the first half. The Ivory Coast went ahead in the 18th min after Tom King was punished for holding on to the ball too long in defense. However after half time Jesse Makarounes scored an excellent volley from about 25 yards out. In the 77th min Dylan Tombides scored from the edge of the box to seal the win. The Ivory Coast were the better of the two sides but the young Aussie’s managed to find a way to win. I hope Australia show some improvement over the the next two games. The first game can always be tricky no matter how good your players are. Even Spain lost their first game at the World Cup. The thing that people want to see from the youth sides is potential, while results are great we are building for the future with these players. So installing in them the method that we want to see in our senior sides must start here. So even if the Aussies are losing we don’t want to see them resorting to the long ball and rushed play. Playing composed and smart football is what I would like to see. Results are second in my opinion. Having said all that I won’t criticize this young team on the way they won this match. Australia coach, Jan Verleijen, knows his side were second best and will be looking for improvement from his boys in the next match. No easy task as Brazil are up next who beat Denmark 3-0 in their opening group match. The two side play on 23rd June.

If you would like to watch the young Australian’s play and you don’t have Fox or Sky or pay TV in general you can had over to myp2p.eu and click on: live sport -> football and select your game 🙂