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Mexico teach Australian under-17s a lesson [Tue Sep 20th, 2005]
Australia have been knocked out of the FIFA U-17 World Championship after suffering a 3-0 defeat against Mexico in Peru.
Mexico dominated Australia for lengthy periods in the first half and were two goals to the good by the interval, hitting the net after 20 minutes through Omar Esparza and then on 43 minutes via the boot of Carlos Vela. A second goal for Vela and the third for Mexico in the 79th minute effectively ended the contest.
"We started slowly today and allowed the Mexicans to get on top early," said National youth coach Ange Postecoglou. "The players didn’t maintain possession and dropped our heads when we went behind."
"The second half was a better showing by the guys but by then we were chasing the game, which is always difficult, especially against quality opposition such as Mexico."
The highly-rated Mexican side, considered one of the tournament favourites, also have amongst their ranks a likely star player for the tournament in Giovani Dos Santos. The talented striker, who plays his football with Spanish giants Barcelona, provided the vital pass to set up both goals in the first half.
Despite the scoreline the Australians came back into the contest in the second half, forcing Mexican goalkeeper Sergio Arias to make several saves.
Firstly subsitiute Daniel Miller laid on a pass for Nathan Burns, who narrowly failed to connect at the far post.
Burns then went on a scintillating 50-metre run only to have his shot blocked by Arias, with Robbie Kruse driving the follow-up over the crossbar from outside the penalty area.
Captain Kaz Patafta struck a firm shot that was tipped over the crossbar, but it was Mexico that scored the final goal of the game, with Vela putting away a rebound after Alex Vrteski had blocked dos Santos' close-range shot.
Australian lineup: Alex Vrteski; Jamie Cumming, David D’Apuzzo (Matthew Park 76’), Wade Oostendorp, Matthew Spiranovic, Joel Allwright, Robbie Kruse, Kaz Patafta (c), Nathan Burns, Scott Jamieson (Daniel Miller 39'), Leigh Broxham (Matthew Mullen h/t)
Cautions: Cumming 10', Jamieson 16', Spiranovic 16', Oostendorp 56', D'Apuzzo 65', Patafta 78'
Australia will play their final match against Uruguay on Thursday (Friday morning Australian time).
The other Group B match played later in the day saw Turkey defeat Uruguay 3-2, which combined with Australia's narrow loss to Turkey three days ago, ensured that the team could not reach the quarter-final stage of the 16-team tournament.
Meanwhile in Group A, China defeated the host nation Peru 1-0 thanks to Zhuoxiang Deng’s 13th-minute goal – Dalei Wang was sent off deep into injury time – while Ghana and Costa Rica drew 1-1.
And the trio of Australian match officials at the tournament - referee Mark Shield and assistant referees Ben Wilson and Nathan Gibson - will control their second match at the tournament. They have been assigned to the Group C match between Italy and USA, having already looked after Saturday's Group D match between Holland and Qatar.
Group A table
Team P W D L F A +/- Pts
China PR 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 4
Costa Rica 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 2
Ghana 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 2
Peru 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1
Group B table
Team P W D L F A +/- Pts
Mexico 2 2 0 0 5 0 5 6
Turkey 2 2 0 0 4 2 2 6
Uruguay 2 0 0 2 2 5 -3 0
Australia 2 0 0 2 0 4 -4 0
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