Young Socceroos romp into final

With Australia already guaranteed a place in the final due to the earlier game between Korea Republic and Thailand ending in a nil-all draw, the players put on their best performance against a Vietnamese team searching for a draw that would have booked its passage into the final.

With a large vocal crowd still getting to their seats, 17-year-old Mustafa Amini opened the scoring for the Young Socceroos in the opening minute after Nikola Stanjevic played a tremendous ball into the box for Sunderland striker Matthew Fletcher to flick the ball to an onrushing Amini.

Amini then lobbed the ball over his opponent before hitting a sweet half volley past the advancing Vietnam goalkeeper Tran Buu Ngoc.

With the wet and muddy pitch conditions due to an earlier downpour making it difficult for both teams, Australia still managed to move the ball around effectively before finding space in behind the Vietnam defence with timely runs from Mathew Leckie and Benjamin Halloran.

Fletcher looked right at home in the conditions and was causing the Vietnamese defence all sorts of problems holding the ball up effectively and bringing his teammates into the game with deft touches.

The Young Socceroos extended its lead in the 14th minute when Leckie found himself unmarked on the back post to head home from a well rehearsed Sam Gallagher corner from the right.

Vietnam was looking dangerous on the counter-attack and in the 21st minute Mathew Acton, getting his first start for the tournament in goal, produced a stunning reflex save from a one-on-one situation with Le Quoc Phuong.

Halloran then made sure the Australians went into the break with a comfortable 3-nil lead with a goal of sheer quality.

Following some neat one touch passing between Steven Lustica, Amini and Gallagher, the ball was switched across the field to Fletcher who, after making a great run in behind the Vietnam defence, glided past two defenders before slotting a pass to Halloran in the box.

Halloran then sent Tran Buu Ngoc the wrong way with a stepover and placed the ball calmly into the empty goal to silence the large group of vocal supporters.

Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen, with the final in mind, made two changes at the interval bringing on 16-year-old AIS midfielder Ryan Edwards for Leckie and Theodore Markelis for Amini.

Both players had an instant impact on the game, charging at the Vietnam defence and linking up well with Fletcher.

Vietnam had a good spell midway through the second half thanks to the midfield pairing of captain Ngo Hoang Thinh and Nguyen Tan Tai.

In the 56th minute Vietnam was awarded a free-kick just inside the Australian half due to a late tackle on Ngo Hoang Thinh.

From the resulting shot Acton found himself collecting the ball from the back of the net thanks to a wicked deflection from the Vietnamese landing straight to Nguyen Van Thanh, who slammed the ball into the far right corner.

Australia was soon to restore its three-goal lead when, in the 73rd minute Halloran collected the ball on the left, cut inside and switched it out to the right where Edwards had made a great run in behind his defender.

Edwards then whipped a first-time inch perfect cross to the head of the onrushing Eli Babalj, who had come on as a replacement for Fletcher, to power past the Vietnamese keeper.

For the remainder of the game the young Australian players were in complete control conjuring up more chances against a deflated Vietnamese team.

Kantarovski, McGowan and Hollaran were again outstanding. Acton and Fletcher, starting for the first time in the tournament put in eye -catching performances and the team's youngsters Amini and Edwards continued to show great promise.

"We won in 2008 from a penalty shoot out against South Korea, last year we lost to Thailand in a penalty shootout after we were locked at 2 all after extra time, we will be out for revenge this time around,” said Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen.

“It is our third final and today against Vietnam, we rested several of our regular players in anticipation of the match against Thailand (in two days).

“We already knew the result between Thailand and Korea which meant that we were a bit more relaxed playing against Vietnam.”

Australia will now go into the showdown with Thailand brimming with confidence after this emphatic performance and be looking to make amends for its defeat in a penalty shoot-out against Thailand at the same venue in the 2009 edition of the competition.

The AFF U-19 Championship Final will be on Friday 30th July (local time) at Thong Nhat Stadium.