Australia through to U16 semis
Australia booked their place in the semi-final of the AFF U16 Women's Championships 2009 with a high-scoring win against Myanmar (B) in Yangon on Wednesday night.
The Myanmar (B) team were determined to keep Australia out with some resolute defending in the first half.
In the hot conditions of the mid-afternoon start, Australia found the compact defence a difficult challenge in the first half.
But Ashlee Faul managed to make the break-through and scored twice, both from strong headers from set pieces with Teigen Allen and Brittany Whitfield chiming in with one a piece for a 4-0 half-time score-line.
Coach Robbie Hooker made two substitutions at half-time and adjusted the formation from 1-4-3-3 to 1-3-4-3. Heidi Makrillos then went on a goal-scoring spree scoring five times in the space of 20 minutes.
Australia started to open up the Myanmar team and were able to maintain the defensive pressure from the first half.
To round out the scoring Whitfield scored another two goals to notch up her hat-trick. Captain Hannah Brewer stepped up to score from a penalty that was awarded after a phase of good passing where she received the ball on the right hand side, dribbled into the box and was fouled.
Australia topped the group on 9 points and 24 goals. Vietnam will also progress to the semi-finals from Group B along with Thailand and Myanmar (A) from Group A.
Australia-s next game is the semi-final to be played on Friday 16th October against Myanmar (A) with the second semi-final to be played out between Thailand v Vietnam.
Australia 12 (Ashlee Faul 15-/31-, Teigen Allen 18-, Brittany Whitfield 38-/49-/89-, Heidi Makrillos 47-/52-/54-/64-/65, Hannah Brewer 80- (pen)) Myanmar (B) 0 AFF U16 Championships, Myanmar Wednesday, 14 October 2009 Local kick-off: 3.30pm (8.00pm AEDT) Youth Training Centre, Yangon
Starting Lineup: Amy HIGGINS (GK), Hannah BREWER, Alexandra HUYNH, Ashlee FAUL, Stephanie CATLEY (Caitlin FOORD 46-), Teigen ALLEN (Tara ANDREWS 46-), Emily VAN EGMOND, Ruth WALLACE, Sharni BROWN, Heidi MAKRILLOS (Caitlin FRIEND 75-), Brittany WHITFIELD
Subs not used: Brianna DAVEY (GK), Rebekah STOTT, Erika ELZE, Nicola BOLGER, Alanna KENNEDY, Sam KERR