Qantas Joeys go down in Dutch friendly
The Qantas Joeys have begun their short tour of The Netherlands with a 2-1 friendly loss against Dutch 1st Division youth side FC Utrecht.
The Joeys used the match as a warm-up to the OBI-Hilden-Cup tournament, which starts today in Hilden. The tournament is a modified competition and features club teams from across Europe.
Included in Australia's group are host VfB Hilden, West Bromwich Albion (England) and German sides FC St. Pauli and Rot-Weiss Essen.
Australia opening match is against Hilden later today, while it's three remaining games will all be played tomorrow. Each match lasts for approximately 50 minutes. The finals are scheduled for Sunday.
Meanwhile FC Utrecht scored two long range goals in the first half, with Eli Babalj scoring Australia-s goal midway through a dominant second half.
The first half was played at a good pace with both teams creating many opportunities. FC Utrecht took the lead with a world class goal, a shot from outside the 18 yard box that dipped to hit the underside of the cross bar and go in.
The Joeys also had many opportunities with Kerem Bulut almost repeating Utrecht's first goal, except his effort came back off the cross bar, while he also had goal disallowed for offside.
Australia improved their passing game and looked more potent as they retained possession and played through the lines of the Utrecht defense. This resulted in a goal from Babalj mid way through the second half. They continued to dominate but were unable to find the equaliser.
Match Details
FC Utrecht 2 Qantas Joeys 1 (Eli Balalj)
Qantas Joeys line-ups: First half: Robert Kolak (gk) ; Nathan Farrell, Petar Franjic, Brendan Hamill, Marc Warren, Kamal Ibrahim, Jared Lum, Chris Bush, Nikola Stanojevic, Tedros Yabio, Kerem Bulut Second Half: Rani Dowisha (gk), Nathan Farrell, Trent Sainsbury, Bailey Wright, Koh Satake, Mark Perrone, James Jeggo, Joseph Costa, Julius Davies, Million Butshiire, Eli Babalj
The OBI-Hilden-Cup is a modified competition and features club teams from across Europe.
Included in Australia's group are host VfB Hilden, West Bromwich Albion (England) and German sides FC St. Pauli and Rot-Weiss Essen.
Australia opening match is against Hilden later today, while it's three remaining games will all be played tomorrow. Each match lasts for approximately 50 minutes.