Celebrating Alex Gersbach's best moments in green & gold to mark his birthday
To celebrate Alex Gersbach’s 23rd birthday on Friday, we relive some of his best moments in the national team set up.
Gersbach has been an integral part of the Australian U-23’s side since making his debut against Austria’s under 21’s in 2017.
He was a member of the Australian U-23's squad at the 2018 AFC under 23’s Championship in China. Although Australia failed to make it out of the group stage, Gersbach was still able to celebrate a personal milestone when he was selected to captain the side in their final group stage encounter against South Korea.
His defining moment for the U-23's arrived in the 2020 instalment of the AFC under 23’s Championship in Thailand at the beginning of this year.
Gersbach was ever present in the U-23’s line-up throughout a tournament which saw him and his side gain plenty of admirers across Asia.
The top three sides from the championship would earn themselves a place in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, a feat which the U-23's had not been able to match since Beijing in 2008.
For this year’s tournament, they were placed in Group A along with Iraq, Bahrain and hosts Thailand.
Graham Arnold’s side drew 1-1 against Iraq and Bahrain respectively while they secured a 2-1 victory against Thailand which helped them secure top spot in their group.
Gersbach was on hand to set up his side’s winner in their clash against the hosts after he laid the ball into the path of Nick D’Agostino on the edge of the six-yard box, in point blank range.
The U-23's were pushed to their limits in their quarter final clash against Syria with an extra time goal from Adelaide United’s Alhassan Touré securing Australia’s passage to the semi-final.
South Korea proved to be too strong in the semi final as they claimed a 2-0 victory over Arnold’s men however their chance of securing a ticket to Tokyo was still well and truly alive if they managed to overcome Uzbekistan in the third placed play-off.
The U-23's did end up booking their place in the Olympics after they beat Uzbekistan 1-0 to join Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia as the AFC representatives in the upcoming Olympics.
Gersbach’s contribution to his side throughout the tournament will live long in the memories of Australian football fans and we cannot wait to see another set of standout displays from the Sydney born defender in Tokyo next year.
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