Holland and Lujic provide double act in second win
The Qantas Young Socceroos continued on their winning way at the Weifang Cup in China, with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Iran. Both James Holland and Milos Lujic both scored a brace in the win.
The Qantas Young Socceroos continued on their winning way at the Weifang Cup in China, with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Iran.
AIS midfielder James Holland and Milos Lujic both scored a brace of goals, in what was a physical contest that saw Iran reduced to 10-men after 65 minutes.
Holland opened the scoring after just eight minutes, with a smartly taken free kick from the edge of the box.
Lujic then opened his account in the 26th minute, to put Australia 2-0 up, when he was first to react after the ball was played back into the box, after Iran only partially cleared a corner.
Iran, having already had a goal disallowed for offside, pulled a goal back on the hour, but five minutes later they were reduced to 10-men after Dane Milovanovic was collected heavily in a tackle.
It was always going to tough for the Iranians from that moment and Holland sealed the win in the 76th minute, following a sweeping move starting in defence. Defender Matt Jurman and James Brown combined on the left, with the latter passing to Holland, who played a brilliant one-two with Lujic and Holland made no mistake with his low shot past the keeper.
Lujic made it a good day for the team, with his second and the team-s fourth in the 89th minute, when he finished off a good ball into the box from Osaka Osaka Cernak.
Match Details
Qantas Young Socceroos 4 (James Holland 8-/76-, Milos Lujic 26-/89-) Iran 1
Australian line-up: Andrew Redmayne (gk); Luke De Vere, Seb Ryall, James Holland (Matthew Harper 77-), Matthew Mullen (Matt Theodore 66-) , Bonel Obradovic. Dane Milovanovic (Richard Greer 66-), Isaka Cernak Okanya, Jason Hoffman, Milos Lujic, Matthew Jurma (Alex Sunasky 77-)
Cautions: Matt Mullen (20-), Holland (21-)
The teams next match is in two days time against China.