Qantas Joeys win against Malaysia

The Qantas Joeys (Australia U-17) opened their qualifying campaign for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup with a 2-0 win over Malaysia at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore overnight.

The Qantas Joeys (Australia U-17) opened their qualifying campaign for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup with a 2-0 win over Malaysia at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore overnight.

Australia are now well placed to progress to next year-s AFC U-16 Championship following last night-s win and also the late withdrawal of East Timor from the preliminary competition. The Qantas Joeys will complete their preliminary qualifying matches on Friday against DPR Korea with two of thee teams to progress.

First half goals from Marc Warren and Eli Babalj secured the win in the first competitive international match for the current generation of Qantas Joeys.

Warren captained the side in he absence of injured skipper Brendan Hamill and opened the scoring in the 14th minute when his speculative shot from the left flank deceived the goalkeeper. Babalj doubled the advantage on the half-hour when he swooped on a loose ball after the goalkeeper has spilt a shot on goal.

The group matches will be completed on Sunday when Malaysia face DPR Korea.

“We found the pitch a bit hard,” said Australian coach Martyn Crook. “The players had difficulty with the speed of the ball over the surface and that suited the nippy Malaysians more than us. They had some good players.”

Match Details

Australia 2 (Marc Warren 14, Eli Babalj 26') Malaysia 0

Australian line-up: Nicholas Tubbs (gk), Marc Warren (c), Petar Franjic, Joel Miller (Mitchell Mallia 59-), Benjamin Kantarovski, Nikola Stanojevic (Tedros Yabio 84-), Kamal Ibrahim (Jared Lum 63-), Christopher Bush, Chahine Noujaim, Trent Sainsbury, Eli Babalj

Cautions: Ibrahim (51-), Warren (67-), Kantarovski (77-)

The Qantas Joeys squad is: Eli Babalj (State - WA), Chris Bush (ACT), Million Butshiire (WA), Cameron Edwards (WA), Nick Fitzgerald (NSW), Petar Franjic (VIC), Brendan Hamill (NSW), Kamal Ibrahim (VIC), Ben Kantarovski (NNSW), George Klappas (NSW), Robert Kolak (NSW), Jared Lum (NSW), Mitchell Mallia (NSW), Joel Miller (SA), Chahine Noujaim (SA), Trent Sainsbury (WA), Nikola Stanojevic (NSW), Nick Tubbs (QLD), Marc Warren (NSW), Tedros Yabio (VIC)

Qantas Joeys Fixtures: Mon 15 Oct v Singapore U15, Singapore Sports School, 1-0 Wed 17 Oct Australia v Malaysia, Jalan Besar Stadium, 2-0 Fri 19 Oct v DPR Korea, Jalan Besar Stadium, 7pm kick off local time