Qantas Young Socceroos win in Hong Kong

The Qantas Young Socceroos have completed their preparations for the AFF U19 Tournament with a 3-0 win over a combined Hong Kong U-21/U-19 National Team in hot and humid conditions at Mongkok Stadium in Hong Kong.

The Qantas Young Socceroos have completed their preparations for the AFF U19 Tournament with a 3-0 win over a combined Hong Kong U-21/U-19 National Team last night in hot and humid conditions at Mongkok Stadium in Hong Kong.

The first half hour was a fast paced affair, with end-to-end football and both teams have a fair share of the play.

The Qantas Young Socceroos seemed to have opened the scoring in the 34th minute when Connor Chapman scored from a rebound from a free kick but was given offside.

The scoring was opened in the 40th minute when Ryan Edwards carried the ball down the right side and passed it inside to Jason Geria in the box, who drew the Hong Kong goalkeeper out and laid the ball off to Adam Taggart for an easy tap-in.

Riley Woodcock doubled the Qantas Young Socceroos lead two minutes into the second half when his left footed shot sailed over the goalkeepers head and into the top right corner.

As the game progressed the Qantas Young Socceroos asserted their dominance controlling possession and creating more opportunities.

The scoring was completed in the 84th minute when Jesse Makarounas smashed home a right footed shot from inside the box.

Qantas Young Socceroos coach Paul Okon was content with his teams hit-out ahead of travelling to Vietnam for the AFF U19 Tournament.

“I was very happy with the performance after just being back together for two days,” Okon said.

“We played some good football and scored some nice goals and created some further opportunities.

“The Hong Kong team provided a very worthwhile opponent and challenged us during the match. I would like to thank the Hong Kong FA and Ernie Merrick for the match and their support during the few days we were here in Hong Kong.

“We now start to prepare ourselves further for the tournament in Vietnam starting on Sunday and are now more aware of the conditions that we will face during those matches,” Okon concluded.

Match Details Hong Kong 0 Qantas Young Socceroos 3 (Adam Taggart 40-, Riley Woodcock 47-, Jesse Makarounas 84-) Mongkok Stadium, Hong Kong Crowd: 800

Qantas Young Socceroos line-up: Nick Munro (gk) ((Paul Izzo (gk) 46-), Jason Geria (Hayden Morton 46-), Connor Chapman (David Vrankovic 46-), Daniel Petkovski (Connor Chapman 65-), Corey Brown (Ben Garuccio 65-), Reece Caira (Hagi Gligor 46-), Ryan Edwards (Mitch Cooper 46-), Terry Antonis (c) (Brandon O-Neill 46-), Adam Taggart (Luke O-Dea 46-), Jake Barker-Daish (Jesse Makarounas 46-), Ben Garuccio (Riley Woodcock 46-)

Note: interchange was allowed for this match

Yellow cards: Corey Brown 19-, Reece Caira 25-.