U23s held to scoreless draw

The Qantas Australian Under 23s played out a nil-all draw with a South Australian select team in a training match at Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Qantas Australian Under 23s played out a nil-all draw with a South Australian select team in a training match at Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday night.

Qantas Australian Under 23s Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar was using the training match as part of his team's preparations for next Wednesday's AFC Asian Qualifier for the 2012 London Olympic Games against the United Arab Emirates.

South Australia's captain Michele Lastella almost opened the scoring for the hosts after six minutes when the ball sat up nicely for him on the edge of the area, after the Qantas Australian Under 23s failed to clear, but his volley flew narrowly over the bar.

Jason Hoffman went close a few minutes later for the Qantas Australian Under 23s, charging down a clearance from the South Australian goalkeeper Takumi Takahashi only to see the rebound spin past the post.

The Qantas Australian Under 23s controlled much of the game but struggled to break down a resilient South Australian defence.

On the half hour, Qantas Australian Under 23s captain Oliver Bozanic clipped the woodwork from 20 metres out with a powerful low drive that had Takahashi beaten.

Shortly after, at the other end of the field, South Australian striker Calvin Mbarga also saw his close range effort smack into the upright.

The scores were locked 0-0 at the break and it took almost 15 minutes before the first real chance of the second half was registered.

Marko Jesic pounced on a defensive error and fired a hard and flat effort goal bound but Takahashi was equal to the task

Just after the hour Qantas Australian Under 23s coach Aurelio Vidmar made five changes and it was substitute Mate Dugandzic who was next to go close for the Qantas Australian Under 23s.

Dugandzic collected the ball 30 metres from goal, turned and hit a low, hard drive that just whizzed past the South Australian goal.

The best chance of the match fell to Hoffman in the second minute of injury time when the striker beat the substitute South Australian goalkeeper Ben Moore, but his effort from the edge of the area hit the post and bounced away from goal.

Qantas Australian Under 23s Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar was happy with the hit-out and what he saw from his team.

"It was good to have a solid run against good opposition tonight and we thank FFSA and Joe Mullen for the match," said Vidmar.

"Although there were no goals I was pleased with some aspects of how we played and the opportunities we created, but we still need to work on a few things."

"Most importantly we have no injury concerns coming out of the game."

"We'll now have a good week of training before we face the UAE next week," concluded Vidmar.

The Qantas Australian Under 23s will continue training in Adelaide ahead of their AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games match between against the UAE on Wednesday 21 September.

The teams in each group of the third round of qualifying play in a home-and-away format from 21 September 2011, to 14 March 14, 2012, with the winner of each group directly qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games Football competition.

The three second-placed teams from the third round will clash in a playoff at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012, and the winners of this group will meet the representatives of CAF (Africa) for a berth in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Tickets for the Qantas Australian Under 23s v UAE match are on sale now from Ticketek.

The AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games match between the Qantas Australian Under 23s and the UAE will also be broadcast live and exclusive on FOX SPORTS.

Qantas Australian U23s 0 South Australian Select Team 0

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Referee: Regis Queffelec Assistant Referees: Paul Cetranglo & Curtis Wordsworth Crowd: 600 approx

Qantas Australian U23s line-up: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk) (18.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk) 46-), 2.Mitch NICHOLS (5.Mate DUGANDZIC 60-), 3.Diogo FERREIRA (4.Scott NEVILLE 60-), 9.Sebastian RYALL, 11.Oliver BOZANIC (c), 12.Matthew JURMAN (6.Daniel MULLEN 60-), 13.Matthew FOSCHINI (10.Rhyan GRANT 60-), 14.Jason HOFFMAN, 15.Marko JESIC, 16.James BROWN (8.Ben KANTAROVSKI 60-), 17.Aziz BEHICH,

Substitutes not used: 7.Kofi DANNING

Head Coach: Aurelio Vidmar

South Australian Select Team line-up: 1.Takumi TAKAHASHI (Ben MOORE 61'), 2.David MENECHELLA (Adam HARRIS 61'), 3.Michael D'ALOSIO (Todd McSORELY 45'), 4.Michele LASTELLA (C), 5.Lee ROBERTSON, 6.Adam VAN DOMMELE (Michael PAPACHARALAMBOUS 75'), 7.Shane TOBIAS (Steven GRELLI 45'), 8.Ermias HAILE (Luke KLIMEK 61'), 9.Calvin MBARGA (Anthony SOLAGNA 78'), 10.Parys OKAI, 11.Scott TUNBRIDGE

Head Coach: Joe Mullen