The Young Socceroos are champions of Asia for the first time with a thrilling penalty shootout victory against Saudi Arabia in the U20 Asian Cup final in Shenzhen, China.
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Goalkeeper Steven Hall became the nation’s newest footballing hero, etching himself into folklore by pulling off a one-handed save on the final penalty of the shootout to secure the title.
The scores were locked at one-all after the regulation 90 minutes, and they remained the same after 30 minutes of extra time.
Louis Agosti, who came into the starting line-up as one of three changes made by manager Trevor Morgan, was Australia’s lone goal scorer with a superb volley to open the scoring in the 24th minute.
The Saudi defenders failed to properly clear an Australian free kick that was whipped into the penalty area, and the ball fell to Agosti outside of the box, who struck a low volley across the goal and into the far corner of the net.
Scores were level heading into half time however as a Talal Abubakr Haji header beat Hall.
But Australia were the better of the two teams in the second half, and an extra time, put did not capitalise on several opportunities and were perhaps a little unlucky for the referee not pointing to the spot when substitute Tiago Quintal was brought down in the box.
When it got to the shootout, the Australian teenagers showed nerves of a steel to convert a perfect five from five.
Saudi Arabia were flawless on their first four attempts too, but Hall, who is on the books at Premier League club Brighton, heroically denied them.
Australia’s Alex Badolato was awarded player of the tournament for a stellar campaign where the Western Sydney Wanderers midfielder scored twice and provided three assists.
Badolato was one of 16 players in the squad of 23 for the tournament who are with A-League clubs, while the other seven play their club football in Europe or England.
The Young Socceroos will now turn their focus towards the FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile in September and October, which they qualified for by making the semi-finals of the U20 Asian Cup and it will be the first time Australia has taken part in the premier global tournament for male teenagers since 2013.
Not content with merely qualifying for the FIFA U20 World Cup for the first time in 12 years, the Young Socceroos have booked their place in the U20 Asian Cup final for the first time in 15 years.
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The Australians picked up a 2-0 semi-final win against rivals Japan in Shenzhen, China with second half goals from Musa Toure and substitute Jaylan Pearman setting up a date with Saudi Arabia in Saturday’s final.
The Young Socceroos last made the final of the Asian Cup in 2010, when the tournament was last held in China, and Trevor Morgan’s side will be eager to go one better than the crop of teenagers from 15 years ago who fell 3-2 to North Korea at the final hurdle.
Australia has won all five of their matches to reach the final with a clean sweep of their group followed by a come from behind 3-2 quarter-final triumph against Iraq to book their World Cup berth in Chile in September and October this year, as well as the Japan victory.
Morgan’s team managed to turn the table on the Japanese after doing down 2-1 to them in a friendly earlier this month.
It was a lacklustre first half with neither side registering a shot on target, but Toure, the younger brother of Socceroo Mohamed Toure, provided a regular spark.
He scored the opener four minutes after the break as he slotted home Jonny Yull’s superb low cross.
Pearman put the game to bed shortly, only four minutes after he had come onto the pitch as a substitute, with a beautiful, curling finish from outside the box.
It was set up by Toure pouncing on a loose pass and dishing the ball off to Alex Badolato, the hero from the quarter-final.
Late in the game, Japan threatened several times but Australian goalkeeper Steven Hall, who is with English Premier League outfit Brighton, held firm to keep a clean sheet.
Their opponents in the final, Saudi Arabia, advanced via a penalty shootout after a goalless draw with South Korea.
The Young Socceroos after off to the FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile in September and October this year, breaking a 12-year drought.
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The Australian teenagers booked their place in the global showpiece tournament for the first time since 2013 with a thrilling 3-2 win in their quarter-final against Iraq at the U20 Asian Cup in China.
Victory put Australia through to the semi-finals, where they will face either Japan or Iran on Wednesday as Australia came from behind twice with several young stars putting their names up in lights.
Melbourne Victory’s Alex Badolato was the match-winner in Shenzhen with a superb 75th minute volley proving to be the deciding goal.
A headed clearance fell to Badolato just outside the box and he hit a stunning strike into the back of the net to produce one of the great winning goals.
Iraq struck first after 15 minutes, but roughly seven minutes later, Australia levelled through Adelaide United’s Luka Jovanovic’s excellent free kick from long range beating the Iraqi wall and goalkeeper.
Iraq led again four minutes later, but shortly after the half an hour mark scores were level again in a wild first half.
The Iraqi defence failed to clear Paul Okon-Englster’s cross and central defender Panagiotis Kikianis curled home a nice right foot finish among the scramble in the penalty area.
“Obviously super proud for the boys. It’s a life goal to get to a World Cup,” manager Trevor Morgan said.
“They had to do so with some adversity, which makes it even more enjoyable. They had to show that fighting spirit and produced the goods.”
Earlier in the tournament, the Young Socceroos topped their group with three wins from three games against China, Qatar and the Kyrgyz Republic.
One fan who would not have been enjoying the atmosphere as much was the brave man wearing an Aussie gold Socceroos shirt in amongst the 68,000 screaming Messi fans.
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Now it’s time to give the fan the respect he is due for his efforts of giving the Socceroos some level of visible support inside the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing.
Countless photos of a random fan sitting in amongst the seas of blue and white seen around the stadium have surfaced in the wake of Argentina’ 2-0 victory.
Each photo should bring another degree of appreciation for the mystery fan.
Code Sports’ Adam Peacock seemed to sum it up when he wrote: “For the Beijing game, 68,000 tickets sold out in a minute. Roughly 67,785 of them wore Argentina No.10 shirts.”
Let’s play a game of Where’s Wally. Photo: Pedro PARDO / AFP via Twitter, @keepupau.Source: AFPIt did help the Socceroos that the stadium has yellow seating. Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP.Source: AFPNope, not here. Photo by Di Yin/Getty Images.Source: Getty ImagesIf you squint, you can see another brave soul in yellow. Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP.Source: AFPNot all heroes wear capes. Photo: Pedro PARDO / AFP via Twitter, @keepupau.Source: AFP
Fortunately, spectators seemed far too busy on their phones to have any interest in paying attention to the outlying fan.
Even security guards were seen with their phones out trying to take the perfect photo as Messi took a corner at one point in the match.
The 35-year-old put on a show for them.
Messi set two new marks in the win, scoring the fastest goal of his career while also scoring in his seventh straight game for his country – which was also a personal record.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner curled in from the edge of the area following a turnover by the Socceroos.
Messi has now scored in every minute of a game at some point of his career, except for the opening minute.
Australia weathered the early storm and nearly equalised when attacker Mitchell Duke forced Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to tip a close-range shot onto the post.
Messi and fellow Argentina veteran Angel di Maria both drew saves from Australia stopper Mat Ryan at the start of the second half.
And the world champions eventually made their pressure count when German Pezzella headed in a cross to make it 2-0 in the 68th minute.
But even Messi’s goal paled in comparison to this exhibition of sublime skill as he danced his way through an embarrassed Socceroos midfield in the 79th minute.
England football great Gary Lineker described the dribbling as “filth”.
Messi is idolised in football-mad China, whose underperforming national team and struggling domestic league are chronic sources of disappointment.
Midway through the second half, a young-looking fan wearing an Argentina shirt invaded the pitch and briefly embraced Messi before being hauled away by security guards.
Thousands greeted the Argentina captain’s every touch with roars of anticipation that built to a crescendo when he put his team into their quick-fire lead.
Messi mania had gripped a sweltering Beijing for the sell-out friendly match in the Chinese capital.
All eyes were on Messi, arguably the greatest footballer of all time, who lifted the World Cup for the Albiceleste in December.
Thousands of Chinese fans braved temperatures of nearly 40C, gathering at Beijing’s newly renovated Workers’ Stadium several hours before the 8pm kick-off.
Many came clad in replica Argentina shirts emblazoned with Messi’s name and number 10, while others had daubed their faces with sky-blue and white paint or were excitedly clasping flags.
Security guards corralled hundreds of fans behind barriers outside the western gate to the ground, where the Argentina team coach was due to enter.
Forty-year-old lawyer Zhong Xiaoqing from eastern China’s Zhejiang province told AFP that Messi was his “perfect idol”.
“Messi is the greatest player of all time,” he said. “I was completely enamoured the first time I saw him play in 2005.
“He’s a model for me — my perfect idol.”
For 29-year-old HR worker Sun Bingxin from northern Shanxi province, the excitement had been overwhelming.
“I’ve been so pent up about it that I feel like I could cry with joy,” she told AFP before kick-off.
“Every football fan in China has wanted to be here tonight, so it’ll be a spectacular occasion.” Liu Rui, a 24-year-old student from Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province, said being at the match was “really a dream come true”.
“In 40 years’ time, I can tell my grandchildren about this,” he told AFP.
The man of the moment. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesStill creating history. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Hundreds of flag-waving fans had been camped outside the team’s luxury hotel ever since they touched down on Saturday.
Crowds have lined heavily guarded streets hoping to catch a glimpse of the 35-year-old each time the team goes for training.
The man himself has kept a low profile, but that has done little to dampen enthusiasm.
One daring fan recounted his tale of spending the night inside the Four Seasons hotel in a bid to get a close encounter with Messi and his teammates.
“I first hid in the janitor’s closet, then went up to the team’s floor through the fire escape staircase,” the man, surnamed Lin, told AFP.
He was questioned by hotel security before being released.
Another fan, Li Weihua, said he had flown from his home city of Shenzhen in southern China, heading straight to the hotel.
He did not even have a ticket for the match at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium, which had quickly sold out.
“I just want to feel the environment,” said the 29-year-old, who had never been to Beijing before.
Huang Yongming, 17, from the northeastern city of Changchun, was more successful in getting a highly coveted ticket.
“I spent around 3000 yuan ($615) for a ticket,” Huang told AFP. “I know it’s expensive, but I thought that if I didn’t take the opportunity, I would regret it.”
Messi is set to join Inter Miami this summer, after two years at Paris Saint-Germain.
Thursday’s match was a re-run of the last-16 clash between Argentina and Australia at last year’s World Cup in Qatar.
On that occasion, Messi scored a goal and tormented the Socceroos’ defence as the Albiceleste won 2-1.
Argentina went on to win the World Cup for the first time in 36 years. The South Americans will round off their Asian tour on Monday when they play another friendly against Indonesia in Jakarta.
