The Subway Young Socceroos sealed their place for the AFC U-20 Asian Cup Uzbekistan™ 2023 after topping Group H of the Qualifiers following a 1-0 victory over Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday.
Led by Head Coach Trevor Morgan, the Subway Young Socceroos commenced their qualifying campaign with an impressive 4-1 victory over the host nation, Kuwait on Saturday AEDT. Gabriel Popovic (Nk Rudeš) scored a first-half brace, while Adrian Segecic (Sydney FC) and Nectarios Triantis (Central Coast Mariners FC) also got on the scoresheet.
In its second group match played on Monday AEDT, Australia defeated India courtesy of another 4-1 win. Fresh from his senior national team debut, Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners FC) unleashed a stunning strike to break the deadlock before an own goal helped double the lead. India struck after the restart but late well-crafted goals from Segecic and Max Caputo (Melbourne City FC) sealed the three points.
Heading into its final match against Iraq, Australia knew just a draw would be enough to guarantee automatic qualification. After missing a few guilt-edged chances - including a penalty - Popovic slotted a goal on 59 minutes which ultimately proved decisive. The Subway Young Socceroos held on to win 1-0 and booked a ticket to next year's tournament which is scheduled to be staged in Uzbekistan from March 1 to 18, 2023.
Speaking from Kuwait City, Subway Young Socceroos' Head Coach Trevor Morgan said: "It's so important to qualify for major tournaments like the AFC U-20 Asian Cup and the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and I'm very pleased and excited for this very talented group of young players to have now made that a possibility for themselves," Morgan explained.
"I'm very thankful for the investment and commitment to this age group made by Football Australia in allowing us to go to the Costa Cálida Supercup in Spain only a few weeks ago to expose these players to international football at a high level, which was vital to our success during these Qualifiers.
"Our youth national teams need to be filled with the best talent, we need to showcase them to the world, and exposure these players to the highest levels of football as they go on their journey to becoming top professionals and Socceroos, where I'm really thankful we were able to bring such a talented group of players to Kuwait for these important Qualifiers," Morgan said.
Morgan was also full of praise for the staff who assisted him at these Qualifiers: "It was great to assemble an experienced technical and support team for this tournament, particularly to have Brad Maloney onboard straight from his success with the Joeys at their respective AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers early this month, highlighting the collaborative approach that Football Australia is taking in producing the next generation of Socceroos," Morgan concluded.
Australia joins host Uzbekistan, fellow group winners Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Indonesia, Oman, Tajikistan and Iran plus best runners-up Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, China, Iraq, and Syria in qualifying for next year's tournament.
