NEWS: Rose & Berry selected in Young Socceroos

 

Central Coast Mariners​' young guns Liam Rose & Adam Berry (Foxtel National Youth League) were selected in Paul Okon's Young Socceroos squad on Friday!

Young Socceroos Head Coach Paul Okon has named his 23 player squad for the upcoming AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers which will be held at the National Sports Complex Stadium, Vientiane, Laos.

Okon has selected 15 players from Hyundai A-League clubs, 4 from PlayStation 4 NPL clubs and 4 overseas-based players.

Okon is confident that this group of players are up to the challenge of qualifying for the AFC U-19 Championship.

“This is the start of this group’s World Cup journey.

“It will be a difficult challenge, especially with Japan in our group.

“We have had a number of camps and training matches together and the boys know the type of football we want to play.

“The challenge now is to perform under tournament conditions,” concluded Okon.

The Young Socceroos will open their campaign against the Philippines on Friday 2 October, then Laos on Sunday 4 October and finally Japan on Tuesday 6 October.

Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams will qualify for the AFC U-19 Championships while hosts Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams).

The top 4 teams from the AFC U-19 Championship then qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017 in the Korea Republic.

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MATCH SUMMARY: Mariners go down 3-1 to Brisbane Roar in pre-season

Brisbane Roar 3 (Brown 51’, Petratos 59’, Borrello 83’) Central Coast Mariners 1 (Fitzgerald 13’)

The Central Coast Mariners have gone down 3-1 to the Brisbane Roar in their last hit-out of the Hyundai A-League pre-season at Sunshine Coast Stadium, Kawana.

Nick Fitzgerald opened the scoring for the Central Coast in the 13th minute with a cracking goal from 20 yards after a sustained period of pressure for the Mariners.

However three second-half goals to Brisbane through Corey Brown, Dimitri Petratos and Brandon Borrello sealed the victory for the Roar.

Despite the result, the Mariners put in a strong performance at Sunshine Coast Stadium, creating a number of chances and applying forward pressure throughout the match.

A solid first half saw the Mariners press high up the field with Fabio Ferreira and Mitch Austin sending in a flurry of crosses that caused danger for the Brisbane defence.

Towards the end of the half, a rough knock to the left knee led to stand-in skipper Josh Rose being subbed out as a precaution, however the defender should be fine to take the field in Round 1.

Roy O’Donovan took the armband in Rose’s absence.

In the second-half, the momentum swung Brisbane’s way with two goals in 10 minutes through Brown and Petratos respectively.

In response to going a goal down, the Mariners stepped the attack up a notch, pushing an extra player forward and nearly equalising through substitute Dan Heffernan.

However against the run of play in the 83rd minute, Brisbane found the sealer when Brandon Borrello got on the end of a measured Petratos through ball.

The Mariners however will take many positives from the match, with the encounter allowing a chance for many players to get minutes into their legs before the Hyundai A-League Season kicks off.

The Central Coast Mariners will now shift their focus towards their Hyundai A-League Round 1 encounter with the Perth Glory on October 10 at Central Coast Stadium. 

GOALS:

13’ FITZGERALD GOAL: After a string of Mariners corners and building the pressure in the front third, Nick Fitzgerald pounced on the loose ball outside the box and fired a cracking shot at goal from 20 yards out.

51’ BROWN GOAL: Shortly after the break, Brisbane Roar’s Corey Brown struck the back of the net to level scores at 1-1.

59’ PETRATOS GOAL: Thomas Broich glides 50 metres across the pitch, where he finds an unmarked Dimitri Petratos, with the sub making no mistake in the box.

83’ BORRELLO GOAL: Brandon Borrello found himself on the end of a well measured through ball from Dimitri Petratos and slotted a goal beyond Liam Reddy’s reach.

Walmsley’s words:

“We were outstanding tonight, forget the score line for a moment. There were players that played themselves into contention for the game against Perth. We created numerous chances, we got in behind them.

“Fabio Ferreira and Mitch Austin got a lot of crosses in. 

“Roy O’Donovan led the forward line brilliantly. Caceres, he was everywhere tonight in midfield and Poscoliero and Storm Roux were very prominent.

“When they went 2-1 up, credit to the boys, the Mariners came back into the game, we pushed an extra man forward, brought Dan Heffernanon on, we could’ve equalised a number of times and they scored another one on the break.

“In terms of performance, we’ll get a lot of results playing the way we played tonight, home and away.

“We’ve got things to work on, there’s no doubt this team has plenty of improving to do. But if we play like that at home against Perth on the 10th of October, then we’re going to do very well.  

Central Coast Mariners: Liam REDDY (GK), Joshua ROSE (c) (Glen TRIFIRO 42’), Eddy BOSNAR, Jacob POSCOLIERO, Storm ROUX, Harry ASCROFT, Anthony CACERES, Nicholas FITZGERALD, Mitchell AUSTIN (Daniel HEFFERNAN 74’), Fabio FERREIRA (Jake ADELSON 89’), Roy O’DONOVAN.

Unused substitutes: Paul IZZO (GK), Joshua BINGHAM.

Brisbane Roar: Michael THEO (GK), Corey BROWN, Steven LUSTICA, Jean Carlos SOLORZANO (Dimitri PETRATOS 9’), Jade NORTH, Daniel BOWLES, Matt McKAY (c) (Devante CLUT 82’), Jack HINGERT, Thomas BROICH, Brandon BORRELLO, George LAMBADARIDIS.

Unused substitutes: Jamie YOUNG (GK), Jerome POLENZ, James DONACHIE, Shannon BRADY.

Brisbane Roar 3 (Brown 51’, Petratos 59’, Borrello 83’).
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Fitzgerald 13')
Venue: Sunshine Coast Stadium, Kiwana

FFA Cup: NPL clubs reap rewards from national exposure

Exposure on the national stage has benefitted Rockdale City Suns and Lions FC after facing A-League clubs in the FFA Cup.

City were impressive in a 3-2 loss to national champions Melbourne Victory, while the Lions went down 1-0 to Perth Glory in the round of 16.

Both clubs were drawn to play at home, only for lighting requirements to force the relocation of their games to other venues.

Suns president Dennis Loether, whose club's game drew a crowd of around 5,000 to Jubilee Oval, was mostly positive.

"Benefits [were the] exposure for the club, brand awareness and financial windfall, although not quite as what people might have thought," he told FourFourTwo.

"I don't see there are any negatives, other than the financial outlay for having to move the game to Jubilee."

The move away from their Ilinden Sports Centre home to Kogarah led to "substantial" hire costs for City.

The National Premier Leagues (NPL) New South Wales club also gave up all potential food and beverage profit, while Ticketek takes a percentage of ticket sales.

Loether said that, overall, the experience was hugely beneficial for the club.

"Drawing the national champions and having the main televised game, that kind of exposure for the club is fantastic. You can't value it," he said.

"It's not necessarily one where we say it's a financial windfall, but just to put the club on the map so people know the club.

"If you play well, and I thought we played very well, people also stand up and say, 'All right, look at Rockdale, look at the way they play, they're an NPL club from New South Wales.'

"That is, by far and away, for me, the most pleasing aspect of it. The other benefit obviously, depending on who you play and where you play, there's a financial windfall for NPL clubs."

Lions FC, the Brisbane Premier League premiers, had to switch their Glory clash to Perry Park – where a crowd of over 2,500 watched on.

The club's sponsorship and media coordinator, Rob Scanlon, said they were lucky.

"We were very fortunate that Brisbane Strikers worked with us and gave us a very, very good deal," he said.

"From that side of it, it didn't have the same impact, but I think it did still affect numbers to a degree."

Loether and Scanlon said the FFA Cup appearances could help with player recruitment.

Scanlon, who added that the exposure of the competition could lead to as many as four new sponsors with the Lions, said it might also work against the club.

"It's a double-edged sword," he said.

"Because we've been successful in the local league and we're not an NPL side, NPL sides have looked at us [for players].

"It's got the other side of it. Players within Brisbane and the Brisbane Premier League are looking at us and going we can be on a pretty good platform through the country with the FFA Cup.

"It works both ways."

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