These statistics were written and researched for the OzSoccer archive by Thomas Esamie and Greg Stock. We believe them to be accurate and have taken every care to make them so. We would appreciate any correction of errors detected. Thanks to John Punshon and Paul Moon for making their personal material available.
| In January 1997 the Oceania Youth qualifiers were played in Tahiti. The competing countries were Australia, Tahiti, New Zealand and Fiji. At stake was a place in the Under 20 Youth World Cup in Malaysia later in the year. Under Youth coach Les Scheinflug the Australians went into the series as the team to beat and proved just how well drilled and experienced this squad was. | ||||
| Played : Saturday January 4 1997 | Venue : Pater Stadium, Papeete, Tahiti | |||
| Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic, Con Blatsis, Simon Colosimo, Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill (Bill Damianos 68), Michael Curcija, Kosta Salapasidis, Andy Vargas, Kasey Wehrman (Michael Garcia 65) Goals : Curcija 12, 90, Salapasidis 46, 56, 89, Neill 24, Wehrman 58, Garcia 75, 87 |
10 | - | 0 | Fiji Laisenia Tuba, Setoki Tokavakarva, Luke Nabaro, Seveci Rokotokala, Sameer Ali, Etonia Moceituba, Maika Waqa, Albert Pickering (Seveci Smith 58), Feroze Khalil, Reginald Singh, Stephen Blake |
| Referee : Neil Fox (New Zealand) Assistant Referees : Massimo Reveino (Tahiti), Tanhiro Tema (Tahiti) Attendance : 726 Cautions : aus - Garcia 75; fiji - Moceituba 25 Coaches : Les Scheinflug (Australia) - Tagi Vonolagi (Fiji) | ||||
| The second match in the series was against New Zealand. After the 10-nil shellacking of Fiji the Australian side was in a hungry mood in the stifling heat of Tahiti. | ||||
| Played : Monday January 6 1997 | Venue : Pater Stadium, Papeete, Tahiti | |||
| Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic, Con Blatsis, Simon Colosimo, Harry Kewell (Bill Damianos 63), Lucas Neill (Michael Garcia 60), Michael Curcija, Kosta Salapasidis (Clayton Zane), Andy Vargas, Kasey Wehrman Goals : Wehrman 8, 43, Salapasidis 67 |
3 | - | 0 | New Zealand R Noll, N Hickey (G Pearce 46), G Rowe, Matt Urlovic, R De Gregorio, Kris Bouken, Andrew Aris, Darren Cherlton, Jeremy Brown, B Keeler (R Cannon 46), J Foudoulakis (Ross Goodacre 57) |
| Referee : Massimo Raveino (Tahiti)
Assistant Referees : Todo Theophane (Tahiti), Ayaaz Khan (Fiji) Attendance : 329 Cautions : nz - Cannon 53, Brown 80; aus - Emerton 54 Coaches : Les Scheinflug (Australia) - Ken Dugdale (New Zealand) | ||||
| The Australian team then went onto play the host nation Tahiti. The match proved to be another oppurtunity for goalscoring practice as they proceeded to put away another 10 against a Tahitian side totally outclassed. | ||||
| Played : Wednesday January 8 1997 | Venue : Pater Stadium, Papeete, Tahiti | |||
| Australia Peter Zois, Ivan Zelic, Con Blatsis (Andy Vargas 46), Bill Damianos, Lucas Neill (Simon Colosimo 40), Michael Garcia, Clayton Zane, Kosta Salapasidis (Kasey Wehrman 46), Carlos Gonzales, Sebastian Sinozic, Michael Pirone Goals : Zane 6, 48, 76, Garcia 40, 54, 74, Salapasidis 20, Damianos 21, Blatsis 38, Colosimo 69 |
10 | - | 0 | Tahiti P Malfatti, W Deane, PH Moretta, H Tapea, Jean Yves Le Waut, Teiki Rocton, Steve Chalon, Charles Temauu, G Teheivra, H Rauhori, Zor Tekori |
| Referee : Ayaaz Khan (Fiji) Assistant Referees : Lencie Fred (Vanuatu), Neil Fox (New Zealand) Attendance : 211 Cautions : tah - Moretta 70, Deane 75; aus - Neill 40 Coaches : Les Scheinflug (Australia) - Richard Van Sam (Tahiti) | ||||
| OFC Qualifying for 1997 WYC, Final Standings | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Points |
| Australia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 9 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| Fiji | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 3 |
| Tahiti | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 0 |
| The Australian team had qualified for the final which was against the second placed New Zealand side. Australia had the hardest game of the series but prevailed by 2-1 and qualified as the Oceania representative at the Youth World Cup in Malaysia later on in the year. | ||||
| Played : Friday January 10 1997 | Venue : Pater Stadium, Papeete, Tahiti | |||
| Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic, Con Blatsis, Simon Colosimo, Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill (Bill Damianos 46), Michael Curcija, Kosta Salapasidis (Sebastian Sinozic 46), Andy Vargas, Kasey Wehrman Goals : Blatsis 2, Neill 10 |
2 | - | 1 | New Zealand R Noll, Ross Goodacre (Andrew Aris 18), N Hickey, G Rowe, R Cannon, G Pearce, Matt Urlovic, Darren Cherlton, Kris Bouken, Paul Urlovic (Jeremy Brown 46), Peter Satos (J Foundoulakis 46) Goal : Cherlton 75 |
| Referee : Massimo Raveino (Tahiti) Assistant Referees : Todo Theophane (Tahiti), Tanhiro Tema (Tahiti) Attendance : 479 Cautions : nz - Urslovic 32; aus - Wehrman 65 Coaches : Les Scheinflug (Australia) - Ken Dugdale (New Zealand) | ||||
| The result in the 3rd place play-off was Fiji 1 - Tahiti 1 and went to Fiji after they won 5-4 on penalty kicks. | ||||
| In February the Japanese Under 20 side visited Adelaide as part of an off season training camp. During their visit a couple of friendly games were organised against the Australians who were also having a week long training camp of their own. | ||||
| Played : Tuesday February 11 1997 | Venue : Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia | |||
| Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic, Simon Colisimo, Hayden Foxe, Bill Damianos, Michael Curcija, Michael Garcia, Kasey Wehrman, Kosta Salapasidis, Andy Vargas Goal : Curcija 55 |
1 | - | 0 | Japan (Lineup incomplete) Kobari Kiyomitsu, Kenji Fukuda, Shunsuke Nakamura |
| Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) Attendance : 1000 Referee : C Zetter | ||||
| This was the second friendly match against the visiting Japanese under 20 team. | ||||
| Played : Friday February 14 1997 | Venue : Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia | |||
| Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic, Simon Colosimo, Hayden Foxe, Bill Damianos (Michael Pirone 66), Michael Curcija (Mijo Trupkovic 72), Michael Garcia, Peter Buljan (Reece Tolleneare 72), Kosta Salapasidis (Mark Robertson 72), Andy Vargas (Vince Grella 46) Goal : Curcija 26 |
1 | - | 4 | Japan (Lineup one short) Toga, Miyamoto, Myojin, Kenji Fukuda (Yamashita 75), Atsuci Yanagisawa, Hiroyama (Kei Mikuriya), Koga, Shunsuke Nakamura (S Yamaguchi 82), Hattori, Harotaka Ono Goals : Fukuda 12, Yanagisawa 57, 67, Mikuryima 69 |
| Attendance : about 600 Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| With the World Youth Championships coming up in Malaysia
in June 1997, the Young Socceroos held a week long training camp at the NSWSF
headquarters at Parklea in Sydneys western suburbs. They played four training
games against Superleague clubs Blacktown City, Parramatta Eagles, Bankstown
City and Central Coast. None of those games were thought serious enough for
inclusion in this archive. Following these games the side travelled over to Malaysia where they found a number of local club and representative sides as opponents for warm-up matches. The first of these was against NS Chempaka | ||||
| Played : May 27 1997 | Venue : Cheras Stadium, Malaysia | |||
| NS Chempaka (MAL)
(Lineup unavailable) |
0 | - | 6 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Hayden Foxe, Mark Robertson, Con Blatsis, Sebastian Sinozic, Tansell Baser (Yane Talcevski 46), Lucas Neill, Vince Grella (Kasey Wehrman 55'), Bill Damianos, Michael Curcija (Daniel Allsopp 46'), Kosta Salapasidis Goals : Curcija 9' 25' Neill 27' Baser 33' Grella 35' Foxe 81' |
| Cautions : Hayden Foxe 65' (Australia) Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| Played : May 29 1997 | Venue : Cheras Stadium, Malaysia | |||
| Malaysian Mail (MAL)
(Lineup unavailable) |
0 | - | 6 | Australia Peter Zois, Hayden Foxe, Brett Emerton, Sebastian Sinozic, Tansell Baser, Lucas Neill, Bill Damianos, Kasey Wehrman, Yane Talcevski (Mark Robertson 46'), Michael Curcija, Kostas Salapasidis Goals : Curcija 17' 20' 31' 65' Salapasidis 68' Foxe 87' |
| Cautions : Kasey Wehrman (Australia) Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| The Australian side also played a warm-up game against the under 20's side of the host nation of the World Youth Championships, Malaysia. | ||||
| Played : May 31 1997 | Played : PJ Stadium, Malaysia | |||
| Malaysia (Lineup unavailable) |
0 | - | 8 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Hayden Foxe, Brett Emerton, Sebastian Sinozic, Simon Colosimo, Mark Robertson, Bill Damianos, Lucas Neill (Tansell Baser 37'), Kasey Wehrman (Yane Talcevski 66'), Kostas Salapasidis, Michael Curcija (Daniel Allsopp 66') Goals : Salapasidis 3' 56' 82' 88' Emerton 23' Neill 31' Damianos 62' Allsopp 67' |
| Cautions : Mark Robertson, Hayden Foxe,
Daniel Allsopp (Australia) Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| This is another of the 6 warm up games Australia played. | ||||
| Played : June 3 1997 | Played : Kuching, Malaysia | |||
| Sarawak (Lineup unavailable) |
0 | - | 1 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Hayden Foxe, Brett Emerton, Con Blatsis, Sebastian Sinozic (Simon Colosimo 45), Mark Robertson (Tansel Baser 45), Bill Damianos, Lucas Neill (Vincent Grella 80), Kasey Wehrman, Kosta Salapasidis (Daniel Allsopp 65), Michael Curcija (Yane Talcevski 75) Goals : Neill 26 |
| Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| This is another of the 6 warm up games Australia played. However currently only details on the 5 games here are known. | ||||
| Played : June 6 1997 | Played : Cheras Stadium, Malaysia | |||
| Johor FC (Lineup unavailable) |
0 | - | 3 | Australia Peter Zois, Hayden Foxe, Con Blatsis, Simon Colosimo, Tansel Baser, Ivan Zelic, Mark Robertson, Vincent Grella, Yane Talcevski, Daniel Allsopp, Kosta Salapasidis (Brett Emerton 73) Goals : Blatsis 9, Salapasidis 25, Robertson 88 |
| Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia) | ||||
| This was Australia's first group match in the World Youth Cup, a disppointing performance against Canada in which the Canadians played far better than anticiapted and both sides had chances but could not convert. | ||||
| Played : June 18 1997 | Played : Kangar, Malaysia | |||
| Canada Michael Franks, Jeff Clarke, Richard Hastings, Bryan Devenney, Stephen McCauley, Dwayne DeRosario, Jason Bent (Jason Mathot 87), Paul Stalteri, Robbie Aristodemo, Steve Kindel (Jeff Skinner 82), Jason Jordon (Chris Stathopoulos 54) |
0 | - | 0 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Hayden Foxe, Brett Emerton, Sebastian Sinozic, Ivan Zelic (Tansel Baser 78), Con Blatsis, Bill Damianos, Lucas Neill (Raphael Bove 87), Vince Grella (Mark Robertson 46), Kostas Salapasidis, Michael Curcija |
| Referee : Karl-Erik Nilsson (Sweden) Linesmen : Mark Warren (England), Carlos Gonzales (Trinidad and Tobago) Attendance : 26000 (double header match) Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia), Bruce Lamprey (Canada) | ||||
| In Australia's second group game they managed a last gasp winner over Hungary to almost secure passage into the final 16. | ||||
| Played : June 20 1997 | Played : Kangar, Malaysia | |||
| Hungary Attila Szili, Balazs Raboczki, Laszlo Erdei, Csaba Diczko, Adam Komlosi, Janos Szabo, Peter Kabat, Zoltan Varga, Robert Loczi (Akos Fuzi 54), Zoltan Szabo (Istvan Ferenczi 70), Gergely Balogh (Zoltan Balog 79) |
0 | - | 1 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic (Tansel Baser 64), Con Blatsis, Hayden Foxe, Bill Damianos, Lucas Neill (Mark Robertson 46), Vince Grella, Michael Curcija, Kosta Salapasidis (Daniel Allsopp 82), Sebastian Sinozic Goals : Allsopp 90 |
| Referee : Elarjoun Abderrahim (Morocco) Linesmen : Mark Warren (England), Carlos Gonzales (Trinidad and Tobago) Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia), Janos Ziegler (Hungary) | ||||
| Australia played an epic match against Argentina, a true seven goal thriller and prevailed despite playing very defensively once the 3-1 score was attained. | ||||
| Played : June 23 1997 | Played : Kangar, Malaysia | |||
| Argentina Leonardo Franco, Diego Markic (Sebastain Romero 70), Walter Samuel, Juan Serrizuela, Esteban Cambiasso (Fabian Cubero 89), Diego Quintana, Roman Riquelme, Bernardo Romeo, Diego Placente, Nicholas Diez (Pablo Martin Rodriguez 54), Lionel Scaloni Goals : Romeo 6, Placente 69, Riquelme 88pk |
3 | - | 4 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic (Tansel Baser 57), Con Blatsis, Hayden Foxe, Bill Damianos, Mark Robertson (Lucas Neill 73), Vince Grella, Michael Curcija (Raphael Bove 69), Kosta Salapasidis, Sebastian Sinozic Goals : Salapasidis 40, 41, 54, 90pk |
| Referee : Ancion Amand (Belgium) Linesmen : Harraz Miloud (Algeria), Pg Tajudin Pg Aluiddin (Brunei) Attendance : 8000 Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia), Pekerman Jose Nestor (Argentina) Match Report by David Arnold Match Report by David Borella | ||||
| Australia made the round of 16 and drew Japan. After the sterling performance against Argentina this game was supposedly reward for finishing top of the group. Alas Australia were tired and did not make anything of their chances unlike Japan who pounced on a defensive error and scored the sole goal. | ||||
| Played : June 26 1997 | Played : Kangar, Malaysia | |||
| Japan Shinji Jojo, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Tomokau Myojin, Nozomi Hiroyama, Kazuyuki Toda, Atsushi Yanashita, Satoshi Yamaghuchi, Harutaka Ono, Yuta Minami, Yuichiro Nagai (Yoshiteru Yamashita 46), Shunsuke Nakamura Goals : Yanagisawa 43 |
1 | - | 0 | Australia Danny Milosevic, Brett Emerton, Ivan Zelic (Tansel Baser 46), Con Blatsis, Hayden Foxe, Bill Damianos, Vince Grella (Carlos Gonzales 81), Michael Curcija (Daniel Allsopp 87), Kosta Salapasidis, Sebastian Sinozic, Mark Robertson |
| Referee : Francisco Padro Borja (Mexico) Linesmen : Amaldo Pinto Filho (Brazil), Purmanund Rughooputh (Mauritius) Coach : Les Scheinflug (Australia), Masakuni Yamamoto (Japan) | ||||