The LG Young Socceroos have cruised into the semi finals of the football competition at the East Asia Games, going through their group undefeated after thumping Guam 6-0 in Osaka today.
Midfielder Michael Ferrante opened the scoreline in the seventh minute, his free kick from twenty five metres out dipping over the wall and past the goalkeeper.
Five minutes later, striker Franco Parisi notched up his first goal for Australia, latching onto a through ball from Louis Brain, and beating the keeper with a low, hard strike.
It took the LG Young Socceroos until two minutes into the second half to put their third on the board, a full team effort involving over a dozen passes, which started from the half-way line, and was finished up by Brain, who in the process scored his first goal for the Under-20s.
Parisi then chipped in with his second for the game, a header in the 57th minute from a Gareth Edds cross, Joshua Kennedy put away Australia's fifth seven minutes later, and Jade North rounded off the scoring in the final minute of play.
Guam's cause was not helped with a player sent off in the 76th minute, although the teams were back on level pegging four minutes later when Brain limped from the field with an ankle injury, and was unable to be replaced, as Australia had used its allocation of substitutes.
"While they weren't necessarily our hardest opposition, we have to remember that this was Guam's full international side, and they were quite physical and strong, so it makes for a very good result," said coach Ange Postecoglou after the game.
"After our initial two goals, they stayed back and played defensively, so it was a matter of playing patiently, and being more direct - it was always going to be that sort of game, where we basically tired our opposition down.
"All in all, I felt we improved on our opening game against Japan, and we'll be looking to keep that momentum going into the semi finals." he concluded.