Australia has got it's World Youth Championship campaign off to the best possible start, with a 2-0 victory over Japan in the opening round of Group D games, in Rosario, Argentina.
An even start by both teams in the first half was replaced by Australia taking the upper hand in the second, the pressure rewarded in the 59th minute, with Brisbane Strikers midfielder Wayne Srhoj virtually opening the scoreline.
Srhoj hit a left foot drive from just outside of the box, clipping a defender on the way through and beating the Japanese goalkeeper for 1-0 to the LG Young Socceroos.
Australia's second was then put away by Sydney Olympic midfielder Greg Owens just ten minutes later, Owens on the tail-end of a series of deft passes across the field, which cut through the Japanese defence, finishing with Joshua Kennedy heading the ball down to Owens, who left footed the ball into the back of the net.
The only dampener on Australia's day was an injury to Perth Glory defender Ljubo Milicevic, which saw him stretchered from the field four minutes from time, coach Ange Postecoglou anxiously awaiting the test results on his captain.
"We're all concerned about Ljubo and how bad the injury might be, he's having a scan right now, and unfortunately it's taken a bit of the gloss of the performance for us," he said from Rosario.
"Someone fell across his knee in the dying minutes of the game and we had to take him straight off and straight to hospital for an assessment, but we're all keeping our fingers crossed that it's not too serious.
"With regards to the performance, we couldn't be happier, while maybe the first goal, an own goal was a little lucky, the second goal was well deserved and I felt we fully deserved the victory.
"It was always going to be difficult in the first 45 minutes because the Japanese were very confident going into this game, but we knew if we could knock the stuffing out of them and keep even for the first half, we could capitalise in the second," Postecoglou continued.
"That's exactly what happened, we raised our game a notch for the second half, and the second goal was the icing on the cake - they put us under pressure after that goal, but we defended well, and Michael Turnbull dealt with the crosses and attempts that were put in.
"We won't be getting carried away though, it's a great start but that's all it is - I watched the Czech Republic in it's draw with Angola and they are a big strong physical side, so they won't be easy - but Japan were the favourites in our group, and we beat them well, so if we play like we did today, anything can happen.
"Overall, with the exception of Ljubo's injury, we've had a good day all round by winning, and with the other teams drawing, we're on top of the group, and if we win our second game we'll go through - but today's result won't mean much if we don't do well against the Czech Republic, so that's what the focus for us is right now." Postecoglou concluded.