Young Socceroos call-up delights Olympic’s Matthew Jurman
The Young Socceroos were unfortunately defeated by Argentina 2-0 in their final match of the Shizuoka Broadcasting System Cup in Japan on Wednesday.
The squad coached by new man in charge in Dutchman Jan Versalaijen was pleased with the performance of his players in their first competitive tournament under his care and stated to footballaustralia.com.au:
“This was a very good tournament for us to participate in against some very good, high class opposition in particular Argentina.
“It was a good test and we found that we can compete with these teams to a certain level, especially in terms of defence and organisation, but we need to do more work on playing with the ball.
“This international experience will be of great benefit to us as we head towards the AFC Championships,” concluded Verslaijen.
Jurman, who has been a find of the season for the Blues in their quest for Championship success, was one of four players who have tasted TeleChoice Premier League experience.
Nathan Elasi and Jason Naidovski formerly of the Marconi Stallions and ex-Sydney Olympic and Penrith Nepean United player Nik Tsattalios were also called up for the tour of Japan.
The Young Socceroos took on Japan in their first match and drew 0-0 before going down 5-4 on penalties while they defeated Shizuoka Province 1-0 the following day only to lose to Argentina in their final match.
Jurman is expected to fulfil his playing commitments with the Blues as they take on the Sutherland Sharks this Saturday evening at Seymour Shaw at 7.30pm in the Preliminary Final for the right to play Wollongong FC in this season?s TeleChoice Championship Grand Final at CUA Stadium on September 7th.
-By Mark Stavroulakis
