Australia men's national under-20 soccer team
The team has represented Australia at the FIFA U-20 World Cup tournaments on fifteen occasions with their best result being a fourth-place finish in 1991 and 1993.[3] On 24 June 2008 Jan Versleijen was appointed as the new U-20 coach ahead of the 2008 tournament, with the FFA eager to avoid a repeat of 2006, and qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.Australia then needed an extra time winner from Mitch Nichols to overcome North Korea in the quarter-final before losing 3–0 to UAE in the semi-final.Despite a late James Holland penalty, Australia lost their opening game to the Czech Republic 2–1 before Costa Rica defeated the 'Young Socceroos' 3–0.Wins over Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Singapore proceeded to a 0–0 draw with the hosts, Indonesia and a loss to Japan.Wins over Yemen and Iran followed by a 0–0 draw with South Korea meant Australia topped the group on goal difference.The confederation was geographically separated and Australia was grouped with other East Asian nations, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Macau.These five nations met in Malaysia in November 2011 and Australia proceeded through the group by winning all four games, scoring 20 goals and conceding just 1.Paul Okon[8] coached Australia in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey where they failed to win a game despite scoring the first goal in all 3 fixtures.Australia was coached by Ufuk Talay for the tournament and was drawn into Group D. The opening fixture was a 1–0 victory against China through a goal to Mario Shabow.Australia then responded through two second half penalties to Liam Youlley and George Blackwood however the final result was a 3–2 win for Uzbekistan.[10] The matches had originally been scheduled to be played in Shepparton, Victoria however the Australian government refused entry to the North Korean squad.[11] As a result, the matches were moved to neutral Vietnam although the costs associated with the shift in venue saw Northern Mariana Islands withdraw.[16] In their last group match against Jordan, Australia needed at least a draw to advance and they finished 1–1, with Oliver Puflett scoring the goal in the 10th minute.Elimination at the quarter-final stage meant that Australia failed to qualify for the Under-20 World Cup for a record third consecutive time.