Australia’s Under-16 team have failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup in India, after bowing out at the AFC Under-16 Championships without a point from their three group matches.
Tony Vidmar’s side matched it with the classy Japanese side early, down just 1-0 at the break before the young Samurai Blue dominated in the second half.
It means the young Australian side ends the tournament with three defeats after earlier losses to Kyrgyzstan (1-0) and Vietnam (3-2).
Only the four semi-finalists (Japan, Vietnam, UAE and Iran) from the tournament qualify for next year’s Under-17s World Cup, meaning this generation of young Australian footballers will miss out.
“We gave away a goal straight away so were on the back foot early on. Although we came back into the game in parts our turnover rate and possession was poor,” Vidmar said.
“There was gaps in our team and Japan, an excellent team, were simply playing through us.
“We will go back and review what happened and go from there. Our side is a young one and maybe physically at a disadvantage as we struggled but we always look at the talent and potential we have.
“It will be a big learning experience for them to have played at a tournament like this. For the next stage in their careers they will hopefully take on board these lessons from the past two weeks.”
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