Four of Brisbane Roar’s brightest young talents have pressed their claims for selection in the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games Asian qualifiers after impressing in the Qantas Olyroos’ friendly with Japan overnight.
Matt Jurman, Mitch Nichols, Andrew Redmayne and Rocky Visconte were all given starts by Qantas Olyroos Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar for the clash at Niigata Stadium which ended 3-1 in favour of their Asian counterparts.
While all four Brisbane Roar players put in strong displays in the defeat, it was Nichols- man of the match performance that was the real highlight for Australia.
The Qantas Olyroos broke away to an early lead thanks to a quick-thinking attacking move in the third minute that allowed the unmarked Nichols to calmly slot the ball past Japanese gloveman Shuichi Gonda.
Despite dominating the majority of the opening half, their failure to capitalise on their overwhelming possession proved costly for the U23 side with an equaliser before the break and a strong second-half performance from Japan dictating the end result.
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou was a keen observer of the match from his living room in Brisbane, reserving individual praise for each of his young players.
“They all did well I thought and Mitch was outstanding, I thought he was the best player for Australia,” he said.
“Rocky did really well, he played in midfield and up front and looked really strong.
“Same with Matty Jurman – they were under a lot of pressure in the second half and I thought his overall performance was pretty good and Redders had a really solid 45 minutes.”
“I was really pleased with what I saw, it looks like all the hard work we-ve done at training in the past month has held them in good stead.”
The Qantas Olyroos will depart Japan today with players returning to their clubs ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games Asian qualifiers against Yemen on June 19 and 23.
