The match was played at the Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park training facility, the home of the Colorado Rapids MLS team, with the temperature at kick-off a blistering 34°C. 

The hot conditions also meant that drink breaks were taken midway through each third to allow the players and match officials to rehydrate.

Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen made a number of changes to the starting line-up compared to the one he used against the Korea Republic two days earlier including starting Ben Kantarovski in the midfield for the first time since recovering from his knee injury.

The first third didn’t really reach any great heights with both teams feeling each other out and trying to find ways through each others defence. 

Mustafa Amini had the Young Socceroos best chance of the third just before the break with a neat shot from the edge of the box which was tipped over the bar by the English goalkeeper.

Five minutes into the second third, Bernie Ibini-Isei had two close range shots blocked within a minute of each other, but it was England that was to score the only goal of the game just after the halfway mark.

Striker Saido Berahino made the most of a cut-back from the goal-line which he slotted home well from within the 6 yard-box.

As was seen in the match against the Korea Republic two days previous, Jan Versleijen made a number of changes for the final third of the match including a completely different defence.

England had chances to extend their lead, but Young Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Birighitti made a couple of telling saves to deny the opportunities.

Substitute Tommy Oar had a good chance to equalize in the 77th minute after receiving a long pass from Terry Antonis. Oar spotted the English keeper off his line and chanced his hand at a long range shot, from around 30 metres out, that hit the cross-bar and bounced out of play.

Unfortunately for the Young Socceroos the equalizer was not forthcoming and England held on for the win.

Versleijen was not concerned with the final score, but was happy with the overall performance.

"You could see today that we definitely made a step forward from the Korean match in terms of our fitness and understanding between the players," said Versleijen

"It is still difficult for the players to play a full 90 minutes at a high intensity under these conditions (altitude and heat) at the moment and that’s why we had to make a number of changes throughout the match.

“The changes in the line-up also allowed me to see what combinations work better than others which is interesting.

"There’s still some time to work on a few things, but I’m happy with what we achieved from the two training matches and I’m confident that we will be ready for our first match in Colombia."

The Young Socceroos will play continue to train in Denver for the next few days before heading to Colombia early next week to finalise their preparations for their opening match of the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Match Details

Qantas Young Socceroos 0

England U-20’s 1 (Saido BERAHINO 47’)

Qantas Young Socceroos line-up: 1.Mark Birighitti (gk) (c), 2.Rhyan Grant, 3.Dylan McGowan (16.Petar Franjic 61’), 4.Trent Sainsbury (15.Brendan Hamill 61’), 5.Marc Warren (17.Sam Gallagher 61’), 6.Ben Kantarovski (20.Jake Barker-Daish 31’), 7.Kofi Danning (13.Matthew Fletcher 31’), 8.Terry Antonis, 10.Mustafa Amini (6.Ben Kantarovski 61’), 19.Bernie Ibini-Isei (11.Tommy Oar 61’), 21.Dimitrios Petratos

Substitutes Not Used: 18.Matthew Acton (gk)

Not Available for Selection: 9.Kerem Bulut, 14.Matthew Leckie, 12.Lawrence Thomas (gk)

Yellow Cards: Mustafa Amini 57’

Red Cards: Nil

Note: due to the match periods (3x30 minutes) and the unlimited number of substitutions this was not an official match