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Going into the match, the Young Socceroos knew they were in for a challenge with the Dutch team boasting 10 players who regularly play for the Senior Netherlands national team, such as Adam Maher and Kevin Strootman, and the entire squad regular first team starters in the Dutch Eredivisie league and other top European leagues.

Although this was the Netherlands U-21 team they were in fact up to three years older than the Young Socceroos because under UEFA rules the players must be Under 21 when the qualifying starts (born from 1 January 1990) with the Young Socceroos born anytime after 1 January 1993 with some players in fact born in 1995 (Sam Galloway) and 1997 (Daniel De Silva).

With Curtis Good on the bench, Jackson Irvine captained of the Young Socceroos for the first time and Sam Galloway and Pain making their international debuts.

The Netherlands took the lead in the fourth minute with a well taken free kick by AZ Alkmaar midfielder Maher from the edge of box, that went over the wall into the top corner giving Young Socceroos goalkeeper Paul Izzo no chance of saving.

Young Socceroos played nervously in the first half allowing the hosts to dominate possession.

The Netherlands doubled their lead on the half hour mark through Maher again and then added their third just before half-time thanks to PSV Eindhoven's Strootman.

After the break the Young Socceroos improved markedly as the Netherlands made numerous changes, with Australia playing better football and putting sustained pressure on the Dutch limiting their opportunities significantly.

Ryan Williams had a great chance to peg a goal back for the Young Socceroos in the 65th minute with a one-on-one with the Dutch goalkeeper, but was denied by a great save.

Four minutes later Mustafa Amini played a great ball to Adam Taggart whose shot was deflected by the Dutch goalkeeper. The deflected ball was heading into the goal but was desperately cleared off the line by a Dutch defender to deny the Young Socceroos yet again.

Australia had another great chance in the 87th minute when Daniel De Silva played a ball over the top to Andrew Hoole whose shot just went wide to the left of the goal

Persistence paid off for the Qantas Young Socceroos at the end of regulation time when a shot from Hoole from just inside the box was parried by the Dutch goalkeeper, but this time Jamie Maclaren was on hand to collect the rebound and slot home from a tight angle.

After the match, Young Socceroos coach Paul Okon was very proud of his teams efforts considering the quality of the opposition.

“Our preparation for Turkey basically started on Tuesday when we had the full squad together for the first time since the AFC Championships last November,” said Okon

“The opportunity to play a world class football nation was fantastic and the players can be proud of their efforts.

“The first half we were a bit nervous and some mistakes cost us goals which we need to eliminate out of our game leading into the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

“We addressed some of these issues at half time and the players responded and the second half was exceptional outplaying Holland for most of the half.

“The only disappointing thing was that we failed to convert the 1-on-1 opportunities we had to score more goals. The goal we scored was a just reward for the players hard work and effort.

“Now we continue our camp in Cyprus where we will play another top country in Germany,” concluded Okon.

The Young Socceroos will now travel to Cyprus where they will play the German U-21 Men’s National Team at Paralimni Stadium on Friday 31 May.

   >>>    click here to see the match pics