Going into the tournament, coach Paul Okon had to make two changes to his squad with Luke O’Dea coming in for the injured Adam Taggart and David Vrankovic replacing Curtis Good.

Terry Antonis was given the honour of captaining Australia for the first time.

The Qantas Young Socceroos dominated possession for the opening 15 minutes and created a couple of opportunities but were unable to convert.

Midway through the half Ben Garuccio made a run down the left, and crossed into the box for Anthony Proia who was unable to finish cleanly.

The Indonesians began to get more possession as the match progressed and were dangerous on the break. They forced the Young Socceroos defenders to work hard and forced goal keeper Nick Munro into making a couple of great saves.

Deep into additional time of the first half, a corner from Garrucio was put to the far post, which was met perfectly by Proia who headed home to give the Young Socceroos the lead going into the break.

The second half was a hard slog for both teams as the heat and humidity took its toll.

The Indonesians put a lot of pressure on in the final 15 minutes with a number of dangerous shots on goal, but some great defending and goalkeeping from Nick Munro allowed the Young Socceroos to hold on for an important opening win.

Speaking after the match, Okon was very happy with his team’s opening result of the tournament

“It was a great performance in difficult conditions against a good opponent in front of a huge home crowd. It was also a fantastic experience for our players to play in front a parochial full stadium,” he said.

“The players played some very good football and we probably could have got a few more goals. The Indonesian team are a very good team and we were playing against players 2-3 years older.

“We now turn our focus to the next game and are looking to build on this result and put in another solid performance.”

In the other matches, Japan beat Macau 6-0 and Singapore defeated Timor Leste 2-1.

The Qantas Young Socceroos will play their next match against Macau on Saturday July 7 followed by matches against Singapore (July 10), Timor Leste (July 12) and Japan (July 15).