Qantas Joeys held to scoreless draw in Bolivia

The Qantas Joeys have been held to a scoreless draw against Bolivian club side, The Strongest.

The Qantas Joeys have been held to a scoreless draw against Bolivian club side, The Strongest.

Coming off a first game loss against the Bolivians, Australia-s finest junior talents were determined to improve and did soon a water-soaked pitch.

From the outset the Joeys had settled more quickly than their opponents and the Bolivian defence was under immediate and persistent pressure from the kick-off.

Todd Norris was causing the Bolivian-s problems down the left side with his pace and strong work on the ball against more mature players.

In the sixteenth minute Josh MacDonald-s free-kick sailed just wide and shortly afterward a sharp chance was presented when Daniel De Silva gained possession in the box, his shot saved by the Bolivian custodian.

The Qantas Joeys continued to dominate possession with neat, structured attacks being put together regularly, De Silva and MacDonald in particular were proving a handful for the Bolivians, but The Strongest defence held fast, with the Bolivian goalkeeper keeping them in the match.

A raft of changes at half time gave Qantas Joey-s coach Alistair Edwards an opportunity to test combinations and for players to press their claims, despite the changes the Joeys were still unable to crack the Bloivians, their defence standing firm.

Despite their inability to finish, Edwards was more than pleased with the result.

“It was such a pleasing performance today, close to being the best we have had in terms of our defensive team tasks, we not only created some excellent chances but for large periods of the game, particularly in the first half we controlled the tempo of the game,” Edwards said.

“We have been working specifically on the players- individual defending and group defensive tasks over the past few days and collectively todays performance showed great progress against a physically imposing Bolivian team.”

Qantas Joeys James BALDACCHINO, Aaron CALVER (45- Matthew SCHMIDT), Daniel DE SILVA (45- Lukas STERGIOU), Jack IREDALE (45- Rocco PIZZATA), Steve KUZMANOVSKI (45- Brandon LUNDY), Joshua MACDONALD, Todd NORRIS (47- Steve KUZMANOVSKI I/C) , Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS (45- Jordan PUDLER), Liam ROSE (27- Kevin LY) Matthew STEWART (45 Darcy MADDEN), Jordan THURTELL