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The Young Socceroos are one win away from qualifying for the under-20 World Cup after beating Jordan at the under-19 Asian Football Confederation championships. Australia beat Jordan 2-1 overnight in Saudi Arabia to finish top of pool D in the championships.
They will now meet North Korea on Sunday in a quarter-final.
Should they reach the semi-finals, they will also gain entry to the under-20 World Cup, to be held next July in Egypt.
“We now have 90 minutes of football to qualify for the World Cup and we need to focus on this and our quarter-final opponent DPR Korea as they will be a very tough opposition,” said Australian head coach Jan Versleijen.
Jordan looked the better side early, but a powerful right-foot shot from Milos Lujic put Australia 1-0 up five minutes before halftime.
Australia nearly lost the lead just after an hour when Fathi Omar made a break and played in midfielder Suleiman Loiy behind the Young Socceroos defence.
But goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne made a strong save.
At the 70th minute, Jordanian captain Ibrahim Zawahreh brought down Mitch Nichols in the box and Sebastian Ryall scored from the penalty to put Australia ahead 2-0.
Substitute Zaid Khalil kept Jordan in touch with a goal at 82 minutes and they spent the rest of the game launching a series of attacks.
Redmayne was again prominent as the Australian defence held firm to ensure the win.
“Our goal was to top the group and we have achieved this,” Versleijen said.
“Jordan were a very difficult opponent who had some good passages of play, but we also lost the ball a number of times too easily giving them some chances.”
It was Australia’s second win of the tournament, following their 1-0 result against Thailand and a 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan.
The AFC under-19 semi-finals are on November 11 and the final is scheduled for November 14.
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