Though in hindsight they lost 3-0 to eventual champion Mexico, who beat Brazil by the same margin in the final, and lost to European champions Turkey before winning their final pool game 2-1 over Uruguay, the Joeys lacklustre performance at the U17 World Cup in Peru and other recent poor World Cup performances by youth teams really shows the impact of direct qualification from Oceania has had. No contests, no development, no value.
It's not just the performance that's highlighted. It's also the lack of interest in the tournament. For the first time ever I could not even be bothered watching an Australian team in a World Cup. Not even to record it. It's a joke. When we qualify so easily and are there so often, the only real interest occurs if these teams progress deep into the tournament.
There's been calls for coach Ange Postecoglou to be sacked, and while results have been poor, they have corresponded to the period since direct qualification started. The reality is that not each batch of players will be great, but because Australia qualifies all the time, a bad batch of talent shows up. That doesn't happen with other regions because the nations with poor squads wouldn't qualify at all, with Holland being a classic example. Postecoglou will probably get one more chance given the new qualification format now that we're in Asia, and probably deserves at least one chance at a crack at it with a decent preparation and schedule.
16 Sep 05 14:15 Lima URU - MEX 0:2 (0:0)
16 Sep 05 17:00 Lima TUR - AUS 1:0 (0:0)
19 Sep 05 15:30 Lima MEX - AUS 3:0 (2:0)
19 Sep 05 18:15 Lima URU - TUR 2:3 (1:1)
22 Sep 05 15:30 Chiclayo AUS - URU 2:1 (1:1)
22 Sep 05 15:30 Piura MEX - TUR 1:2 (1:1)
Team GP W D L GF GA + / - Pts
Turkey 3 3 0 0 6 3 3 9
Mexico 3 2 0 1 6 2 4 6
Australia 3 1 0 2 2 5 -3 3
Uruguay 3 0 0 3 3 7 -4 0
* Australia and Uruguay eliminated
25 Sep 05 16:00 Piura CRC - MEX 1:3 a.e.t. (1:1, 0:0)
25 Sep 05 19:00 Iquitos TUR - CHN 5:1 (2:0)
26 Sep 05 16:00 Trujillo USA - NED 0:2 (0:1)
26 Sep 05 19:00 Iquitos BRA - PRK 3:1 a.e.t. (1:1, 0:0)
29 Sep 05 16:00 Chiclayo MEX - NED 4:0 (1:0)
29 Sep 05 19:00 Trujillo TUR - BRA 3:4 (0:3)
02 Oct 05 15:00 Lima NED - TUR 2:1 (1:0)
02 Oct 05 18:00 Lima MEX - BRA 3:0 (2:0)