Two WA sides in National Youth Championships semi-finals
Two of the Gold Fields WA State team have qualified for the semi-finals stage of the National Youth Championships for Boys this afternoon.
The two WA Black teams made up almost exclusively of Perth Glory players will compete in the last four of both the U14 and U15 competitions in Coffs Harbour.
Semi-finals details (times in WST)
2pm - 14s semi-finals
- Queensland White v Northern NSW Black - Field 1
- Western Australia Black v Victoria Blue - Field 2
3:20pm - 15s semi-finals
- Queensland White v Victoria Blue - Field 1
- Western Australia Black v NSW Metro White - Field 2
On a rain-hit day three on Wednesday, the U14s Black side defeated Queensland Maroon 2-1 thanks to goals from Alex Bolton and Cristiano Farfan. They then drew 1-1 with South Australia Red with Beckham Baker the scorer. After five games the WA side are top of group B on 12 points, with Queensland second on 10 and South Australia third a point further back.
The U15s Black are in a similar position with four wins and a draw from five matches. They drew 2-2 with Queensland Maroon, Ziyan Lan and James Overy the scorers, then saw off South Australia Red 3-1 as Max Uvarov, Louis Sollitt and Santiago Flores.
Overy and Flores are top scorers in the group with four goals, with Louis Sollitt one behind on three.
In the U15s group C, WA Yellow went down 1-0 to Victoria Blue before defeating Northern NSW 3-0. Glory duo Tino Mutema and Finn Wensley and Perth RedStar’s Roland Ballah got the goals.
WA U14s Yellow lost their first Round Three game in group C 1-0 to Victoria Blue. They then drew 1-1 with Northern NSW White, Hudson Burn of Joondalup United on target.
Continued storm breaks and persistent heavy rain resulted in major issues on day three.
The sky opened up during the 2.25pm fixtures leaving C.eX International Stadium Fields 1 and 2 unplayable. These matches were quickly moved to synthetic pitches with fixtures updated for the remainder of day three.
Championship manager Ramsey Vane-Wood explained the significance of the delays and the balancing act required to continue play on days four and five.
“Fixturing the remaining games is a jigsaw puzzle and we are making decisions based on fair outcomes after consulting with state stakeholders,” Vane-Wood said.