Victorians showed plenty of promise at the National Youth Championships in Coffs Harbour.
The tournament provided the young athletes to compete at the national level and progress on their football journeys.
Former Socceroo Josh Kennedy said the Nationals are an “integral” part of player’s pathways and development.
“It’s an opportunity for them to be away from home, spend the week in camp in a high-pressure environment, and bond with their teammates or coaches,” he said.
“There is development on and off the pitch. It gives them a taste of what a professional player experiences on tour when playing in a national team, so it's an important piece of their pathway.”
Victoria Blue led the charge for the U14s, finishing their group matches undefeated, while Victoria Green finished sixth overall and Victoria White finished seventeenth.
Head coach Jasper Kristensen said he was “very impressed” with the U14 playing group.
“It was a very strong Under 14s group,” he said.
“The Championships are a benchmark exercise to see where the players are at.
“It is hugely important that as Victorians we are always at the very top, it is difficult to win but we are always at the pointy end.”
Despite playmaker Julian Recchia being awarded U14 Player of the Tournament honours, it was the defensive efforts of his Victoria Blue side which pleased Kristensen most.
“We played seven games and we kept six clean sheets and the only time we conceded was the Semi-Final where we lost 1-0,” he explained.
“It says a lot about the team, the group played very well.”
Kristensen said the results the Victorians were able to produce were more notable due to the minimal preparation before the tournament.
“We only had the players once a week throughout august and September and we only played one practice match,” he said.
“If we can have more time with the players who knows what we could do.”
All Victorian U15 teams finished second in their pools with Victoria Blue finishing fourth overall and securing a spot in the semi-finals against Queensland.
Adrian Mazzarella’s side started slowly, losing to NSW in their first game of the tournament, however, they were able to win their remaining games to secure a finals birth.
“Our objective was to win every game from there, which we did and from there we were able to secure a spot in the finals,” Mazzarrella said.
Victoria Blue would ultimately fall to Queensland in a penalty shootout in the Semi-Final after being unable to capitalise on their chances.
“The game was fairly much in our favour,” Mazzarella explained.
“They were able to score two really good goals, aside from that we controlled possession and were able to score two goals ourselves.
“We were given a second penalty and it came with five minutes to go and we, unfortunately, hit the crossbar which sent the game straight to penalties.
“We had most of the possession, created the most chances and in my opinion played better football so it was disappointing for the game to be decided on penalties.”
The U15 side then found themselves in the third-place play-off against Western Australia, which the Victorians knew was going to be a big task.
“They were probably the team that played the most over the year so they were the most organised team so to come up against them in the third place play-off we knew was going to be a challenge,” Mazzarella said.
“It was a strong performance from the Victorian boys.
“We had an open goal at one point but weren’t able to finish the game off and ultimately lost in a penalty shootout again, which hurt.”
Mazzarella said he had a host of consistent performers including Daniel Graskowski who was named U15 Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
Anton Primorac and Christian Polyzoudis were particularly strong in the midfield,” he said.
“Meden Memeti who was potent up forward, scoring the most goals for our team.
“Defensively we had some really strong performances John Radmisis and Fin Crompton.
“Mikael Evagorou-Alou was the only player to play every minute and shoutout to Dylan Leonard who was our most flexible player. We played him in a variety of positions and was excellent in every position we played him.”