'Joeys will learn from Eaglets 6 goals rout'

AUSTRALIA'S coach Tony Vidmar says his Joeys will take some harsh lessons from their 6-0 mauling at the hands of defending FIFA under-17 World Cup champions Nigeria.
It was a bitterly disappointing result for the Joeys, who had their chances during the round of 16 clash but seemed to lose their nerve during a defining stretch midway through the first half and never recovered on Thursday morning (AEDT).
In the space of three minutes, Nigeria took the lead and then doubled it from the penalty spot - but only after the Joeys wasted a golden chance to level the scores in between.
The match turned into a procession after the break as a clearly-fatigued Australians unravelled, conceding a further four goals as Nigeria waltzed into the tournament's final eight.
Vidmar was critical of Australia's first half performance, after he told the press that his team didn't "play our game" and didn't press Nigeria aggressively enough.
"I spoke to the boys after the game and told them we were disappointed with this performance," Vidmar said.
"But I told them we can't be disappointed with the performances in the tournament before tonight.
"There's been a lot of fantastic learning football moments - both good and bad - and hopefully the boys can take those bad moments and improve from them.
"That's all we ask, because we hope that these players will one day become future national team players."
FFA youth technical director Peter de Roo said the scoreline wasn't indicative of the performance, and that Australia was actually more composed on the ball during the second half than Nigeria, four-time World Cup winners at this age group.
"The only thing we didn't do at that stage was score a goal. On their first break, they scored, and then we lost that momentum," he said.
De Roo said the Joeys, who opened their campaign with a 4-1 loss to Germany but drew with Mexico and then beat Argentina, should be proud of their overall showing at the World Cup.
"Our goal was to play the football we wanted to play, regardless of who we played, and I think we've done that," he said.
"We have matched four world class teams in possession statistics.
"We got out of a group stage with some decent football, not sitting back, really taking it to the opponent.
"We know it takes risk, but it's the only way to improve the players and it's how we want to play as Aussies."