Subway Joeys centre-back Charlie Parkin is confident the team can bounce back in their final group stage match at the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2025™ and pick up an all-important win against reigning champions Japan.
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After drawing 1-1 with Vietnam and falling 2-0 to the United Arab Emirates in their two opening Group B fixtures, Brad Maloney’s side must beat Japan to secure their passage to the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025™.
Ahead of our qualification shootout with the Samurai Blue, we sat down with the Brisbane Roar defender to discuss the result against UAE, preparations for Japan and the belief within camp.
On the UAE defeat
We started strongly. We had a lot of opportunities in the first 20 minutes, hitting the crossbar a couple of times. But, conceding cheap goals let us down. We didn't stop in the second half though - we started strong again, hitting the post and crossbar a few more times. We just need to take our chances and I believe the boys will. If we beat Japan, we're going to the World Cup. There’s a great togetherness in the group and our desire to win is massive. We need to keep pushing, regroup as a team, recover and focus on Japan. We can definitely get the job done.
On maintaining belief within the squad
The loss against UAE was our first since we started this Joeys campaign as a group. We need to put those two games behind us and focus purely on Japan. If someone said to me before, ‘you've got 90 minutes to go to the World Cup’, I'd take that every day of the week. We have full belief that we can win. We’re fully focused on getting the job done against Japan.
On being more clinical in attack
We create really good opportunities and put ourselves in great positions to score. In both games so far, we’ve hit the woodwork several times. It's just that final touch, that final finish, that we need to execute better. But, we've played really well in these first two games. It's just those little details that we need to fix, which we will work on in training, building up to Japan. If we can fix those, we'll beat Japan and we can qualify for the World Cup and keep pushing.
On what to expect from Japan
I think it'll be more of an open game. Japan are the defending champions. So it's obviously going to be a hard game, but we're up for it. You've got to beat the best to be the best. Japan are a great, very technical team, but I think we're as good as them and we can put up a great fight. We’ve got the desire and the belief to beat them and qualify for the World Cup.
On the messaging from Head Coach Brad Maloney
Brad's been great. The results against Vietnam and UAE are in the past. There’s nothing we can do about it now - we just have to focus on Japan. In the changing room, Brad told us this quote from the world of tennis, ‘the best players forget about the last point and think about the positives for the next point’. And that’s what we ultimately need to do, just focus on the next game against Japan. Let the ball do the talking.
Match Schedule
Japan U17 v Subway Joeys
Thursday, 10 April 2025
Okaz Stadium, Taif
Kick-off: 6.00pm local / 1.00am AEST (Friday, 11 April)
Broadcast: 10 Play