Young Socceroos manager Trevor Morgan is both too modest and too ambitious to declare the side’s recent trip to the U20 World Cup a success, but there are very few others around the Australian game who wouldn’t feel the recently completed cycle was just that.
Winners of the Asian Cup early in 2025 – Australia’s first underage men’s silverware in the AFC – saw qualification to the U20 World Cup for the first time since 2013. They gave a meritorious effort in Chile, the scoreboard in losses to Italy and Argentina failing to tell the full story.
Furthermore, there has been individual recognition for Alexander Badolato as AFC Youth Player of the Year and for Morgan himself, as AFC Youth Coach of the Year. Paul Okon Engstler and James Overy featured in Tony Popovic’s Socceroos camp last week in preparation for the World Cup, while some of Morgan’s other charges will likely feature in January’s upcoming U23 Asian Cup en route to the 2028 Olympics.
‘Football is the greatest game, but it’s also cruel at times. I would definitely describe the [tournament] as one that got away – we felt we had it, there’, Morgan told Box2Box.
‘Argentina were excellent, that’s why they went all the way to the final, and on the day they were better than us. But we feel we missed a great opportunity against Italy, and should have put them to the sword. I do think that would have given us the momentum, and obviously the points needed to progress.’
A 3-1 win against Cuba in their final group game didn’t prove enough to advance to the knockout stages, but was an achievement in itself; the Young Socceroos’ last win at the U20 World Cup had come sixteen matches earlier against Brazil in 2003. Five age groups had failed to qualify in the interim, while four qualified but returned without a win.
The natural lifecycle of age group football means this squad will now fragment, with no guarantees as to where their football will take them. Some will become senior Socceroos and this tournament will read as a precursor at careers’ end; for others this will be the highwatermark and as Morgan put it, this will be their ‘club for life.’
Snapping a twelve-year drought to work their way as far into their age group cycle as possible was no fluke and while memories of the World Cup may fade, the Asian Cup trophy will not. Morgan pointed to Football Australia’s whole-hearted backing of their desire to play as much football as possible – from there, he said, the praise belongs to the group.
‘We played 35 matches, which the Football Australia board and executive supported us in. Our choice was to play the highest-level matches every time we got a chance – whenever we could afford it, whenever we could find a top opponent.
‘It didn’t matter how big they were, or if we sometimes felt a little underprepared in terms of training sessions; we still said ‘boys, the experience is worth it, and we back you.’ You can train people well, have a good message, but it’s important to put them into games with an opportunity to show what they can do.
‘What was fantastic was that the boys were up for it. They really showed confidence, bravery to play good football against very highly fancied and more experienced youth international footballers. And that was from game one, right until the end.’
Does that mean the blueprint is set, that the solution to frequent youth tournament qualification has been unlocked? The competition is always improving, and each group will differ; what Morgan does feel is that Football Australia’s national teams programs are now well enough structured, connected, to give players the best opportunity to progress through the pathway.
‘There are a lot of systems and processes we try to make consistent right throughout the national teams, particularly around the monitoring of players and the scouting of players. Popa has made it clear from the start that every player on all of our lists is of interest to him,’ he said.
‘That was a clear message from the Socceroos boss: if they’re on your monitoring list, if they’re on your radar, if they’re in your camp, the Socceroos will be keeping an eye on them. He then came to our camp, wanted to see the boys train, wanted to show his support, and wanted to be there and get behind them, and then stayed for the first match.
‘All players got a chance to meet the boss. All players got a chance to train where he could see them. And so, the decision to bring those boys into camp is obviously a little bit around the availability and the need of the Socceroos, but also because they did something that stuck in the coach’s mind.’
Morgan now hands the group over to take on the rest of their careers; regardless of how he feels or what they look like, most around the Australian game will remember his U20’s of 2024/25 as a success.