FIFA Under-20 World Cup

Young Socceroos Can Bounce Back Against Costa Rica - Dean Bouzanis

The Liverpool shot-stopper is confident heading into his side's crucial next group match.

Sep 29, 2009 1:01:32 AM

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Dean Bouzanis, Liverpool

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Young Socceroos goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis is confident the team can rebound after losing their opening FIFA U-20 World Cup match against the Czech Republic.

Costa Rica are next up, who will also be eager to rebound after suffering a 5-0 loss to Brazil – a scoreline which could have been different had Costa Rica converted some of their early chances, while they also had a penalty appeal waved away when it was still scoreless.

Bouzanis and his teammates know they must get a result against Costa Rica tomorrow if they are any chance of advancing to the knockout phase of the 24-team tournament.

“It was a disappointing result and disappointing to play as bad as we did but it’s a positive that we were still in the game,’’ Bouzanis said.

“Maybe there was some nerves there or maybe we just had a bad game. Teams can have bad games but at the World Cup you can afford to do that so we need to turn it around as quick as we can.

“And I’m confident we can, we’ve got Costa Rica next and then Brazil and I believe the boys are good enough to get maximum points from those games.

“The preparation starts now and everything that we do has to be spot on and if it is spot on then we’ve got a chance.’’

Bouzanis was playing just his second match for the Qantas Young Socceroos and while he was happy with his performance, he knows team success is all that matters.

“It was a massive honour to play for my country and the team that I always wanted to play for, Australia,’’ he said.

“Being a boy you want to play for a big club and you want to play for your national team. I’ve done that now and I was very happy to do that.

“On my own performance I thought I was solid and I thought I did what I had to do but then again I would rather the team get the points. It’s not a one man game, it’s about the team and I want us to do as well as we can.’’

Bouzanis is one of four Liverpool players at the U-20 World Cup, alongside England defender Martin Kelly and Hungary trio Peter Gulacsi, Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon, though the latter pair are on loan to AEK Athens and Cordoba FC (Spain) respectively.

While all of them ended up on losing sides in their respective opening matches, he and fellow keeper Gulacsi have shared the no.1 shirt with Liverpool’s reserves and both are battling for the back up spot behind Spanish keeper Pepe Reina at Anfield.

“We haven’t really had a good start, all the Liverpool boys have lost so we’re all looking to bounce back because we would love to go far in this tournament,’’ Bouzanis said.

“Peter and I have been battling away for a couple of years now and we still be battling for the next few years and we’ll see what happens after that.

“But we are very close and we are both good keepers – he’s good in some areas, I’m good in others so it’s just a matter of finding who can adapt to the English game quicker and Liverpool has to make the decision and we’ll see what happens.

“There’s always going to be competition wherever you go, whether it’s national team or club football.’’

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