Blues striker Ben Folami won his second Australia U23s cap and scored his first goal at that level as the Olyroos thrashed hosts China 5-1 in their opening game at a friendly tournament in Chongqing.

Folami came on as a 68th minute sub and netted his goal 17 minutes later, cleverly working himself space on the edge of the box before hitting a low strike which beat the keeper to his right off the inside of the post.

The 19-year-old joined up with the squad yesterday after playing the full 90 minutes for the Blues in Tuesday’s 1-0 Leasing.com Trophy tie at Colchester.

Speaking after that game the Sydney-born frontman said he was expecting to play two matches while away.

“It’ll be very hectic,” he said. “I fly out [Wednesday], I get there on Thursday their time, then I have two games to play and then I’ll be back. I’m only there for four or five days, so it’s a long way to go. But I’m very happy to do it, so it’s OK.

Goal at 2hr 01mins 00secs

“The games are ahead of the AFC U23 tournament in January, which is in Thailand and that’s to qualify for the Olympics.

“That is the next goal for me national team-wise, so to do well in this camp and then for them to call me up in January for that, that would be great.”

The Australian youngsters subsequently face North Korea on Sunday and Lithuania on Tuesday.

Photo: TWTD

hoppy added 13:50 - Nov 15 Well done Ben. Shame about the China getting smashed tho.
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dirtydingusmagee added 13:58 - Nov 15 Well done Ben, been showing promise for a while, .
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midastouch added 13:59 - Nov 15 Seems the model of importing loads of mercenaries into Chinese football (and paying them megabucks for the privilege) is not doing much to bring on their own domestic players. I remember Wales thumping the Chinese first team not so long ago. China have proven very capable in a lot of sports but they've still got a very long way to go in football.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 17:12 - Nov 15 Ben might be making his way into the first team squad sooner rather than later if he keeps this up. Well done!
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ITFCsince73 added 20:06 - Nov 15 This club has some fantastic talent coming through. Dozza, Downes, Woolf, Folami etc. And the likes of Lancs and Morris returning hopefully sooner, rather than later. All of them the future of ITFC.
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bobble added 03:47 - Nov 16 go australia...
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