NSW Navy will take on Northern NSW and Western Australia will face South Australia in Thursday’s Under 16 semi finals, while in the Under-15s, Queensland White face NSW Sky and Victoria Blue will take on Queensland Maroon as the Emerging Socceroos Championships hits its climax in Sydney.
One interested spectator at Valentine Sports Park as the knockout stages kicked off was Socceroos and Sydney FC striker Al Hassan Toure, watching on as his cousin Amara celebrated South Australia’s Under-16s win over Queensland Maroon via a penalty shootout, after it finished 2-2 at full-time.
Toure was one of the successful penalty takers, in a match where Kalan Alagich - brother of Adelaide United’s Ethan and son of South Australian football icon Richard - also got on the board.
"It's a good tournament to showcase talent from different parts of Australia. It was good to come see him play," Al Hassan said.
"I haven't seen him play in a while. I'm happy that he won, obviously."
It was a big day for the Toure family, which started with Mohamed scoring a stunning goal in the Championship for Norwich in a 2-1 win over Derby and ended with Amara holding his nerve from the spot.
With younger brother Musa and sister Mariam also talented footballers, that's some five-a-side family squad!
"He's very good. I think he's quick, strong," Al Hassan explained.
"He has a good left foot, so that's what's important. And I hope he continues to grow and do well.
"When we go back home for off season, we all like to go to the park, have a kick-about and it's good at this young age. They're coming to train with us.
"I think it develops them quicker than if they're playing with their age group. Coming with us, we're a bit stronger and faster than them. So when they're playing with us, they learn a bit more. It's good for their development.”
The shootout hero was Laris Cesko, with two clutch saves from the spot.
Earlier, Tristan Roesch was the goalkeeping star for Western Australia as they also prevailed via a high quality shootout, edging an impressive Victoria Blue after a tense 0-0 draw.
Valentine Sports Park was a hive of activity again on Wednesday with football identities past and present watching the future. Although the art of scouting and player identification runs far deeper than headline moments, it can’t hurt to stand out - like Cesko, Roesch and 15-year-old Hugo Dunford, the goalkeeper for Queensland White in their shootout win over NSW Navy, got to do on Wednesday.
"It's more about (seeing the goalkeeper's) mentality," said Olyroos goalkeeper coach Neil Tate, keeping a watchful eye over all the goalkeepers this week, explained about how much weight the scouts give to shootouts.
"Goalkeepers love penalty shootouts because the whole game they really often the villain. So in a penalty shootout they get a chance to be the hero for once and the pressure's off them, pressure's on the striker.
"How they stand, the body language and the confidence (is something to watch).
"Some of the coaches will have strategies with their goalkeepers. At the top level they've got their penalty reports and everything but here it's going to be a bit instinctive.
"We like to see who steps up to the moment."
Roesch’s performance - which included a clutch save during the game - saw WA knock out the team that won the 15s in 2025.
Former Socceroos midfielder Neil Kilkenny, Western Australia's coach, said: "What a great game from Victoria. Fantastic team, obviously they got to the final and won it last year so and they were really tough game, so fair play to them what they did today, they were fantastic.
"I'm proud of them. Very proud. When we started this process of picking the squad, said to them, you're going to have to come through moments of pressure. Your mind plays games and luckily they come through at the end."
His side's progress to the final four is a chance to showcase the pipeline of talent coming from the west.
"We're pushing the levels now in WA to get players into the national squad, WA's got a lot of talent," he said.
"We showed it last year in both age groups, they've done well both age groups and I feel as though there should be a few in getting identified and hopefully again this year we'll get a few more.
"(This tournament) is great for WA and Australian football."
Kilkenny, a Socceroo and Olympian who played in the Premier League, has now turned his attention to coaching - with similar aspirations and as much gusto and intensity as we remember seeing in his playing days.
"I love it. Ever since I was very young in my career I knew I wanted to coach and it was always there but obviously the playing career I tried to last out as long as I could and now I'm here I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying WA, the Football West Academy and Football West.
"I've got high aspirations of where I want to go, so hopefully I can get to head coach and the management as I did as a player and fingers crossed I can do that."
He added: "I'm very passionate. I kick every ball with the boys. I'm right there with them. I trust them massively. I expect a lot, but I trust them. And to be fair these boys have really turned up so far, hopefully they can carry on doing that."
Earlier, NSW Navy defeated Queensland White 4-1 courtesy of Archer Winsow, Tyler Hogan, Zoravar Singh and Alex Catania, and they’ll take on the equally impressive Northern NSW, who also bagged four in a 4-1 result over Tasmania featuring a brace from Jack Middleby, son of former A-League star Robbie, and goals from Zac Zigic and Kaiden Walshe.
In the Under-15s, after the opening game shootout, Victoria Blue beat Western Australia 3-0 with goals from Luca Yates, Noah D’Ambra and Alazar Demise; braces from Lucas Krenek and Nathan Kirby, along with a goal from Nash Regenet steered Queensland Maroons to a 5-1 win over South Australia while NSW Sky thrashed Victoria White 5-0 after goals from Jacob Sousa, Revan Jamwal, Georgiou Harpur and a brace from Samuel Hassarati.
HOW TO WATCH
KommunityTV is your destination for exclusive live streams of the 2026 CommBank Emerging Championships with News Corp full digital subscribers having exclusive access to watch the action.
Every match will be available to watch live and on demand. Live streams of all fields will be available for each day of the tournament, with replays posted at the end of each day.
FIXTURES & RESULTS
The Tournament Hub has all the competitions and results while the Tournament Guide features all the groups, fixtures and key information.
Stay tuned to Football Australia's website, Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok for updates and social coverage.
This article was originally published on football360.com.au
