Adelaide United striker Al Hassan Toure edges Olyroos closer to Tokyo 2020 Olympics berth
Olyroos coach Graham Arnold says the sky is the limit for Al Hassan Toure, as the Adelaide United teenager bids to extend his international goalscoring streak and steer Australia to a long-awaited Olympic Games return.
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The sky is the limit for Al Hassan Toure, as the Adelaide United striker bids to extend his international goalscoring streak and steer Australia to a long-awaited Olympics return.
That was the view of coach Graham Arnold, on the eve of the Olyroos’ crucial Asian under-23 championships semi-final against South Korea in Thailand.
Arnold backed the African-born prodigy to continue his meteoric rise and help end the country’s 12-year Games absence.
“Toure is doing fantastically well,” said Arnold, ahead of Wednesday night’s clash with the Taegeuk Warriors.
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“You’ve got to remember he’s very young, even for this age group.
“His talent is special.
“Where he can end up with a lot of hard work, can also be special.
“It’s a great learning experience for Toure and I couldn’t be happier with the way he’s progressing.”
Toure demonstrated his strength and composure to apply a typically cool finish to Aiden O’Neill’s through ball and decide the deadlocked encounter with Syria in Bangkok.
It was a third international strike for the Croydon Kings product, since he rejected an offer to represent his parents’ homeland, Liberia, in the wake of October’s FFA Cup final heroics.
Toure, who was born in Guinea but moved to Australia with his family aged four, has caught
Arnold’s eye in camp with his quality and consistency in front of goal.
“From the outside, you don’t potentially see that his finishing is so lethal,” said Arnold, who scored 19 times in 54 appearances for the Socceroos between 1985-97.
“When you see him at training and he’s doing shooting drills, his finishing is excellent.
“There’s a lot of aspects that he still needs to work on with his game.
“But the way he’s coached there in Adelaide, I expect that he’ll come along in leaps and bounds.”
He had gone on to find the net seven times in 14 games in all competitions for United.
The Olyroos strike set up a date with South Korea, which had racked up four-straight victories to progress to the penultimate stage of the tournament.
Arnold said his team is aiming to win the regional competition for the first time, not rely on the third-place playoff to secure the final Olympics spot.
“For me, we’ve achieved nothing yet,” said Arnold, following a pair of draws with the Koreans in the past year.
“We’ve ticked two boxes and there’s four to be ticked.
“Our focus is on winning that trophy in the under-23 Asian cup.
“It hasn’t been done before (by Australia).
“It’s something that’s quite special for Australia.
“All we’re doing is talking about that at the moment and building the players’ belief and confidence, and making sure they’re fresh and ready to go.”