Nervy first half. A lot of shots and attacks for New Cal. Easily the best attacking team in the tournament apart from us. Makes me think maybe American Samoa got a rough draw?
Anyway, we lead 1-0, took advantage of a mistake well. Not sure we deserve to be ahead (8 shots to 5 in NC favour) but we are and hopefully New Cal will tire similar to how Fiji did (mind you Fiji did the same thing against Tahiti).
Come on boys - keep your cool, keep the ball and outrun them and we'll win this one.
That was... an ordeal. New Caledonia can count themselves pretty unlucky not to win. Nevertheless, great defensive efforf and camaraderie from our boys. Stuck together really well as a unit when under intense pressure and held out the NC attack.
That was... an ordeal. New Caledonia can count themselves pretty unlucky not to win. Nevertheless, great defensive efforf and camaraderie from our boys. Stuck together really well as a unit when under intense pressure and held out the NC attack.
Imagine if the island teams had the same access to investment, infrastructure, age group coaching and academies like NZ has? We talk about how NZ lacks resources but these teams are working with a lot less in terms of their countries economic wealth, average income of the players families and their chances to develop/afford opportunities. On top of this they suffer from worse geographic isolation and transport links than NZ! Feels like we keep Oceania weak to beat up on them at the regular tournaments. We could surely afford with help of OFC get at least one international standard playing surface in each of the island nations used only for football internationals or OFC play-offs. It would not require a stadium just a decent surface. I think it would benefit everyone in the end. Better football played by everyone and less risk of injuries from playing on cow paddocks.
I mentioned it before but is now a Academy in the Solomons being built with help of the Japanese Govt. Probably motivated by an eye towards the Chinese!
That was... an ordeal. New Caledonia can count themselves pretty unlucky not to win. Nevertheless, great defensive efforf and camaraderie from our boys. Stuck together really well as a unit when under intense pressure and held out the NC attack.
Imagine if the island teams had the same access to investment, infrastructure, age group coaching and academies like NZ has? We talk about how NZ lacks resources but these teams are working with a lot less in terms of their countries economic wealth, average income of the players families and their chances to develop/afford opportunities. On top of this they suffer from worse geographic isolation and transport links than NZ! Feels like we keep Oceania weak to beat up on them at the regular tournaments. We could surely afford with help of OFC get at least one international standard playing surface in each of the island nations used only for football internationals or OFC play-offs. It would not require a stadium just a decent surface. I think it would benefit everyone in the end. Better football played by everyone and less risk of injuries from playing on cow paddocks.
Exactly, during the game I was thinking along the same lines - that with all due respect to our guys, if those New Caledonian boys had the same "professional" training, coaching and access as most of our team does, they'd have beaten us hands down, and it probably wouldn't even have been close.
Hopefully some Kiwi and/or French clubs were watching the game with interest, because there's definitely some talents to keep an eye on there! Hopefully the U17 World Cup later this year will give them more of a chance to shine and earn pro contracts overseas.
That was... an ordeal. New Caledonia can count themselves pretty unlucky not to win. Nevertheless, great defensive efforf and camaraderie from our boys. Stuck together really well as a unit when under intense pressure and held out the NC attack.
Imagine if the island teams had the same access to investment, infrastructure, age group coaching and academies like NZ has? We talk about how NZ lacks resources but these teams are working with a lot less in terms of their countries economic wealth, average income of the players families and their chances to develop/afford opportunities. On top of this they suffer from worse geographic isolation and transport links than NZ! Feels like we keep Oceania weak to beat up on them at the regular tournaments. We could surely afford with help of OFC get at least one international standard playing surface in each of the island nations used only for football internationals or OFC play-offs. It would not require a stadium just a decent surface. I think it would benefit everyone in the end. Better football played by everyone and less risk of injuries from playing on cow paddocks.
Exactly, during the game I was thinking along the same lines - that with all due respect to our guys, if those New Caledonian boys had the same "professional" training, coaching and access as most of our team does, they'd have beaten us hands down, and it probably wouldn't even have been close.
Hopefully some Kiwi and/or French clubs were watching the game with interest, because there's definitely some talents to keep an eye on there! Hopefully the U17 World Cup later this year will give them more of a chance to shine and earn pro contracts overseas.
It's quite difficult to judge really where the OFC talents sit as the level of play is just too low. Rightly or wrongly, foreign professional clubs just won't look twice at performances in any OFC competitions.
The perfect example would be the 2017 Solomon Islands U17 team, who played NZ twice for a 5-0 win and 0-0 draw in the qualifiers and went to Brazil with a fairly unprecedented belief for an OFC side. That was a decent '02 generation of NZ players as well - Stamenic, Garbett, Van Hattum and Jackson Manuel all played in the 0-5 defeat. In Brazil they then conceded 20 goals and scored none, which basically threw away any interest any scouts might ever have in non-NZ OFC sides. It took a generational OFC player in Lea'i to finally get a gig, and even that is with a side in UEFA's 41st best league.
The previous team to beat NZ was Tahiti who went to the 2009 U20 World Cup back when there was only one spot. They conceded 21 and scored none. This New Caledonia side will have to do something miraculous at the World Cup to get any foreign recognition; at the very least join Fiji's 2015 U20s as the only non-NZ/Aus team to win a match at a (non-beach soccer) FIFA tournament.
The Tahitians and New Caledonians are in a better position given they are French - and by extension EU - citizens which makes going to Europe much easier than any of the other island nations. I couldn't really watch the games due to internet speed, but the New Caledonian Nolhann Alabete won the Golden Ball as best player for the tournament. The trouble is that the money is lacking, so they can't fund trialling the same way richer New Zealand players can, not to mention culture shock/homesickness. France or Belgium would be the obvious easiest destinations to settle with the language, but those countries probably have thousands of kids at higher levels than the OFC players.
For what it's worth, this NZ U17 was the 7th best goal-scoring NZ side out of 11 U17/U20 tournaments since they went to more than three games in 2011. If you factor out the 11 goals scored against American Samoa, as well as the previous matches against the 'developing associations' - them, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga - then it drops to second worst at only 2.25 goals per game. The only side to score less against the 'good' sides was Buckingham's 2018 U19s at only 1.5 per game (six in four games, plus 14 versus Tonga). That's with only two players - Bell and Elliot - from that squad that would be first choice in Poland the next year.
Maybe that is testament to the island nations being better than usual, or maybe this '06/'07 NZ generation isn't as good. The real litmus test will be at the World Cup later this year. The time of year might be a factor, given the football season finished a couple months ago for the NZ-based players, but you'd hope the coach would be on top of that and organising matches throughout that period to ensure they don't lose sharpness.
Temperature/humidity and pitch conditions would be tough, but NZ teams have always competed in those conditions.
I just saw that New Caledonia are going to be playing in an U16 - though it wouldn't surprise me if they take their proper U17 side - tournament in April, the Mondial de Montaigu, which will be held in Montaigu, Venee, France. Their group has England, Belgium and the Central African Republic in it, while other participants include the hosts France, Denmark, Portugal, Japan, Mexico, Morocco and Cote d'Ivoire.
Even if they finish bottom of their group, as is likely, they'll still play two extra games, against the equivalent placed side from Group D and then a following game against the winner/loser of the Group A vs Group C match. It'll all be very good preparation ahead of the World Cup regardless of what happens though, with five games in eight days against entirely plausible U17 World Cup sides.
Does bring into question whether NZF has similar plans for the U17s to get preparation, and whether they receive invitations to such tournaments. New Caledonia is a bit of an 'odd one out' in that draw after all.
With qualifying all done for the U17 World Cup, the seeded pots are apparently now all sorted. They are based on previous tournaments' performances - just the same as the U20s - with possibly also a small seeding bonus given to continental champions. As the NZ U17s record is not as good as the U20s (2019 group, 2017 group, 2015 Ro16) they are Pot 3 as opposed to Pot 2 that the U20s were.
Of course that could mean a tougher draw, having to come up against both Pot 1 and 2 sides, as well as the Pot 4 side. Indonesia - who have been given hosting rights - are by far the team to play from Pot 1.
I guess best group might be Indonesia (1), Mali (2), Panama (4). It's of course hard to guess who is good or not though.
Indonesia finished runner up in their AFC U17 qualifying group - which they hosted - behind Malaysia, which meant they did not go to the final AFC U17 tournament. Malaysia then lost 4-0 to Yemen, 3-0 to Thailand and only beat Laos 2-1 at the AFC U17 tournament.
Mali are the only African side in Pot 2, and ideally you'd skip Germany/England/Argentina and Ecuador (South American runners up will be more than formidable too with superstar Kendry Paez). Mali finished fourth in CAF, losing their semifinal on penalties to beaten finalists Morocco.
Panama are the pick of Pot 4 for me (except for New Caledonia of course), as the Central American sides are generally among the weaker sides at these youth tournaments. Past wins against Guatemala, Honduras etc. Panama made it by beating Curacao, Guatemala, Cuba and Honduras before losing 0-5 to Mexico in their semifinal (no third place playoff). The other Pot 4 sides are CAF 3rd place side Burkina Faso, CONCACAF semifinalists Canada, 4th placed CONMEBOL Venezuela and UEFA semifinalists Poland.
On the other hand, a worst case scenario could be Brazil (1), Germany (2) and Burkina Faso (4). Brazil being the CONMEBOL champions, and they could add Endrick, who has already agreed to join Real Madrid for up to 60m Euros including add-ons and will join once he's 18. Germany are UEFA champions with star players like Dortmund's Paris Brunner and Freiburg's Noah Darvich. Burkina Faso, as mentioned, 3rd place in an always very tough CAF qualifying.
Regardless of who is drawn the team will need some preparation, be that friendlies of going to warm up tournaments etc. Indonesia might want to throw another one like they did for the U20s, and remember how we answered their last minute SOS to give us preferential treatment. Indonesia in November won't be the easiest place to go to without much preparation, especially for guys coming out of a northern English winter.
I see Perth Glory announced two of their u17 players have been selected for NZ U17s. Apparently games against New Cale? Does anyone know of a squad list?
Official SquadList, only NZ and Aus lads. Solid warmup for the world cup at home. Anaru Cassidy - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Bronson Brown - Auckland United, New Zealand Dylan Gardiner - Hamilton Wanderers, New Zealand Eric Imachi Sugahara - Christchurch United, New Zealand Fletcher Pratt - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Gabriel Sloane Rodrigues - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Jackson Cole - Christchurch United, New Zealand Jesper Edwards - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Josh Brown - Western Suburbs, New Zealand Luka Coveny - Western United, Australia Luke Flowerdew - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Luke Mitchell - Hamilton Wanderers, New Zealand Luke Supyk - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Mac Prathumphithak - Christchurch United, New Zealand Matt D'Hotman - Melville United, New Zealand Matt Foord - Cashmere Technical, New Zealand Max Argent - Perth Glory, Australia Nick Murphy - Christchurch United, New Zealand Paris Dlamini - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Raphael Conway - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Riley Dalziell - Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand Ruben Argent - Perth Glory, Australia
Official SquadList, only NZ and Aus lads. Solid warmup for the world cup at home. Anaru Cassidy - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Bronson Brown - Auckland United, New Zealand Dylan Gardiner - Hamilton Wanderers, New Zealand Eric Imachi Sugahara - Christchurch United, New Zealand Fletcher Pratt - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Gabriel Sloane Rodrigues - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Jackson Cole - Christchurch United, New Zealand Jesper Edwards - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Josh Brown - Western Suburbs, New Zealand Luka Coveny - Western United, Australia Luke Flowerdew - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Luke Mitchell - Hamilton Wanderers, New Zealand Luke Supyk - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Mac Prathumphithak - Christchurch United, New Zealand Matt D'Hotman - Melville United, New Zealand Matt Foord - Cashmere Technical, New Zealand Max Argent - Perth Glory, Australia Nick Murphy - Christchurch United, New Zealand Paris Dlamini - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Raphael Conway - Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Riley Dalziell - Eastern Suburbs, New Zealand Ruben Argent - Perth Glory, Australia
Good pickup on the Argent brothers. Someone's doing their homework at NZF.
Looks like Anton Isaako (Sydney) was the only other Aussie based player who missed out on this squad from the qualifying campaign.
To be fair to Ole four of those Phoenix players were with them 18 months ago. Ifill can probably claim some credit, but a lot of it should go to their Dutch TD who left last year.
The men’s U-17 team will continue their preparation for the FIFA U-17 World Cup with two international friendlies against New Caledonia U-17 this week 🇳🇿🇳🇨
🗓️ Tuesday 8 & Thursday 10 August ⏰ 3pm 🏟️ Fred Taylor Park, Auckland 🎟️ Free pic.twitter.com/fV6kKyHL07
Yeah - they have got much better at streaming games... and it was played in NZ, so why not?
One imagines they are recording the game for analysis any way - so why not stream it.
Yipe NZF/OFC have got a heap better at streaming games.
Still one of the few advantages that NZ age group teams have when going to World Cups is that we are pretty low profile down here, and it's likely a bit harder for our pool opponents to scout us, than vice versa. So wouldn't surprise if the U17 coaches from now to the WC, tried to do all their prep behind closed doors.
New Cal rocking the afros! And the 30 year old keeper.
Why is the game played at 3pm and at Fred Taylor which from memory isn't massively central to anywhere. Play it in the city at 4pm at least that way school is finished students can watch their mates.
Also find it dubious that it has been New Caledonian sources and information that has come out and been released first for both of these matches, only for NZ to follow suit shortly afterwards...
Squad named for a warm up tournament in Japan in the lead up to the World Cup. IMG_5448.jpeg437.62 KBLeuluai and Watson return. A player called Noah DuPont from West Brom also called up, I haven’t heard of him before.
