Is a 48 team WC now, but yes nuts OFC get 3 teams.
Helps Infantino lock in the OFC bloc come FIFA president re election time?
You'd think NZF would try organise some games verus Australia U17s. Aussies were a bit unlucky at the Asian U17s WC. Finished 3rd in the their 4 team pool (4 pts). So didn't progress to the quarters. Same pts as pool opponents Japan & UAE, and same GD as UAE, but lost the head to head battle.
Hosts Saudi were a little fortunate to finish 2nd. Beat both Japan (QF 2-2) & Sth Korea (semi 1-1) on pens to make the final verus Uzbekistan.
From memory the 2023 U17s toured Japan pre their WC, so maybe again a little tour of Nippon could be organised. South Korea have also qualified.
And yes Austria edged Spain to finish 2nd in their UEFA U17 tourney pool, so they must be pretty decent. Still the NZ boys will take some confidence from their win over Switzerland last week.
Lets hope it's better a U17 WC than that fairly dire one in Indonesia back in 2023.
Helps Infantino lock in the OFC bloc come FIFA president re election time?
You'd think NZF would try organise some games verus Australia U17s. Aussies were a bit unlucky at the Asian U17s WC. Finished 3rd in the their 4 team pool (4 pts). So didn't progress to the quarters. Same pts as pool opponents Japan & UAE, and same GD as UAE, but lost the head to head battle.
Hosts Saudi were a little fortunate to finish 2nd. Beat both Japan (QF 2-2) & Sth Korea (semi 1-1) on pens to make the final verus Uzbekistan.
From memory the 2023 U17s toured Japan pre their WC, so maybe again a little tour of Nippon could be organised. South Korea have also qualified.
And yes Austria edged Spain to finish 2nd in their UEFA U17 tourney pool, so they must be pretty decent. Still the NZ boys will take some confidence from their win over Switzerland last week.
Lets hope it's better a U17 WC than that fairly dire one in Indonesia back in 2023.