New Zealand Men's U-20s

A good game from Stefan, muss, Rowe and Lucas

The midfield really needs a touch of class however

I thought Ryan Cain was our best player. The rest of the midfield were non existent.

Hard to shine when the game plan seems to be to lump it over their heads though.

Agree on Cain, Musa and Branch looking good.aitkenmike2011-07-31 12:12:39

had to be a bit gritty at times, stayed with them and yep could have snuck a (fairly undeserved but delightful) win

CB pairing and their cover did well

Soooooo many foul throws

The poor touch of the Cameroon players made them look good.
Cameroon shots on goal 26 (7) New Zealand 7 (1)
26 shots on goal, at least 4 of which should have gone in

Marinovic made some good saves, a shame about the penalty, a terrible shame about it.

Yeah, we should try to include the midfield in the gameplan.Better a point than a loss tho.

Chettlebrough should have been picked

Lovmore has a terrible touch. We were ugly but got a point off the African champs. Musa good in air but got turned for fun a couple of times. Won't go far unless sharper off mark. I Like branch but needs to be a touch taller. Murphy just kicks it away. Thought full backs did ok defensively. Hopefully long throw works against Portugal. Hey, got a result though. Must have Marco!Marius Lacatus2011-07-31 12:58:17

We were lucky, no argument. But in the past if we had luck we still lost 2 zip. So some progress

Agreed Until we meet Urugauy and Portugal

A gutsy point gained. At least we have a ready made replacement for Tim Brown. Number 18 Thomas hardly touched the ball at all in midfield.

Love it

Um Musa played well? Dunno watch game some people were watching but he and Marinovic were at fault for the goal.  He just watched his player run straight past him.  And the free kick he gave away on the edge of the box was a peno. 2ndBest2011-07-31 14:35:52

Considering the percentage of possession that Cameron had, the number of balls into the box, the skill of their forwards and the fact we got a point, yes, Stefan, musa and for that matter the captain had good games

Nil all draw in the Portugal - Uruguay game

How about you actually assess how they played, rather than all these other factors.  Fact is, Musa was average, and Marinovic gave away a penalty when he shouldn't have.  He made a few saves, all of which I was deem to be pretty standard saves.

Dom Post - Fred Woodcock

"Ohandza and his teammates tested Marinovic throughout the second half, particularly from corners, but the goalkeeper stood firm to be one of New Zealand's best on the night."

Not saying much.

One of the best on the night when NZ earned its first point at an Under 20 tournament.

I'm not saying he was horrible.  Just that he had a decent game.  Made all the saves he needed to, but gave a penalty away when he over committed himself, and failed to command his 6 yard box.

2 more quotes

Chris Milicich  " I think we defended quite well and our goalkeeper was amazing. He was sad about the penalty, but he played a great match."

and the Cameroon coach  "�Unfortunately we didn�t play well in the first half, but we did play our game in the second. We created chances, but their goalkeeper was amazing and saved everything"

Highlights here

http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/highlights/video/video=1483856/index.html

To be fair, on a different day this would've been a 4-0 loss - we were pretty poor. I was expecting us to struggle, but even defensively we weren't that sound really - you can't sing the praises of the defenders when the only thing keeping us from a hiding was Cameroon's repeated inability to finish from 10-15 yards out.

Obviously we'll take the point and hopefully the guys will get some confidence out of it, but I really dread the next two games.

Oh, and Sean Lovemore - my, my. We get one golden chance to snatch the unlikeliest of wins, a chance which 90% of people on this forum would put away, and he blasts it over. Not going to get a professional contract with finishing like that son.

I agree on lovemores touch he has pace but not much else

was really impressed by Lucas however and his touch. He also has the pace and for a wee fella physically can hold his own

I can see now why he is starting and it is just a pity he wasn't running off wood

Gotta be a lol in there somewhere

Think fair to say that marinovich had Good game overall, but would expect your goalie to make all the saves he made nonetheless. Maybe he could have avoided the pen but he got stranded by the centre backs, managed to force the striker wide but perhaps went to ground a bit soon. Striker made most of it though. Marinovich didn't trip him, he just kinda left his body in the way. Some refs might not have given it.

[QUOTE=el grapadura] ........Oh, and Sean Lovemore - my, my. We get one golden chance to snatch the unlikeliest of wins, a chance which 90% of people on this forum would put away, and he blasts it over. Not going to get a professional contract with finishing like that son.[/QUOTe

Rubbish. A ball whipped in at pace lovemore meet it on the volley again at pace, I've seen plenty of those missed in the premiership by far better players than him. He did well to connect, on another day he might have scored. 90% of us wouldn't even have got near the ball.

Read the paper tomorrow. Score 1-1. End of story  looking forward to the next 2 games !!!!
kiwiMalaysia422011-07-31 20:27:17

What? He could see the ball coming all the way from a long way away, it wasn't coming at an awkward height, and had absolutely no-one around him. Rubbish? You bet.

You miss that in Capital 10 you should hang your head in shame.

What a beautiful cross that was for the Lovemore miss. I haven't seen much of Lovemore and he may be a good player, but I agree that it was a bad miss.

Yep, the cross from Payne was absolutely superb.

[QUOTE=el grapadura]To be fair, on a different day this would've been a 4-0 loss - we were pretty poor. I was expecting us to struggle, but even defensively we weren't that sound really - you can't sing the praises of the defenders when the only thing keeping us from a hiding was Cameroon's repeated inability to finish from 10-15 yards out.

Obviously we'll take the point and hopefully the guys will get some confidence out of it, but I really dread the next two games.

Oh, and Sean Lovemore - my, my. We get one golden chance to snatch the unlikeliest of wins, a chance which 90% of people on this forum would put away, and he blasts it over. Not going to get a professional contract with finishing like that son.[/QUOTE

I've seen crosses like that and better finishes than Lovemore's in grades lower than Cap 10.

But meh. Over it.

Agree it was a minging miss from a minging player.

...but not as low as Cap 14...

You think Seatoun couldn't have pulled it off?

I was thinking of Yesterday.  THoase Lower Hutt Cap 1 players would have done it.