New Zealand Men's U-20s

Fair enough, mate. I'm just pissed off at our team's poor build-up - what the heck happened to all that money from South Africa 2010?

It was the same old story at the Olympics last year where we were probably one of the worst-prepared sides and I believe we could have taken three points against a very average Belrarus with adequate preparation.

Anything can happen in youth football and you're right, we still have a chance on the day against anyone.

After all, our u-20's did really well last time out in Colombia 2011 and were unlucky not to make the second round after draws with Uruguay and Cameroons and a narrow 1-0 loss to Portugal. Guatemala only just edged us as one of the best third-placed teams into the knockout stage.

Actually, I'd forgotten just how well we did in that tournament until checking those results just now. Portugal only edged us 1-0 and went on to the final where Brazil only scraped home 3-2.

Considering our meager population and football resources those sorts of results we've been getting at u-17 and u-20 level over recent years are very creditable.

Lets remember last time in Colombia, our group finished: 1. Portugal 2. Cameroon 3. New Zealand 4. Uruguay

- and no-one with any knowledge of the respective football stocks of us and Uruguay would have predicted that...

Will give our match-up with Uruguay extra edge this time though -especially for Uruguay. It's like the All Whites being drawn against Italy in the World Cup again...

Make no  mistake though, this  Uruguay side has some of the biggest international stars in this age-group...

Forgive my ignorance, but are our games going to be on Sky here?

Our next friendly opponents Egypt thrashed Kosovo 8-0 last night in the third-fourth play-off at the Valais Youth Cup in Switzerland.

Kosovo aren't even a member of FIFA but have a funny status with FIFA in that while they are not officially recognised to keep their enemy Serbia happy, they are allowed to play friendlies with FIFA's sanction. NZ is one of 101 UN members who recognize Kosovo as an independent state - 22 out of 27 EU member stats recognise it. The Republic of Kosovo declared its independence in 2008.

Full status for Kosovo now I say - and back off you bullying Serbs!!!

Sky TV still dragging their heels on announcing coverage of the U20s - despite its status as the 3rd most watched sporting event on the planet...pathetic.

http://es.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/tv/01/99/72/91/fifau-20worldcupturkey2013.pdf   Here's a list of licensed broadcasters that may be helpful...

My understanding is that the Optus C1 SBS transmission over NZ is encrypted - so not viewable here ?

We really are getting ripped off. I suspect Sky spent all their money on the NRL

Great football coverage in Aussie via SBS (government broadcaster)

According to Sky, FIFA has offered Confed Cup, U20 WC and 2014 WC as a complete package to them and they are still in negotiations over a deal.

Sounds like they might be trying to lower price by letting Confed Cup play out.

There will be plenty of streams to watch the footy on if push comes to shove and SKY doesn't get its act together.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find anything about todays game (stream) as I would of lked to have caught a glimpse of how we are looking. Based on our recent friendlies I am continually having to downgrade my expectations.

I do feel for NZ Football though in terms of providing resources for friendlies etc.... we dont have the cash or the markability to raise extra funds and thus are always stuck in limbo between investment and saving. This is why tournaments like the Confederation Cup and the World Cup are so important, qualification into these events pays for so much.

Another 10 million for the 2014 WC and maybe we will start seeing NZ age group sides being given better resourcing.

Quick question - who manages NZ Amatuer players at these tournaments incase they are scouted? I've always thought NZF would be smart to hire an agent to sign and manage NZ Players. The potential fee earning ability of Rojas and Wood etc would be significant.

Pleased to hear Ryan Thomas being named in the starting line up for the game against Egypt. Not sure why he not playing Edge at all tho

Any links or updates for the game?

Seems to have finished 0-0 from initial reports on international betting sites.

Good to see a tighter defence!!!

Usbekistan only losing 2-3 to spain due to a late red card, must be strong team.. Yikes

Lost 2-1. Howieson with the goal I think.  Sounds like they played pretty well.

Also....

Same kinda generic email they reply with. Maybe Piney needs to drag one of the sports department people onto his show.

Would they have sorted it if NZ were in it? Yes. Just trying to stiff fans and be lazy. They wouldn't ever do this to a rugby fan

recommend anyone interested should write a non-ranting email to Sky at this link. Can't hurt.

https://skytv.custhelp.com/app/ask/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzcxNTE5MTI4L3NpZC9HUDFEVl9zbA%3D%3D

Improving from game to game it seems:

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2390&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=05efbedc5a

AUCKLAND – The Junior All Whites completed their final warm-up game for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey overnight with a close 2-1 defeat to Egypt in Antalya, Turkey.

Chris Milicich’s Junior All Whites lined up strongly against African Champions Egypt – themselves in the final stages of preparation for the tournament – and will be pleased with the increased performance level from the team with under a week to go before their first FIFA U-20 World Cup game against Uzbekistan on June 23.

Egypt opened the scoring on 15 minutes through midfielder Refeat Ahmed despite New Zealand dominating play. The Junior All Whites had to wait until just after the break to restore parity with Cameron Howieson equalising, before a goal 12 minutes from time from star midfielder Mahmoud Kahraba gave Egypt victory.

The Junior All Whites will now move to their base in Bursa for the FIFA U-20 World Cup where they will play their first game against Uzbekistan on June 23, before facing Uruguay on June 26 and completing the group stage against Croatia on June 29.

CAMERON HOWIESON NETTED NEW ZEALAND'S ONLY GOAL AGAINST EGYPT'S U-20
SQUAD. PHOTO: OFC VIA PHOTOTEK

Big Pete - when you are linking to website, and in particular one's in NZ, can you just provide the link. It there creates hits for those websites, and thus bigger advertising money.

Good to see a closer result, although it would be nice if NZ Football could provide a little more detail about the game that what they have.

I'll look for an Egypt piece on it to see if they have a different view point.

I'm not really sure if i uy the whole dominated possession piece. Also does any one know what the starting line up was. I imagine this would be pretty close to how we line up for the first game considering its only a few days away and this was our last competative hit out.

Correct.

Found a brief article on the Egypt official site... even shorter than our release.

Didn't bother linking it as its in Arabic and barely a paragraph... sounded exciting though when Egypt kidnapped the second goal.

Spoke to Chris Milicich for In The Zone earlier tonight. Great bloke to interview, very personable.

I was critical of him after the last World Cup, because of the style of football we played, but there's no denying he knows the game.

Wonder how the rights for the remainder of the confeds cup and for the u20s will pan out now? If they secure the rights, how on earth will they pitch it? 

Sky are now showing the 3 all whites games, plus the semis and final.

Well done. Still a bunch of dicks though.

FIFA U-20 World Cup

Monday 24 June, 2013
New Zealand v Uzbekistan
1.48am, Sky Sport 2

Thursday 27 June, 2013
New Zealand v Uruguay
2.48am, Sky Sport 2

Sunday 30 June, 2013
Croatia v New Zealand
2.48am, Sky Sport 2

Junior All Whites' matches from Turkey will also be broadcast delayed on TV One:

 http://www.skysport.co.nz/article/football/headlines/2013-fifa-u-20-world-cup-to-screen-on-sky-sport-64709/

More and more football on TVNZ these days it seems.

Good to spread the love...

Chris Milicich Twitter feed for updates on NZ u-20's: https://twitter.com/cmilicich

UEFA A Coach, Head Coach NZ U20 Football Team, BDM 

and believes you need to aim for the highest cloud so that if you miss it, you will hit a lofty mountain

Auckland

1. chris milicich ?@cmilicich        17 Jun

   Now we need to continue to improve to be as competitive as we can 4 our group matches - fun and games again last night this time with chile

   •  More

2. chris milicich ?@cmilicich       17 Jun

   Egypt very strong first 20 mins but once we settled it was very even - players have learnt from their mistakes and defending shape solid

   
   

3. chris milicich ?@cmilicich       17 Jun

   Missed an opportunity last night - 1-1 and dominated last 25 mins and got caught with a counter attack - team come a long way in 7 days

1. chris milicich ?@cmilicich       13 Jun

   We must continue to play out from the back with possession being the focus, inspite of the mistakes, to develop LT international players

   •  More

2. chris milicich ?@cmilicich    13 Jun

   Match organiser annoyed all parties and people being spoken to by security and being told if we stayed to watch we would removed by police

   
   

3. chris milicich ?@cmilicich      13 Jun

   Strange game yesterday strong performance till 37 hours of flying kicked in - fun and games with Uruguay scouts at closed game

   
   

4. chris milicich ?@cmilicich       11 Jun
   

5. In HK airport 4 next 6 hrs. Disappointing against Australia & basic defensive errors punished - Australia v.good and punished our mistakes

   Neil Emblen ?@neilemblen                  11 Jun

   @cmilicich Plenty of time to sort it mate. Better to happen now rather than in 2 weeks! #chinup #enjoyandembracethechallenge

   
   

6. chris milicich ?@cmilicich          8 Jun

   Leaving NZ today to start the overseas campaign - boys looking sharp at training - Aussie big challenge on Monday but time to test the group

OUR U-20'S THE FEATURED TEAM FOR UK GOALKEEPER GLOVE MANUFACTURER: 

Just noticed leading UK goalkeeper gloves manufacturer "Onesport" are featuring our Junior All Whites as their Twitter account banner - they have  a sponsorship relationship with NZ u-20 goalie Max Crocombe and regularly tweet eachother.

Click here to see it: https://twitter.com/Onesport

Discussion going on over on Worldwide/General/Australia thread re Aussie U20 performance last night (1-1 v South American heavyweights Colombia) and the style in which they achieved that result. A-league based players and development pathways bearing fruit. NZ needs to connect with what's going on in the neighbour's backyard. Hopefully NZ does well tonight too.

Looking forward to tonights game. Hoping for a big performance to set up the rest of the tournament.

Still no word on starting line ups yet though.

Can't wait! Love these tournaments.

in before something negative from El Grap