New Zealand Men's U-20s

contemplating waking up in the middle of the night for this one...  either way go hard lads!

Starting line up is:

Croncombe, Roux, Tuiloma, Adams, Arms, Biss, Howieson, Payne, Watson, Boyd, Payne

Watson for Thomas is an interesting call and suggests a more direct game plan. Also Arms ahead of Solomons although to be fair I have seen next to nothing of either so can't really comment beyond what others had said earlier/

C'mon lads.Looking forward to this. K1W1

Well if it comes down to singing we have them beat... terrible national anthem!

Watson doing his best to take one of them out already - what a strike!

0-1

What a shit clearance!

Looking very disconnected. No idea how to play together. 

Looks farken hot out there.Bad luck for the goal

- by bad luck I mean ratshit clearance 8(

2-0 down and NZ are playing like s**t - really bad - Am going to bed...

No redeeming features at all...

Worst prepared team in the tournament so didn't expect much anyway -we needed to play at least twice as many warm-up games as we did just to be able to compete at all with these sides...

Australia draw with South American champs Colombia - we go down in flames to Uzbekistan...

I hope we improve in the remaining half hour - but can't see it...

Very difficult to find something good to say about this so far.

It's only 2-0.

make that 3-0.

What. A. Joke.

Rather we played 4-2-3-1 with players we have

Basalaj 

Tuiloma adams arms higgins

       Gulley jordan

Fenton payne howieson

            Boyd

Our side are in reality still only at the stage, after three games all year other than the Oceania qualifiers, of trying out players to form a team.

Many of the starting eleven have been found wanting -very poor technically and well off the pace, poor first touches, pathetic distribution - passing the ball to the opposition by Crocombe and the outfield players...

What a mess...

And now both fullbacks off injured - probably won't make much difference...

Could end 5-0 

playing with goalkeeper who can kick would help.........so outclass totally...19 build up games........, yeah right

still 3 nil.....just, 3 mintues to go

I think the problem partly lies in the fact that they were a lot better than us

Mistakes get punished.. That's the lesson learnt. 

Well that was very average. NZ looked totally underdone. Uzbeks had 19 games since February and it showed. They were slick and well organised and had too much skill for NZ.

Our midfield of Payne, Howieson, Biss with Fenton and Boyd wide looks OK on paper but in reality they just could not get any combinations going. Pass's were mis hit, players wern't making runs, we were constantly disposessed. The tactics first half was to use Watson as a big target man to hold up the ball and work play around him. Unfortunately he is not good enough to do that well at this level and beside the service to him was very poor. Most of the delivery was whacked in too hard or aerially. Watson was pulled at half time and Thomas came on and it appeared that Boyd played more centrally. Again it was ineffect. We had no fluidity through midfield and were completely bossed by the Uzbec guys. The guys just do not have the skill levels to play balls in crowded areas.

The stats near the end told the story....Uzbecs had 65% possession and 20 plus shots  to NZ 7

As for individual players...it was a combination of the good the bad and the terrible

First off...the bad. Where did we dredge up that keeper? Would be the worst display from a NZ keeper I have ever seen. The first goal was a howler. An easy back pass, no pressure and he kicked his clearance straight along the ground to the UZ striker on the "D", he managed to save the shot but deflected it straight into the pass of a player coming in who tapped it in. He did exactly the same thing in the second half but their striker missed the open goal. Earlier Uz had the ball in the net when the keeper dropped a simple cross but the ref called a hand ball when it bobbled off the strikers arm. He flapped at two other crosses in the first half. Was at fault also for the 3rd goal when he was caught off his line and the long range shot dropped over him and in. Made some standard saves in the rest of the match but surely Basalji must come in second. You could see the lads were gutted to give up such a soft goal so early.

As for the good...... my kiwi player of the match was the left back Tuiloma. looked composed, good on the ball and got up and down the line well. Also made two brilliant last man tackles. His defense was outstanding, probably the most composed of the defenders. Not sure if he has trialed at the Nix but would be worth another look. Apart from that I was interested in Roux at RB as I had never seen him play before. He still looks fairly green. Mistimed some tackles, gave away some needless free kicks and had Milicich scream at him to close up on his man several times. Boyd and Fenton showed up occasionally, Howieson looked better as the UZ pressing dropped near the games end. Payne and Adams were solid.

Overall a very very disappointing hitout from the team. No combinations, poor options and a game plan that went from wacking it into the target man for the first half and then try and play it out from the back in the second half. Unless we can pull it together we are going to get done over by croatia and Uraguay.....

Very easy to be overly harsh on the lads. I think it was obvious how much better prepared Uzbek are and also reconfirms our position as the lowest ranked team in the competition so we really shouldn't be overly critical - that is less than constructive. It also looked like we really struggled in the heat compared to the Uzbeks - we all looked exhausted by half time.

In terms of individuals, Tuiloma and Howieson played well and to be fair to Crocombe he made some stunning saves after his initial mistake but the stats (60%:40 % possession, 20:5 shots on goal, 14:2 on target) show that we were vastly outplayed, it'd be silly to point the finger solely at him. Of course keepers will always have their mistakes highlighted more than others, which is part of playing in that position. 

All in all, an underwhelming game where the inadequate preparation really showed but the boys gave it their all and must be exhausted and no doubt gutted by the result. A humbling reminder that they should be focusing on working hard, learning and enjoying themselves - it aint all about the results at this level.

Didn't see the game but saw the highlights. On the basis of those, it looked like 3-0 flattered us, and Crocombe looked very shaky.

Would be interesting to make a comparison in the line-ups between this game and the U17 game two years ago which we won 4-1.

Adams, Payne, Howieson, and Tuiloma  and Sabirkhodjaev all started in both games.

Well and truly outplayed 

We probably shouldn't be surprised by that result. 

Highlights here if anyone wants them: http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=259235/match=300232811/index.html

This is the sort of preparation you want for your U20s...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan_national_under-20_football_team_results#2013

I think at this level the interest comes from trying to spot potential top level pros, or potential future All Whites.  Didn't see many that would immediately stand out as being ready for either camp

Deep & heartflet sigh. Now it's obvious how much we need an Under-20 squad to be playing WEEKLY/CONTINUOUSLY in next year's ASB before the World Champs - even though half or more of the present team won't be included.

Happy I did not stay up to watch that. Simply shocking. Thought Watson was very unlucky to get dragged at half time. Agree tuiloma was our best player. Boyd/fenton/biss/payne/howieson all passengers. And the centrebacks look very naive. Sergeev class for uzbek.

I thought Watson did okay too. And I'm not really a fan.

I also thought Payne and Fenton had flashes of being alright.

And I agree about Tuiloma. That's not his preferred side either I don't think. Worth a look for the Nix perhaps?

Crocombe horrible.

Some of the subs might get a run next game you'd think, particularly in midfield. Which will please their fans (families?) on these forums :)

I am, and I've said it before. I'm not in Trueblue's camp on this one JV. Last thing we need is NZ Under-20's ripped apart before the eyes of the nation and the world in a World Cup when we're the hosts!

Ship. Sailed.

Cheers. Yes. There were quite a few of them arguing agin it come to think of it.

Actually, it's just occurred to me that as hosts we have automatic qualification for 2015. So there may well be another Oceania representative playing in NZ too. And THEY'LL be the whipping boys.

I had heard the Pod guys describe Watson in less than favourable terms, and had never seen him play, but I thought he looked our best player in the 1st half, held the ball up well, passed well, made life difficult for his marker. So I was surprised at the half when we brought on Thomas who i recall touching the ball once when he sent a straight forward 5m pass across the touchline. At least Watson had height and strength, once he went off, everyone from the midfield forward looked to be the same height - 'on the smallish side...'

I thought the keeper (who i think the commentator said has been playing Div 2 for Oxford) was terrible, shot stopping ok, but everything else shocking and directly responsible for the 1st goal, and arguably the 3rd and could have cost at least another 2-3 if the disallowed goal was given and if the Uzbeks were a little more clinical.

Howieson looked useful, held the ball well, and distributed it well. I thought Payne was average, and Fenton looked pissed off most of the time, and also stopped running (gave up?) on ocassion when he lost the ball or it wasnt passed to him.

I thought Roux was terrible, looked a pace behind the game at any given moment. Tuiloma on the flank looked better although either him or one of the centrebacks let too many unchecked runs go in between them.

They looked like a team who had hardly played with each other, and also looked pissed off with each other at times, likes there was some kind of interal angst within the team. I have no idea - are the factions? Do they like the coach?

Concerned - They could go for plenty against Uruguay and Croatia.

Have only seen the Highlights from the FIFA website, and from that  the kindest thing I could say about Crocombe is that he does not appear to have lived up to the reputation that some Forum Posters have given him.

Oxford Utd. Who are they anyway? A varsity team?