U17's - Nz or England???

good long range shot from Matthews after a pass from Costa

Ahem... our local Scots, Welsh and Northern Irishmen might take issue with the use of UK there. 
Hard News2007-08-21 22:46:17

game over: 5 - 0

 - apologies, was quicker than typing 'England'

People saying that the Under 17s play good football. Not really they barely create any decent chances they have no one who can beat a player, occasionally they string a couple of passes together but not very often they are so physically weak that its embarrassing. I didnt think England were that great at all few good players especially going forward but overall an average side that wont cause the Brazil's much trouble later on in the tournament! The Under 20s get my vote for a few reasons, they were fit and at least muscled up against there opposition, they never gave up, they created numerous good goal scoring chances and should have scored alot more that 1 goal and they had some players that could take players on, plus there set peices were alot better than the Under 17s how bad have the corners and free kicks been just lofted with no pace or direction! As for Costa he has alot to learn and improve on till he can be NZ Soccer and the Phoenix saviour he barely can keep the ball or complete a pass and his set peices were god damm awful. Please play better against N Korea cause another 3 or 4 nil loss and you go out 0-15 or 16 and its just embarrassing!

Costa had a better second half admitted, but for those of us who went to all the Under 17 games in NZ, I can't see a Mulligan or even a Plodder out there. The centre backs were awful, big lumbering donkeys constantly ball watching and completely outpaced and outclassed. Even Gleeson, who was the hero on Sunday (it could have been12) had a very mixed day.

Good points Toffeeman. I think what is really missing from this team, and in comparison to the 1999 side, is their lack of physical presence. Tney may be better on the ball, and play some pretty football (in midfield) but they keep getting pushed off the ball. They needed a Plodder like player in there to put himself about.

Ye 2nd half was better but that long ball crap is soo bad to watch. As for Costa played better and ye just cant get involved and at times doesnt look interested but u can see  theres talent. I think they player that has impressed me most is no doubt the right midfielder Mathews!! Looks really good on the ball, pace and not scared to take players on and got a hell of a shot. As for that dude with the birthday he nothing special. Couple good saves but then the keeper stuffed up a couple as well through late reactions. As for centre backs and hamish chang terrible in the back got dominated all day. I really dont think that England team was anything special.

Honestly we are not good enough to be there. These results along with the U20's show that Fifa was right in not giving Oceana automatic entry to the world cup.

I agree where crap. Plus why is Moses Patelo not playing at all?! Tua what r u doing mate give him a run hes a great player.

Jacob Matthews played with alot of determination. His attitude/ passion was very pleasing to see.

New Zealand Football has sunk a ot of money into this age group. There was genuine optimism about the potential for these players to make an impact. Tourets2007-08-21 22:32:33

Fixed...... too busy being smug to realise my own error. Hard News2007-08-21 22:48:22

I know the under 20s did massive amounts of work on  there fitness and were on big gym programs. I watched a couple of there fitness sessions at Ole and they were gruelling and I know they were worked extremely hard by there fitness trainer from what I hear and I see that they had a specific fitness trainer/coach were the under 17s dont and instead took a kit manager as part of there 8 staffing positions. 

In the first half we looked very weak, headless and undetermined. Dont think we deserved to be called a football squad.

I though we were VERY average. And why were both teams in thier chnage kit. Do the AW's still actually play in White?

Yeah i would of thought white vs red would of been light vs dark but obviously not.

We're completely out of our depth at this tournament. I couldn't really remember the Brazil game as I was too drunk at the time (Backbencher and YF ), but the game last night was incredibly disheartening. Defensively, we were God-awful. It's not that we were outpaced by their strikers, that can happen to any team at any level. What was really frustrating was the seeming lack of understanding of basic defensive principles and tactics. The centre backs just stood there and ball watched, rather than working hard to prevent the quicker English forwards from getting the ball with space to run. Gleeson wasn't too impressive for me either - looked uncertain under the high ball and fluffed a few, and goals 2 and 5 are at that level definitely saveable, although it would be somewhat unfair to blame him for them as he was exposed by the backs.
As for our "improved" second-half performance, the game was already over by that stage, and we were lucky not to have conceded more, England looked like they could score every time they got the ball to our defensive third. The most dispiriting of all - I didn't think that England were that good.
I also agree with all the previous comments about our physical strength and conditioning. It looked like men against boys.