Under 17's

Under 17's

Having been reading about their results and looking at some of their players, this surely must be our best ever assembled youth team... admittedly in my short memory. TouchMe2009-03-23 20:40:31

Think Chits is too old by a year.

Er the same Chits that played on Sunday at Kiwitea St?  If so, he's gotta calm down.  When the bloke throwing the ball in says "hey come back here" I would listen....  He's got the wits but there's still a bit to learn.

Both Chris Wood and Cory Chettleburgh are definately to old

Heard Jack Hobson -McVeigh trialled at five different clubs!
Any takers?

Andrew Bevin, Fergus Neil, Steven Kibby. Quality

Just over two weeks before the qualifiers. Hopefully Stephen Kibby knee will be ok before then. You breed some cool guys down in you neck of the woods.

Oceania Football Confederation U17 men's Championship (World Cup Qualifiers) from 20 April to 24 April 2009.  Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Tahiti

Not to  be a party pooper, shouldn't we at least qualify first and maybe see what teams we get drawn against before we start predicting how far the team will go.

didn't the nz u20's just miss out on their qualifications?

Not to dampin your party but there is no comparison between this under 17 side and the under 20's. This team will eat alive anything the islands can throw at us, no matter what team is put on the park.
Yes. They will fall down at the World Cup. Why? Because it will be a case of who knows who as always in NZ football and unfortunately NZ does not have the financial backing to put coaches in place that do not have any involvement with parents or boys on an emotional level in the team.
The coaches that are there are probably not getting paid fanny all and are doing it for the pleasure of being involved in a World Cup and the hope of securing a paid coaching job at the end of it.

can anyone tell me, or point me in the right direction - where can I find kick off times for these up coming games?

http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofcnewsdetails/ofc-u-17-championship---call-for-volunteers
This may help a little.Looks like afternoon kick offs.2 to 2:30?
"Volunteers for the above roles would need to be available from 11:30am - 17:30pm on 20, 22 and 24 April".

Kick-off times are 12.30 and 3pm, except for Friday, when both games will commence at 3pm.

just got the answer to my question -

3-0 win to NZ U17 vs Vanuatu.

Jamie Doris puts New Zealand ahead
Andrew Milne scores New Zealand's second from close range

Half-time: New Zealand 2 Vanuatu 0

Gordon Murie scores for New Zealand

FULL TIME: New Zealand 3 Vanuatu 0

Next game Wednesday 22nd vs New Caledonia


Full games updates from http://www.oceaniafootball.com/

We won today's game 2 - 0, unfortunately Tahiti won 4 - 1.

Had a look at NZ playing today, they were ok, dominated and deserved to win

It is difficult on that Tiger turf, the ball bounces more and doesnt roll on. Thought our 3 wingers were good, 1 went off injured, had the guts to try and get around their markers to get right to the byline and often made it.
The combinations were ok, sometimes they took the wrong option in midfield, we opened them up in the mid/last part of the 2nd half, had quite a few shots.

Apparently Tahiti are as physically big as us and obviously finish well, so a win on friday isnt a certainty at all. We will have to take our chances to get past them

I've always rated Tahiti, if you look at Oceania rankings, OFC Nations Cup etc they tend to be the best performer of the Island nations.  I just think they are crippled by a lack of infrastructure and money; coupled with the fact that thier best players qualify for France ala Christian Karembeu (from New Caledonia) and turn their backs on the Islands.
disco_mart2009-04-23 21:38:42

[QUOTE=hepatitis] . The combinations were ok, sometimes they took the wrong option in midfield, we opened them up in the mid/last part of the 2nd half, had quite a few shots.

Unfortunately some NZ midfielders are chosen for there intimidation aspect of there game or run around like bumble bees and will always take the wrong option and have a low percentage passing game.

Did Coey Turipa start in goal for the last game? he played awesome against Vanawatu.

Yes. He is a fantastic goal keeper with a huge boot on him.
He is human though, but I can still count his mistakes on one hand in the 7 to 8 games I have seen him play.

Smithy2009-04-24 15:08:48

Is anyone able to get us updates?

NZ win 2-0

Fantastic!!!

Thanks... and well done boys

great result - any details?

Reasonable crowd, a very strong wind blowing straight down the ground, NZ played with the wind in the first half. They had the better of it and scored 2 goals from good crosses about 2/3rds of the way through that half. Tahiti didnt create many chances, looked tidy with the ball up front but got nowhere.

There was plenty of niggle, and we lost a player just on half time, pretty sure it was Jack Hobson -McVeigh, he and a Tahiti lad, who seemd to be involved in most of it, had an altercation off the ball it seems, and both got yellows, it was our guys second.

So 10 men in the second half, I thought we might be up against it, but Tahiti never threatened really, seemed that they didnt know how to use the wind well, our back four held them quite comfortably. Only one decent save to be made, off a free kick and the goalie tipped it over.

In fact we had a lot more chances to increase the lead, some good running down the flanks on either side, and crosses in, just didnt have someone there to connect. Thought the Blackburn guy did well with his set piece kicks, the lone centre forward was good, and the big guy at the back didnt let much past, Gordon Murie I think.

2 Nil, well deserved,  they played best when they needed to and are now off to Nigeria I think

Great effort and good to see some talent coming through

See front page- Well done lads

Again, we seem to suffer at the hands of referees in OFC tournaments.  All decriptions have been that the red card was dodgy, apparently the first was for time wasting before half time when he was clearing a second ball off the pitch when taking a free kick?

That's a bit churlish.

The first of yellow cards which led to the sending off happened right in front of where I was standing.  We had a free kick about half a metre from the touchline, and as the player placed the ball it was obvious the ball was flat.  He threw it to the ball boy who was about a metre the other side of the touchline who immediately threw a new ball on...must have taken about 2 seconds, maybe 3 at most.