New Zealand Women's U-17s

Last pool game is American Samoa.

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/new-zealand-power-into-semi-finals-with-5-0-win-over-solomon-islands/

Defending champions New Zealand have sealed a semi-final spot at the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship with a commanding 5-0 victory over the Solomon Islands in their second Group B outing.

Alana Gunn’s side joins Samoa from Group A in the final four, booking their place with a game to spare. The Solomon Islands must now beat Tonga on Saturday to keep their hopes alive.

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/08/07/new-zealand-set-to-play-new-caledonia-in-fifa-u-17-womens-world-cup-qualifier/   

New Zealand set to play New Caledonia in FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup decider

New Zealand are almost certain to face New Caledonia in the semi-finals of the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship on Monday.

New Caledonia have clinched second place in Group A at the eight-team tournament in Samoa, meaning they’ll play the winners of Group A.

New Zealand lead Group A and only a catastrophic result against American Samoa on Friday would prevent them staying at the top of their pool.

The winners of Monday’s two semi-finals will automatically qualify to represent Oceania at next year’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.

The other semi-final will be between unbeaten Samoa, who have topped Group A, and the runners-up in Group B

New Caledonia secured their OFC U-16 Women’s Championship semi-final spot in emphatic fashion, overwhelming Fiji 6-0 in Apia.

6 Nil win over America Samoa today.  Highlights on Fifa +

Procrastinixing

6 Nil win over America Samoa today.  Highlights on Fifa +

Meanwhile the Matilda's under 20 beat Tajikistan 14 - 0 but the under 23's lose to Myanmar 2 - 1. Not necessarily NZ related but under-whatever age group football is suck a fudgeing lottery.

Will be back to back U17 Girls WC apperances for Samoa. This year and next.

Will be interesting to see if they can translate that success to future U19/20s tourneys and then their senior Womens team.

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/08/11/samoa-are-going-to-next-years-fifa-u-17-womens-world-cup/

Samoa have booked their place at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco after beating the Solomon Islands 5-0 in their semi-final at the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship.

NZ leading 3-1 80 mins gone 

Now 4-2. New Caledonia are playing good from what I've seen so far. When was the last time an Oceania team put two past us??? 

All over, we're off to the 2026 under 17 world cup and to the final for the championship.  

Procrastinixing

Now 4-2. New Caledonia are playing good from what I've seen so far. When was the last time an Oceania team put two past us??? 

At this level in the women's, never.
When it was U17 only 1 goal was scored against them in the 2012 tournament and none in the 2012 and 2016 ones. When it changed to U16 only 1 goal in group play in the 2017 and 2023.

wow that is incredible.  Hopefully this is a good sign for the rest of Oceania.

Yakcall

Procrastinixing

Now 4-2. New Caledonia are playing good from what I've seen so far. When was the last time an Oceania team put two past us??? 

At this level in the women's, never.
When it was U17 only 1 goal was scored against them in the 2012 tournament and none in the 2012 and 2016 ones. When it changed to U16 only 1 goal in group play in the 2017 and 2023.

Procrastinixing

wow that is incredible.  Hopefully this is a good sign for the rest of Oceania.

Yakcall

Procrastinixing

Now 4-2. New Caledonia are playing good from what I've seen so far. When was the last time an Oceania team put two past us??? 

At this level in the women's, never.
When it was U17 only 1 goal was scored against them in the 2012 tournament and none in the 2012 and 2016 ones. When it changed to U16 only 1 goal in group play in the 2017 and 2023.

Yeh from what I saw NC had some skilled players and were getting some good passing combinations going at times. Both there goals were well taken. Pretty good really considering this is U16.
Samoa in the final will be a very good test for our Kiwi girls.
Certainly not a given.

New Zealand perhaps didn’t come into this game as the clear-cut favourites like they had done in previous years, having been put under immense pressure by New Caledonia in the semi-final, going into half time 1-1 before eventually prevailing 4-2. Samoa, meanwhile, had enjoyed a dominant win over Solomon Islands in their semi-final, which saw them enter the final as the only team at the tournament not to have conceded a goal.

Samoa: 0 - New Zealand: 3 (Lania FILI 6’; Amelia HITCHCOCK 18’; Isla ROBSON 29’)

coochiee

Our squad to travel to Morocco and compete in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup later this month has been confirmed 🇳🇿🏆

Read more at https://t.co/D0eBBPpmnE pic.twitter.com/2Z7XYR8ail

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) October 1, 2025

Facebook post has some grumbling comments about no South Island representation. Any ideas if anyone unlucky to miss out - from either island?

Well Alana Gunn who coached the Canty Pride for many years, coaches (and presumably selects) the NZU17s!

Canty United got spanked 8-0 by Auckland United on the weekend. Perhaps they are just going through a cycle down there of there being not much young promising talent around for the moment. That's after Canterbury has produced a real stream of talent the last 10 odd years.

Currently Otago seems the Sth Island hotbed of the womens game.

https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/newsarticle/158363?newsfeedId=2064762

Great achievement for everyone selected, especially all the Phoenix girls.

The timing seems rough though, aren’t high school kids coming up to exam cram time this month? Not that anyone would turn down an opportunity like this of course.

Firstly I agree that the strength of womens and girls football in the South Island is predominantly based in Dunedin. They have some very good coaches and some gifted young players. It's somewhat ironic that there are no Canterbury girls in this Nz squad but Gunnie has been  a major contributor to the development of girls football om the region.  Their is however some serious South island  talent in the current under 20 squad in the OFC tournament notably  the excellent captain Daisy Brazendale, Charlotte Mortlock and Amber de Wit just to name a few. Interestingly enough our most successful every underage girls team, the bronze medal wining under 18's had representation from all over NZ. That was probably due to Leon Bernie traveling all over NZ to identify the talent that we had. The current environment is influenced by the exceptional Phoenix academy and the lure of professional football to Auckland which unfortunately hasn't eventuated.  I'd like to think that we're still developing talented girls footballers all over the country and that this is being identified.  I  know I've seen some in recent weeks.

(Oops, wrong thread.)

Man, this age group really can't catch a break. First they have to contend with a dengue fever outbreak at the OFC U16s, now they can look forward to mass protests in Morocco:

We need hospitals more than football stadiums, say Morocco's young protesters

Morocco is currently building what will be the globe's largest football stadium in preparation for co-hosting the 2030 World Cup.

But for the demonstrators who have taken to the streets each night across the country since last Saturday, this 115,000-capacity showpiece and all the other football infrastructure in development, costing a reported $5bn (£3.7bn), are an affront - an example of a government that has got its priorities wrong.

[...]

Starting on 27 September with protests across 10 cities, the crowds have been building through the week, chanting slogans such as: "No World Cup, health comes first" and "We want hospitals not football stadiums".

The police have responded with seemingly arbitrary mass arrests and in certain places things have turned violent, leading to the death of three protesters.

Young Ferns kick off their world cup against Japan at 2am.  Live on Fifa + and TVNZ +

3 nil loss to Japan.  Maybe we will have a better chance against Paraguay on Thursday morning. 

Samoa scored 2 goals but still lost to France who scored 4.  Great effort for Samoa. 

That's an excellent result for Samoa!

Saw the highlights of the u17s... our big, tall LB and RB got turned inside out. Just didn't have the pace or agility to keep up with their opposites.

Feel like NZ coaches still look for size at the youth level over ability too much in the backline in particular. 

https://www.oceaniafootball.com/samoa-shine-in-brave-defeat-to-france-while-new-zealand-fall-to-japan/

The French dominated with 61 shots to Samoa’s two, yet the tiny Pacific nation made the most of their chances. Jayde Eldredge (37’) and Makea Leonard (51’) scored Samoa’s first-ever goals at a FIFA tournament, etching their names into the history books.

The starting lineup to take on Japan in our first match of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2025 in Morocco 🏆

🎥 Watch it live and free on FIFA+ and TVNZ from 2am NZT pic.twitter.com/AJ8h5VmCXc

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) October 19, 2025

NZ v Japan highlights.

https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/content/9ac749c2-ef9b-47d5-b79c-7b01bfc12b88

Procrastinixing

Samoa scored 2 goals but still lost to France who scored 4.  Great effort for Samoa. 

Samoa squad made up of 2xUnattached, 2xNZ, 3xAUS, 14xUSA registered players.  

coochiee

NZ v Japan highlights.

https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/content/9ac749c2-ef9b-47d5-b79c-7b01bfc12b88

Couple of great saves from Lemmens, especially that penalty.

What happened to Harriet Muller though? She was listed in the starting lineup but Tribe doesn’t even show her on the bench, last-minute injury or something?

Simon B

coochiee

NZ v Japan highlights.

https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/content/9ac749c2-ef9b-47d5-b79c-7b01bfc12b88

Couple of great saves from Lemmens, especially that penalty.

What happened to Harriet Muller though? She was listed in the starting lineup but Tribe doesn’t even show her on the bench, last-minute injury or something?

 Injured in the warm up

andrewvoerman

Simon B

coochiee

NZ v Japan highlights.

https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/content/9ac749c2-ef9b-47d5-b79c-7b01bfc12b88

Couple of great saves from Lemmens, especially that penalty.

What happened to Harriet Muller though? She was listed in the starting lineup but Tribe doesn’t even show her on the bench, last-minute injury or something?

 Injured in the warm up

Oh no, she must be gutted. Hope she’s ok in time for the Paraguay game on Thursday.

Speaking of Paraguay, nice that we face them at a more watchable hour of 8am NZDT tomorrow:

Paraguay v New Zealand | Group F | FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Morocco 2025™

Well that was a let off.  Thanks offside flag

Whoo hoo.  One nil to us thanks to Katie Pugh.  30 mins gone.

Yesss! Our very own Katie Pugh puts NZ 1 up off a Pia Vlok cross.

Edit: 27 seconds too slow haha. And Muller who's back in goal with a strapped knee just kept our lead alive.

That was a good strikers hit from Pugh, control on turn and bang, on target

We looked ok passing through the lines at times, and scored a good goal. But our attack is quite limited. Generally the front three tend to run away from the ball looking for the direct pass over the top etc. No one really dropping into pockets and turning into space etc to change things up.

Paraguay definately the better attacking team, girls will do well to stay ahead in the second half.

Dammit...

Double dammit.