New Zealand Women's U-20s

#alignment

the appointing women thing is going well

when will the team be named... Apparently the qualifiers are pretty soon...

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/282767/sport-tonga-to-host-oceania-u20-women's-football-champs

Let's try that again

HALFTIME l The #WomensU20s lead @TongaFootball 7-0 in the opening match of the #OFCU20W in Tonga. Isabella Coombes hit a 1st half hat-trick

— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) October 1, 2015

FULL TIME: TGA 0-15 NZL #OFCU20W #TGAvNZL 0-15

— OFC Oceania Football (@OFCfootball) October 1, 2015

4 hatricks!

Match report here

26-0 over New Caledonia. Ouch.

The women's WC qualifying at junior and senior is a bit of a joke. 

We are so far ahead of the Oceania pack that the rest of Oceania may as well as hold a tourney without us and then play us in a home and away final.  Has got to be less embarrassing for the confederation then the current set up. 

Love the music.

There can't be many players in the history of football internationals, male or female, who have scored eleven goals in the first half of a game and then been subbed like our Emma Rolston:

"Holding a 17-0 lead at halftime thanks in large part to 11 goals from striker Emma Rolston."

Archie Thompson scored 13 against American Samoa in 2001 but he played the full 90 minutes and only managed 8 in the first half. Pah! Indeed, Archie didn't score his first until the 12th minute. Emma opened her account on two minutes! She'd scored four by the twelfth minute.

Actually, reading this article, there's a lot of extenuating circumstances I wasn't aware of surrounding the Socceroos 31-0 blitz of American Samoa in 2001:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_31%E2%80%9...

Only one of the squad selected could play due to passport issues (the goalie) - they then couldn't replace them with any of the American Samoan u-20 side  due to school exams.

They finally had to cobble a team together primarily from the national u-17's (including three 15 year-olds) - average age 18.

another close game

FULL TIME: New Zealand have beaten Vanuatu 18-0 on MD3 of the #OFCU20W #NZLvVAN 18-0

+59 goal difference after 3 pool games. That must be some sort of record?

The Socceroos scored 73 goals all told en route to qualifying for the 2002 World Cup Finals. That was their last qualifying campaign in Oceania, and includes goals scored in their play-off matches against the All Whites and Uruguay.

To surpass that tally, the Junior Ferns require fifteen goals against Samoa, a tally of which they are well capable.

The frightening thing is, they haven't even got their first-choice striker in Tonga. 18-year-old Martine Puketapu is still recovering from a broken leg she suffered in a match in June. She already has 76 goals to her name in senior club and representative fixtures, so you can guarantee she'd have added to that tally at this tournament.

An exceptional crop of young players, make no mistake. The other missing from the squad, who was originally named, is Mikayla Wieblitz. She dropped out at the eleventh hour, and Jade Parris was called in to replace her.


Cheers,

JR

JR is this a reflection of the strength of the NZ team or how weak the Island teams are?

Perfectly eligible. Picked up an injury just days out from departing for Tonga.

When contesting matches amongst themselves, Mike, the island nations are fairly competitive, e.g. Tonga 3-3 Samoa. But when the Junior Ferns are lined up on the other side of the half-way line, our passing, movement, vision, strength and intensity are simply too much for them to cope with.

It's the old adage, "A good big 'un will beat a good little 'un every time".

Goalkeeping in the island nations is certainly not what it could be, and a few of our goals have benefited from substandard custodianship, that's for sure. By the same token, as has been evident in the OFC video clips of our matches, some of our goals have been really well-worked and well-executed efforts - make no mistake, our girls are generally playing very well in Tonga. Anybody who suggests "Well, they're only playing the island nations" is doing the Junior Ferns' efforts a disservice.

Granted, these will be the least challenging opponents we encounter in Project PNG 2016, but when faced with weak opposition, be ruthless - "dip your bread". The Junior Ferns are unquestionably doing that, with bells on!

Personally I think a little bit of the first and a boat load of the later.

See NZ Under 20s women drawn with France, USA and Ghana...pretty tough draw, Papua New Guinea vs Brazil is the opening game 

http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/news/y=2016/...

anyone know the wider squad that is being whittled down for the U20 WC??

From the two games this week (and those who were at the Oceania tournament in brackets)

GK: Nicol, Couchman, Olla (Foyle)

DF: Moore, Anton, Morton, Stewart-Hobbs, Lake, Murrell (Gross, Hayes, Phillips)

MF: Cleverley, Coombes, Jale, Los, Wieblitz, Parris (Richards)

FW: Pereira, Satchell, Puketapu, Rolston, Christensen, Blake (Robertson, Main)

Nicol

Stewart-Hobbs, Moore, Anton, Morton

Cleverley, Jale, Coombes

Satchell, Puketapu, Pereira

The girls lost 1-0 to Mexico in the game today

lost to Mexico 3-1 in the final warm up game before the world cup.

Went to see the Under 20's in preference to the 2 National League games in Auckland .

Was an entertaining encounter with the score a fair reflection of the game. Two quick goals from defensive errors made it 1-1 , but Mexico were more in control from then on.

Was impressed by our Under 20's trying to play out from the back even though they came unstuck at times. At that level you have to be able to retain possession and they were obviously trying to practice what they will need in PNG - if they gave away possession like many in the crowd yesterday wanted they might never see the ball again against France , USA , etc.

One observation that always comes to mind when I watch our  Womens sides is that other international sides always look more athletic than ours - a sexist comment perhaps but just an observation.

NZ v Ghana tonight at 9:48pm on Sky Sport 2

0-0 half time. 

We have played ok, Satchell seems particularly lively.  We still lose possession fairly easily.  We've had two good chances. Puketapu a miss she should have buried.  Ghana have had the more attacking and look dangerous.  Will be an interesting 2nd half.

1-0 win, lovely goal late in the game for us. We had the better possession stats which is nice to see for a change at our age group games. When we get our players to try and keep the ball we look like we are improving. 

Great to see the confidence to go forward to play the wings and control the ball. our GK kept us in it. only bugbear was the lack of poise and poor lines run by the forwards to front for our midfield.. lots of energy and control. The team looks fit. Hope they can finish a few more chances. Good run by Christensen for the goal as a forward sub and good leave by rollerston who was offside and would have scrubbed the goal if she had touched it.

quote=AlfStamp]

1-0 win, lovely goal late in the game for us. We had the better possession stats which is nice to see for a change at our age group games. When we get our players to try and keep the ball we look like we are improving. 

[/quote]

Nice to see a kiwi team at the top of a Fifa WC table.  Is it a first?

I thought it was an exciting, entertaining game, with a lot of skill, a few nervy moments and a great result. Could've gone either way, but some impressive goal-keeping and confidence throughout the team saw them through. Great finish for the goal- I momentarily thought it was going to go just wide, but she picked the spot perfectly.

I also really liked that players (o both sides) were continually keen to keep the game going- no histrionics if a decision went against them; no nasty play or milking it for free kicks etc. Just high tempo (most of the time), open football. Most enjoyable game I have watched for a while (and i have enjoyed both nz v nc games and the last two phoenix games!)

could be a long night

Very poor/embarassing for the first goal.  Missed the 2nd.  Either way, need a miracle to get back into this.

France and Ghana drew 2 all today so we would still be 2nd in the group.  However that means if we lose to France on Monday we are out.

I know the goals came from silly mistakes when trying to pass out from the back under pressure but I hope we keep trying to do this for the good of the players long term. If we go long then all we are doing is practising going long.  If we keep trying to play out with the ball under our control we will over time get better as a football nation. Especially with respect to age group tournaments, we have spent so long worrying the result but not the player development. 

Still 2-0 and lots we can criticise but in terms of the intent and approach I take my hat off to the team and coaching staff.

And we are making chances 

2-1 what a superb goal

3-1 best player on the park gets one.