Pre tournament fixtures

Stumbled across these. No idea if open to the public.

extended road trip?

No Wellington, no like.  Sad face

U-20 Five Nations Series

Talk there will be some Wellington games. yet to be confirmed.

I like the "Invitational X1" moniker. Is that when Bazeley gets in some new talent at the X1th hour once he's seen what we're lacking?

I thought it was to save our U20 team being embarrassed by Ghana!

There will also be several pre-tournament games around the country involving other qualified teams.

Uzbekistan vs. Panama May 24 - probably in Christchurch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan_national_u...

Check for news on Argentina's pre-tournament friendlies here:

http://www.afa.org.ar/index.php?option=com_content...

The team has already been active in March and early April, training twice a week and playing friendlies against local clubs.

Others like Germany don't seem to be playing friendlies between now and the World Cup after their 2-1 loss to Italy u-20 on Tuesday:

http://www.dfb.de/en/news/detail/u20s-lose-friendl...

"Frank Wormuth’s side will have to accept the 2-1 defeat in their final test match before the World Cup in New Zealand (30th May-20th June)."

However, that means they will probably still play matches before the World Cup - maybe against local NZ sides. 

http://tvnz.co.nz/football-news/new-zealand-fans-in-1-pre-world-cup-treat-6297553

Seems that Qatar are paying for the Five Nations friendly tournament that starts this weekend:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/all-whites/news/article....

"But Qatar are the best illustration of the scale of this event, and the lengths teams will go to ensure success.

The Herald on Sunday understands the Middle East nation are paying for Australia, Ghana and Panama to come here and compete in the Five Nations Series...."

That's why it's only a gold coin donation to see these games.

Cool, Qatar !!!

If you give us 500 million dollars to finance the ASB Premiership, we'll back you all the way for World Cup 2022.....and we'll send you some iceburgs from the Southern Ocean to cool things down during the tournament...

"Austria, who can boast a player contracted to Manchester City, and Serbia will play a match at Bruce Pulman Park in Papakura, with the two teams to also hold training camps there in the lead-up to the tournament. Football fans out west will be able to see the US football machine up close, as Tab Ramos brings his team to Trusts Arena from May 21-25, with the possibility of some practice matches. And Hibiscus Coast AFC will host South American giants Uruguay at their Stanmore Bay ground between May 18 and 25.

Other suburban fields like Madills Farm, Seddon Fields and Bill McKinlay Park could also host games or teams. And on May 21, New Zealand will play Honduras in Warkworth, surely the biggest game ever hosted by the small town north of Auckland. There is also the possibility of a international match on Waiheke Island, with Uruguay and Ukraine invited to play there."

Doesn't Hudson have a Waiheke connection? I recall him being interviewed at Mudbrick vineyard - by TV3? his first NZ interview?

Ghana 4 Qatar 2 (see #80 in U-20 World Cup Qualified Nations thread).

Ghana Boys get an unexpected early shower .....

Un-crouded house -

Apparently they asked for the pitch to be watered at half time then blew up when they got wet haha.

Think Uruguay are setting up camp on Waiheke prior to start of tournament. Probably scared of hitting Dunedin cold.

[/quote] Are they trying to romanticise this or something? Uruguay and Ukraine on a shark hole at Waiheke where it's unlikely anyone will turn up, nor give a shark? Really?

[/quote]

Have you ever been to or played on the main pitch on Waiheke?. Its a really good pitch and a great venue for a game like this. On top of that it will most likely be a decent croud. As with lots of place around NZ the small communities turn out for one off events as they are rare and a bit special for the communities involved. 

Waiheke will be a great place for this type of game. Its not a shark ground, its a good pitch. There are a ton of teams on Waiheke which travel across to Auckland every weekend to play. Lots of football fans there.

I'll be there.  Off-shore day out, woohoo! 

PS Where's the pitch?

http://www.sportingpulse.com/club_info.cgi?c=1-4202-81356-0-0&sID=201019

Also there is a nice big grassy bank on one side of the pitch to hang out on and watch the game, nice view. Nice club rooms too. Should be a good trip.

Cheers. Onetangi Sports Park, right? But not at Onetangi, at Rocky Bay. Never mind, I'll find it.

Actually I havent checked that is the venue for the game but am assuming so seeing that its the best facilities on the Island. There is also a separate Rugby pitch next to it and good tennis courts.

Anything actually confirmed yet?

All info on our opponents USA and their recent warm-up games:

http://www.ussoccer.com/us-under20-mens-national-t...

2-1 loss vs. England u-21 in March

2-2 draw vs. Qatar u-20 in April

1-0 win vs. Croatia u-20 in April

20 man squad that went to the April camp in Austria:

Retained only 11 players from qualifying.

Includes players from Spurs, Sunderland, Borussia Dortmund, Freiburg, Boca Juniors, Tijuana (Liga MX)

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2015/04/17/13/50/1...

GOALKEEPERS (2): Jeff Caldwell (University of Virginia.), Zack Steffen (SC Freiburg)

DEFENDERS (6): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur), Conor Donovan (Orlando City SC), Matthew Miazga (New York Red Bulls), Shaquell Moore (Unattached.), Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting Kansas City.), John Requejo (Club Tijuana)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Jordan Allen (Real Salt Lake), Marco Delgado (Toronto FC.), Junior Flores (Borussia Dortmund), Romain Gall (Columbus Crew SC), Lynden Gooch (Sunderland), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC), Ethan Sonis (SC Freiburg), Joel Sonora (CA Boca Juniors)
FORWARDS (4): Amando Moreno (Club Tijuana.), Zach Pfeffer (Philadelphia Union), Maki Tall (Red Star, Paris - on loan from Lille), Tommy Thompson (San Jose Earthquakes)

Detailed stats (mini bios) of all US u-20 players:

http://www.ussoccer.com/us-under20-mens-national-t...

1-1

Rufer with a goal in 1st min

Interesting to see Rufer is being played as the centre forward, particularly as the Phoenix have been playing him deeper than the AM role he's probably most used to. 

2-1 win, sounds like Ridenton got the 2nd

2 - 1 to NZ. Strange game I thought. After scoring in first minute we were outplayed for large part of the first half. Start of 2nd half we came out roaring then again seemed to go off the boil. But we broke well and by the end we could have won by more if the good chances had been converted.

Think that's where he played in the Panda? Cup too.

Could have been an option for us through the season, with his height?

Good to see Rufer and Ridenton proving they're still top in this age group. Good thing for the Nix.

Good to see we can beat another team that has qualified.

Any stand outs?

That's a great result because Panama are the best team in CONCACAF at u-20 level along with Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_CONCACAF_U-20_Ch...

Panama qualified for the CONCACAF u-20 Finals as "Central American Zone" champions (five wins and one loss in qualifying)

They topped their group ahead of the USA in the Finals in January (five wins from five games, finishing five points ahead of second-placed USA).

They could not be seperated from Mexico in the Final and after a 1-1 score after extra-time only lost on penalties.

Undefeated in open play in the Finals, zero goals conceded in five group games, one goal conceded the whole tournament.

Golden Ball (Best Player) =  Luis Pereira (Panama)

Golden Glove (Best Goalie) =  Jaime De Gracia (Panama)

Tournament Best XI: Five from Panama (Best goalie, left-back, central defender, central midfielder, forward)

Panama striker Ismael Diaz is an absolute sensation (one of the two strikers in the Tournament Best XI):

http://int.soccerway.com/players/ismael-diaz/26385...

Four goals in the Finals.

Two appearances for the Panama national team the last year - and a goal on debut.

Aged only 17 !!! (Turns 18 next week)

Not for me. All showed energy and committment. Some - Rufer, Ridenton, Patterson, Mitchell, Tuiloma Dyer , Wynne - were more competent in tight areas than others. Best thru passes were by Dyer. But he also passed to the opposition a coupla times. So did the keeper. Blake tried too much on his own I thought. Judd Baker could give a few teams problems with his height and physicality. One or two of the others looked out of their depth but I'm not naming names.

NB didn't have a program so hope I've called them ^ right.

Tuiloma didnt even play mate!!!!

Who was the no. 4?

Got it - Moses Dyer.

PS Won't be giving up the day job just yet.

I heard that the NZ XI to play Ghana on Sunday at St Peters, Cambridge is actually going to be Hamilton Wanderers...should be interesting, just need this rain to clear up now.

In one of the WeeNix games Rufer and Gulley got stuck into him for doing pretty much this. In the WeeNix games he was right midfield. What position did he play in this game?

Did you get any feel on the tactics being used? 

Sit deep and play on the break or have we got #alignment with the Senior team's highly effective possession game?  ;-)