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Marco Rojas - Source: Photosport -
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The Junior All Whites face a nervous 24-hour wait to learn if they will be part of the knockout stages of the FIFA U-20 World Cup after a 0-1 loss to Portugal this morning (NZT) saw them finish third in Group B.
New Zealand fell behind to the classy Europeans when a defence splitting Nelson Oliveira pass put fullback Mario Rui through on goal and his strike inside the far upright of Stefan Marinovics goal was enough to seal top spot in the group.
A 1-0 win for Cameroon over Uruguay moved the Africans into second place, eliminated the South Americans and left the Kiwis awaiting the results of tomorrows Group C and D matches to see if they will qualify for the round of 16 as one of the four best third-placed teams.
Their two point haul from 1-1 draws against Cameroon and Uruguay is already better than Panama, who finished third in Group E and could yet see off potential rivals Australia and Ecuador (one point each) from Group C or Guatemala and Croatia (both pointless) in Group D.
New Zealand would need just one of set of results to go their way but coach Chris Milicich was not holding his breath.
Theres huge interest in the games tomorrow but at the end of the day if you go through with two draws its pretty fortuitous.
If the loss to Portugal proved to be the Junior All Whites last act of the 24 nation tournament, Milicich said his boys would take pride in claiming New Zealands first points at an U-20 mens World Cup after three close losses on debut in 2007 and not qualifying in 2009.
The boys were tired and exhausted and they gave me everything that I asked for but unfortunately we made one mistake when we didnt track the runner inside. They scored a goal and then even at in the last 15 or 20 minutes we couldnt get the ball in the net.
Portugal were just a little too professional at keeping the ball from us.
Last time a team from the Oceania region was at this tournament they lost 8-0, 8-0 and 5-0 so were really pleased we restored a lot of respect for Oceania at this level.
It took New Zealand 42 minutes to register their first shot on goal against a Portuguese defence that is still yet to concede in three games, although Dakota Lucas and Adam Thomas both nearly got on the end of dangerous in-swinging crosses midway through the first half.
Junior All Whites playmaker Marco Rojas was allowed no freedom to run at opposition until early in the second half and the midfielder found lively substitute Ethan Galbraith on the edge of the area, but the target mans firmly struck shot was well saved.
The introduction of Galbraith added spark to the Junior All Whites search for an equalising goal that would have confirmed their place in the knockout stages but despite throwing more numbers forward in the dying minutes, Portugals defence were equal to the task.
