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The Young All Whites celebrate - Source: ONE Sport -
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A stunning injury time goal by Jack Hobson-McVeigh earned New
Zealand a historic place in the knockout stages of the FIFA U-17
World Cup in Calabar, Nigeria on Sunday morning.
The Young All Whites trailed runaway Group D leaders Turkey 1-0 at
the end of 90 minutes when Birkenhead midfielder
Hobson-McVeigh picked the ball up 35m out.
He beat his marker before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the
top corner of the Turkish goal sparking wild celebrations
from teammates and staff.
It was New Zealand's third consecutive 1-1 draw in pool play.
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"I'm extremely proud of this bunch of young men because they have
represented New Zealand with absolute pride tonight," New Zealand
coach Steve Cain said.
"I think people in New Zealand can be very proud of a team that's
gone through an entire group stage of a World Cup unbeaten and I
think that's a record that's going to take some beating in the
future."
Both side had goals disallowed in the opening stages with Ahmet
Sari fouling Coey Turipa as he beat the Kiwi goalkeeper to a high
ball while New Zealand captain Gordon Murie was ruled offside
when following up a parried shot from a Andrew Milne, who also had
a first half shot cleared off the line.
But there was no chance of Turkey's stand-in captain Engin Bekdemir
having his effort ruled out when in the 17th minute his shot
cannoned off an unlucky Adam Thomas and past the wrong-footed
Turipa.
Turipa needed to be at his best to keep out a second half free kick
from Bekdemir and then was superb again late on to deny the PSV
Eindhoven midfielder scoring from the edge of the area.
Cain introduced Tim Pilkington and Nikolai Molijn from the bench in
the three pronged attack to chase the equaliser but with time
ticking away on the Young All Whites campaign it was Hobson-
McVeigh who found the back of the net and clinch the
history-making progression to the next round.
The draw means New Zealand finish pool play unbeaten, with
three draws enough to clinch a place in the round of 16 as one of
four best third-place finishers.
Their opponents - either Switzerland or hosts Nigeria - won't
be confirmed until group plays concludes on Monday morning
