The All Whites did not get the result they were hoping for at The Intercontinental Cup in India, but head coach Fritz Schmid said the tour has been a “priceless experience” for his young side moving forward.

The World No 120 bowed out of the tournament last night by the smallest of margins. Three teams – India, Kenya and New Zealand – all finished on six points. India (+7) and Kenya (+2) advanced to the final on a superior goal difference to the All Whites (+1) after Kenya defeated Chinese Taipei 4-0 in their final game.

New Zealand went down 2-1 to Kenya in their opening game and then bounced back with wins over Chinese Taipei (1-0) and India (2-1) to record the All Whites’ first back-to-back wins over non-Oceania opposition for 12 years, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Schmid, in his second tour in charge of the national team after his first window in March against Canada in Spain, said the team was disappointed to miss the final but reflected on a number of positives.

“We take a lot of positive input out of this camp,” said Schmid. “We went to India with the intention of having a very valuable window of assessment of new faces and new players. The way they performed and the way the group presented themselves over the two weeks was very interesting and promising. I also take a lot of positives from our performance data and our values which we are about to establish.”

Schmid said the most pleasing aspect of the tour was seeing how the group progressed and evolved day by day.

“They adapted to the very difficult and demanding conditions in this environment. India at this time of year is one of the most difficult environments to play football. How they coped with this and how they put our ideas, our match plan and our intentions into practice from game to game was very pleasing. I have to give credit to each one of them.”

A total of six players – Nik Tzanev, Justin Gulley, Michael Woud, Liberato Cacace, Nikko Boxall and Noah Billingsley - made their international debuts for New Zealand during the tour.

Three players Andre De Jong, Moses Dyer and Sarpreet Singh all scored their first goals for the All Whites and Tzanev managed a clean sheet against Chinese Taipei.

Singh, the 19-year-old from the Wellington Phoenix, was a standout player throughout the three games, claiming the man of the match award in the wins over Chinese Taipei and India.

“Even the crowd and media over here realised what sort of talent we have in Sarpreet Singh,” said Schmid. “He was nominated twice for the player of the match which speaks for itself. The way he handles the whole situation [is most impressive]. He just gets out there and plays his game and he doesn’t get too impressed by the media interest or the hype about his role. He just enjoys it and he goes out there to play his game. The way he handles this at his age is very impressive.”  

Schmid said this experience will bode well for future international windows for the All Whites.

“It is very important for these young players to have this opportunity for exposure to play against tough teams, higher on the FIFA World Rankings, and to see it is possible to put our game into play. They can experience how it can work and how we can take it to the next level. At the end of the week to be sad to be missing the final, it has been a priceless experience for these youngsters.”