Confidence levels will be high when New Zealand kick off their FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup campaign next week after a strong display against Mexico in their final friendly before the tournament.

Gareth Turnbull’s charges ended up on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against the Concacaf champions but he was delighted with the performance and feels the team is on track for its first World Cup challenge against the Netherlands on August 6 (NZT).

“We are extremely pleased with the entire playing group today,” he said after watching his side out-shoot their highly-regarded opponents by 12 efforts to three.

“The application of the team model, aggression and the number of chances we were able to create were the main positive takeaways. While we don’t feel the scoreline reflected the nature of our performance, we have been able to learn a lot about ourselves as a team and take immense confidence from the way we played.”

Mexico were an ideal opponent to be facing in the build-up to taking on the world’s best as their quality cannot be called into question. The North Americans can lay claim to being the finest side in their region after defeating USA in the final of the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship in January and the football-mad country progressed out of the group stages at both the U-17 and U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cups in 2016.

Much of the squad were involved in a 5-0 defeat of New Zealand at the U-17 World Cup that year, including coach Christopher Cuellar, while they went into the game with an advantage having acclimatised from being in France a week longer and already playing a friendly since touching down.

Turnbull was pleased to have closed the gap since the heavy nature of that defeat two years ago and also took heart from the fact that three players started for New Zealand today who are likely to play in the U-17 World Cup later this year, while nine players took part who will be eligible for the next U-20 World Cup.

Built on an excellent showing from a back four that consisted of Sarah Morton, Claudia Bunge, Elizabeth Anton and Aneka Mittendorff, New Zealand consistently denied Mexico’s key attackers time and space and implemented a high, aggressive pressing strategy that led to a number of goalscoring opportunities.

They didn’t have to wait long for one to arrive, Maggie Jenkins dispossessing a defender before driving into the box and pulling her strike narrowly wide in just the third minute. Another sight of goal fell to Sam Tawharu after a long throw-in while captain Malia Steinmetz went close with a left-footed curler that went just over and Jenkins had a free kick tipped around the post.

Mexico struggled to build enough possession to enter New Zealand’s defensive third and were limited to only one set piece, which they made the most of to score the game’s only goal in the 74^th minute. A corner was initially cleared but the ball was then delivered into the box once more as the Kiwis stepped out and it was hammered past half-time substitute Nadia Olla for what proved to be the decisive moment of the match.

New Zealand had a half chance to equalise late on but Grace Jale couldn’t quite make contact with a cross from substitute Gabi Rennie as Turnbull was left to reflect on an encouraging performance.

“Having this warm-up match is invaluable for our preparation leading into the World Cup. To be here in France prior to the FIFA bubble allows us time to acclimatise to the conditions and test ourselves against a very strong football nation to help iron out our tactical and physical preparation,” he said.

“It was also a pleasing side note to give the majority of the squad some playing time, including an international debut to Tiana Hill, without creating any disruption to the flow of our performance,” he added.

“To see how far this group has progressed over this cycle is hugely rewarding. Two years ago, we were shown what the international standard is at the U-17 World Cup in Jordan. To now take the game to a team that beat us at that event and come away dominant in most areas across the park highlights the hard work and investment into the U-20s programme by a lot of people.”

Match Details

New Zealand 0
Mexico 1
HT: 0-0

New Zealand: 1. Anna Leat (20. Nadia Olla 46’) 2. Sarah Morton (5. Michaela Foster 81’), 4. Elizabeth Anton (3. Rebecca Lake 73’), 7. Hannah Blake (11. Jacqui Hand 46’), 8. Malia Steinmetz (c) (6. Nicole Mettam 73’), 9. Samantha Tawharu (15. Tiana Hill 62’), 10. Grace Jale, 13. Paige Satchell (16. Gabi Rennie 81’), 14. Claudia Bunge, 18. Aneka Mittendorff, 19. Maggie Jenkins (17. Dayna Stevens 81’)
Substitutes not used: 12. Rose Morton, 21. Una Foyle
Coach: Gareth Turnbull

New Zealand FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup fixtures (all NZ time)

New Zealand vs Netherlands
6 August, 2.30am
Stade de la Rabine, Vannes

New Zealand vs France
9 August, 5.30am
Stade de la Rabine, Vannes

New Zealand vs Ghana
13 August, 2.30am
Stade Guy-Piriou, Concarneau

Article added: Tuesday 31 July 2018