New Zealand U-20s captain Joe Bell has returned home to Virginia in the States to reflect on a successful Oceania Football Confederation U-19 Championship.

The 19-year-old, who was awarded the Golden Ball for the Player of the Tournament, said it was a huge honour to captain New Zealand through the tournament as they went undefeated, scored 23 goals and only conceded two on their way to claiming their seventh title.

Bell is looking forward to competing in his second FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2019 after being part of the squad that made the quarterfinals in Korea Republic last year.

“It was a fantastic feeling lifting the trophy with a really good group of guys,” said Bell from Virginia. “I think Des [Buckingham] did an outstanding job of bringing the squad together in a short time and creating a strong team culture. We all wanted to play for each other. We are all really tight knit after what we have been through as a group which bodes well for any future tours.”

Buckingham had high praise for Bell as the leader of the group after his commanding performances from the central midfield. 

“Joe picked up the Golden Ball award for the most outstanding player of the tournament and it was well deserved,” said the Head Coach.  It was a very tight knit group of players who were a pleasure to work with. To have a young group of people who are proud to represent their country and possess shared values, beliefs and behaviours created a positive learning environment which they were able to enjoy whilst also being successful.”

Bell added: “I said to the guy who presented me the award that there were a number of guys in our team who could have won this title. It really was a team effort. I mean if you look at our defence throughout the tournament, our backline was really solid. We only conceded two goals so this award could easily have gone to Dino [Botica] or Rob [Tipelu] who both had great tournaments. But I was really proud to be awarded the Golden Ball.”

Bell, who scored what must be one the fastest hat-tricks recorded in representative football against Papua New Guinea when he found the back of the net three times in four minutes, said there was a huge amount of respect within the group both for each other and the coaching staff.

“The way Des managed the team and balanced the player input into their own thinking was just what we needed to be at our best for each opponent. There were times when it wasn’t easy but our preparation was spot on.”

Bell said the standard in the Pacific Islands is improving every year. They had heard the stories of how much preparation Tahiti put in their team and it showed.

“We found them a very organised team who were hard to break down. New Caledonia were the same, and you had to work pretty hard through the 90 minutes to create opportunities. It is always hard when you come to a tournament and you are the favourites but we weren’t too worried about that, we just took it game by game.” 

Bell said one of his proudest moments of the tournament was the way the team rallied in the final. He said it would have been easy to sit back and think they have qualified for the FIFA World Cup and not be too motivated but this team set two clear goals; to qualify for the World Cup and also win the championship.

“No one in the team was satisfied when we made the final and there was a lot of focus and determination to win the title, which wasn’t easy as Tahiti made life pretty challenging.” 

Bell is looking forward to taking on this success back to the University of Virginia who compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Bell, who is originally from Wanaka, wants to back up a fine freshman season where he was a member of the ACC All-Freshman team. 

“After my time in the Islands, where it was hot and I got plenty of game time, I feel well prepared both mentally and physically for the season. The competition is at a really high standard so I am looking forward to it.”

Bell is also looking forward to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland next year from 23 May – 15 June as the team looks to apply the learnings from last year in Korea.

“I am sure that Des is back home and is already and planning the best possible preparation for the squad. It will be great and I think all of the guys who experienced the U-20 World Cup in Korea will help us a huge amount. Playing against the likes of France and the USA who we met in the quarterfinals showed us the standard that is required to compete at this level and that is what we need to be at for Poland.” 

OFC U-19 Championship
Golden Boot – Max Mata (New Zealand)
Golden Ball – Joe Bell (New Zealand)
Golden Glove – Moana Pito (Tahiti)

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
When: 23 May – 15 June
Where: Poland
Teams: 24 (from six Confederations)

Article added: Friday 24 August 2018