The New Zealand U-20 men went down 2-0 to Uruguay this morning (NZT) to finish second in Group C of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.

They will meet Colombia in the Round of 16 on Monday morning at 6.30am (NZT). Find out what coach Des Buckingham has to say about their tournament so far. 

What were your impressions of the Uruguay game?

It was a good opportunity for us to rest some players today. We had achieved so much already. We talked about creating our own history and we have ticked a lot of boxes along the way. Looking ahead to the Round of 16,  today gave us a chance to rest some players, but it was also a chance to look at other players in the squad and give them an opportunity to show what they are capable of as well. They did that. It was a little bit unfortunate to have that sucker-punch at the end for the second goal, especially with the two chances that we had. Joe Bell had a left-foot shot first and there was also another from the edge of the box which was just blocked.

Do you have an injury update on Trevor Zwetsloot?

All we know at the moment is that it is a knee strain. He is being assessed right now and that is as much as I know.

Was there any doubt in your mind about making the nine changes?

No, there wasn’t. We had done something that no other New Zealand team had done at an U-20 World Cup in winning our first two games. Previously, we had only won two games from 17 games at the U-20 World Cup. Sitting on six points, and already qualified for the Round of 16, it put us in a position where we could look longer term. I was confident in this group of players – even though we had made nine changes – with the way they would play that we could go and get a result today.

I was really pleased with the guys that came in today. Although there were nine changes, they all tried to continue playing the way we did in the first couple of games, especially in possession. I was really pleased with this team, they didn’t resort back to the long ball when they were under pressure. They continued to try and play out from the back, and tried to get some of the patterns of play that we had been working on. I felt that we should have got a result out of today. Especially with the two chances we had late in the game.

Will it be an advantage to stay in the same venue and city?

Yes, it will be. The travel between games the other day took us 10 hours so we won’t miss that. We know the stadium here well and the city has been very good to us. We are very much looking forward to this game.

In the second half, your team really came into the game and created some opportunities. What did you discuss at half time?
When you make nine changes to a team, it can become slightly disjointed and it takes some time for people to understand their roles and the way we wanted to play out of possession. We changed the approach to the game in the second half and from that we grew more into the game.

You will now face Colombia, how much do you know about them and will today help in that you have already played South American opposition?

I think there is an advantage there. The fact is we have only won two games in 17 attempts, or 10 years, before this tournament. We knew at the start of this game today, after winning two games, that the minimum we would get was second place and that would mean we would come up against Colombia. We are in the best position possible now. We have 20 fit players and we will assess Trevor Zwetsloot, hopefully he is okay. We will be ready for Colombia.

How good is this team and how far do you believe can you go?

We have got a good group of players. We need to allow these players the opportunity to express themselves as a collective. We need to put a framework around that as we get into the Round of 16. We have fresh bodies coming back in and the guys who have played well today have put their hand up. We want to create our own history. We have created some already but the main one for us is getting past that Round of 16. If we are able to do that, we have seen what is possible with the likes of the U-17 women last year. Then you are only a few games away from real challenges.

The support this team has had back in New Zealand has been special, how has that helped? 

It has been overwhelming. We have had messages from both in and outside of New Zealand and have shared with the players. We have had good luck messages from Tahiti, from our other age-group teams, from the Football Ferns, and they are very much well received by the group. It is hugely appreciated.

Article added: Friday 31 May 2019