New Zealand U-23 coach Des Buckingham has been impressed by his captain Logan Rogerson who has led from the front at the Pacific Games.

New Zealand, who defeated Tonga 13-0 in their opening game, continued their unbeaten run last night when they beat hosts Samoa 5-1 in hot and humid conditions at the at the JS Blatter Football Complex in Apia.

Rogerson has been in the thick of the action. He scored five goals against Tonga and backed that up with another two against Samoa before being subbed at half-time.

Buckingham said it has been great to be working with the 21-year-old again who is making his mark on this tournament. 

“We have a very young group here,” said Buckingham. “Logan with his background and experience with the All Whites, he has also been overseas as a professional player and his experience here is very valuable. He has been great on this tour at leading this group.

“He is one of the 19 players we have brought away and they have all stood up. It is pleasing to see him out of the New Zealand set-up for a period of time and come back in and scoring goals again. I worked with Logan at the Wellington Phoenix and he has gone away and added a huge amount to his game on the field, but also to himself as a person. It is credit to him and he is really helping us on this journey.”

Buckingham made five changes to the side that opened with a big win against Tonga to freshen things up and use all of his squad as they get ready for their final two pool games.

“Our team was very young again, much younger than an Under-23 team, up against a host nation Samoa who had been in China for two months preparing for this. They made it very difficult for us. Credit to our players they stuck in there and played well in tough conditions.”

Next up is Vanuatu tomorrow night and Buckingham is expecting a tough challenge from a side that is getting familiar with their new coach Englishman Paul Munster. 

“I am sure they will be well organised and structured. You only need to look at a senior team that we took the Nations Cup four years ago and they showed the level of the Pacific Teams. It will be a tough one but we will be ready.”

Buckingham said the bigger picture is to be ready for the OFC U-23 Championship in September and October as they look to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  The team has done some important cultural work on this tour.

“We are sharing a tight space together. It has helped the players bond. They only knew each other as players before coming here and we have done some work with them on the cultural work we have done at the U-20s, to get to know them better as people and what it means to wear the Fern.”

Match Schedule
Vanuatu vs New Zealand U-23
Friday 12 July, 4pm (3pm NZT)

New Zealand U-23 vs Papua New Guinea
Monday 15 July, 10am (9am NZT)

Article added: Thursday 11 July 2019