The New Zealand U-23 men’s team is now just one step away from earning a spot at the Tokyo Olympics after making the final of the qualifying tournament in Fiji.

Des Buckingham’s men took a perfect record into their semi-final against the hosts this afternoon and were able to extend that with a 6-1 win, thanks largely to an impressive first-half showing in the stifling heat of Lautoka.

Fiji are the defending champions of this tournament and would have hoped to provide New Zealand’s sternest test so far in front of their own fans at Churchill Park.

But those hopes were blown away within the opening half hour as New Zealand hit them with the full force of their attacking threat.

Buckingham’s side had already plundered 22 goals en route to topping their group and didn’t take long to add three more to the tally as they placed one foot in the final early on.

The first was created by a moment of magic from skipper Logan Rogerson, who turned his marker inside out on the left before sending in a low cross that the unfortunate Scott Wara could only head into his own net.

It got worse for Wara and his team mates ten minutes later as Ben Waine made it two, the Wellington Phoenix youngster controlling a drilled pass from Liberato Cacace before coolly slotting home.

Fiji now had a very steep hill to climb and had still not come to terms with New Zealand’s quality going forward, which Rogerson took advantage of on the half-hour mark. Waine turned provider this time, showing good vision to pick out the far post run of his captain with a perfectly-weighted pass that Rogerson made no mistake in tucking away.

There was still plenty of time for a fourth for New Zealand before the break and Myer Bevan duly obliged, prodding home from close range after being set up by a combination of a mazy Rogerson run and another Cacace cutback.

There now appeared to be no way back for Fiji but they did manage to stem the flow in the second half, New Zealand not finding the net again until just over ten minutes remaining, half-time substitute Callan Elliot rifling a Waine lay-off into the top corner.

The icing on the cake was applied by Bevan in stoppage time, the Auckland City striker back-heeling in a Waine cross for his 10^th goal of the campaign.

Fiji’s only consolation was provided by Mohammed Shah, whose second-half strike did little to dampen the spirits of the New Zealand camp.

“We’re really pleased to continue how we’ve been playing, especially in that first half,” Buckingham said.

“To go into half-time 4-0 up and have the opportunity to rest some players was hugely pleasing. I’ve been to the islands a few times now and I can genuinely say this is the hottest conditions I’ve ever experienced but we adapted really well. We said we wanted to get better with every game and I feel we’ve done that. Every player has now played minutes for us leading into the final and we’re in a good place.”

New Zealand will now take on either Vanuatu or the Solomon Islands in the final on Saturday at Churchill Park in Lautoka, kick-off 3pm local time (4pm NZT).  

Match Details

New Zealand 6 (Own goal 13’, Ben Waine 23’, Logan Rogerson 30’, Myer Bevan 44’, 90 + 5’, Callan Elliot 79’)
Fiji 1 (Mohammed Shah 74’)
HT: 4-0

New Zealand: 1. Cameron Brown (GK), 4. Hunter Ashworth, 6. Dane Schnell, 7. Myer Bevan, 9. Logan Rogerson (c), 10. Clayton Lewis (11. Ollie Whyte 46’), 13. Liberato Cacace (3. Dylan de Jong 63’), 14. Billy Jones, 16. Gianni Stensness, 18. Ben Waine, 19. Noah Billingsley (17. Callan Elliot 46’)
Substitutes not used: 2. Jordan Spain, 5. Robert Tipelu, 8. Jake Porter,  12. Conor Tracey (GK), 15. Sean Liddicoat, 20. Alex Paulsen (GK)
Caution: Liberato Cacace 45 + 4’
Coach: Des Buckingham

Article added: Wednesday 02 October 2019