See, not a single worry in the end about the players that didn’t go. Of course it would have been nice to have the Phoenix and the Olé lads available, but a lot of people still need to get around to the idea that in international football you’re not always going to have your best players available. Definitely can’t expect that outside of major tournaments and especially not on this side of the world. A couple weeks of Oceania qualifiers? Case and point – this was far from an unusual occurrence.

It was never going to be an easy task, these OFC games always have their challenges. Particularly at this age when you don’t have so much experience tackling this very unique and particular battle. You could even make the argument that a certain battler quality is kinda necessary when you’re playing this many games in a row in ruthless heat and humidity on pitches that often deteriorate as things progress on account of the same grounds being used repeatedly. Callum McCowatt would have offered plenty to this side. Eli Just and Sarpreet Singh the same. We’ve got great players coming through and that’s cool. But the guys that went did the trick, just as they were expected to do.

What was most enjoyable here was that the kiwis were always looking for that next goal. They played positively and aggressively. Way too many long balls, sure, but it’s difficult to string passes together in these conditions, plus we’re talking about young players. There were hundreds of time when they went for that one killer pass instead of trusting that three knocks and they’d have something better. They regularly over/under-hit through balls and crosses. But they kept on going for it. To put it bluntly, you’re not gonna learn a massive amount about your technical game in OFC conditions. Instead you’ll learn enormous amounts about your attitude, your commitment and your desire.

Des Buckingham made little tweaks and rotations to his starting teams the whole way through but Dino Botica and Robert Tipelu always seemed to be there at CB, getting stuck in and doing the business. Both had great tournaments. Max Mata got himself a red card at full-time of the final which wasn’t the best but he scored goals all tourney, winning the golden boot, constantly linking up with the attackers around him. If this was your first glimpse of Trevor Zwetsloot then you saw a composed and commanding central midfield presence and the captain Joe Bell beside him has never failed to impress in a white jersey at any age level – which is the most enticing thing given our usual lack of top class midfielders. Callan Elliot, who is naturally a creative winger, spent the tournament at left back and held his own. Charles Spragg, Willem Ebbinge, Ollie Whyte, Leon van den Hoven and Matt Conroy all had their moments going forward.

Again, it’s tough to judge these OFC tournaments. There’s a grinding element of do-what-you’ve-gotta-do that always bleeds through and that’s okay as long as they get the results. You can expect these guys to play more attractively in more favourable conditions. You definitely can’t hate on them for only showing glimpses of that here. They lifted the trophy, they qualified for the 2019 U20 World Cup. It’s all good.

The final against Tahiti was a grinding affair, as you may expect from the last game of a draining campaign. Neither side offered a whole lot on attack in a scoreless first half. Tahiti probably had their best opportunity soon after the resumption of play with a free kick from Roonui Tehau on the edge of the box that Cam Brown made a lovely save to tip over the crossbar… but then Matty Conroy broke through about a minute later, getting on the end of a long ball from Jordan Spain and dragging two defenders over before squaring to an open Trevor Zwetloot for what would be the winning goal with 50 minutes played.

That Aotearoa couldn’t score a second to kill it off is part wastefulness and part resolute Tahitian defending. Nobody’s underestimating these Oceania nations in this day and age and a team like Tahiti, who had already given the kiwis a scare in the opener, have some excellent players hovering around. Terai Bremond and Eddy Kaspard for example. But if we’re being honest then Tahiti rarely looked like scoring an equaliser and when they did get close a bad touch often got in the way and the danger was gone. Trophy secured for NZ, then. Ignore the brouhaha at the end (dumb from Mata but he was getting picked on constantly at the end and the ref just let it all slide).

Not that the trophy was the main prize, that one was U20WC qualification and they’d already achieved by getting to the final. Oceania gets two spots at youth World Cups now on account of FIFA probably noticing that New Zealand are always hogging these spots, which meant that the semi against New Caledonia was actually the more important clash. And trailing 1-0 at the break things were getting uncomfortable. But in yet another example that this team still packed plenty of depth, on came Will Ebbinge off the bench and he set up the equaliser before scoring the winner.

There were some very tight scorelines along the way but it should be said that the kiwis were always bossing things. Some difficult moments against the counter attack or set pieces were more than offset by their constant goal threat going back the other way. A 2-1 win over Tahiti in the first game was hard earned. But they created the chances to do so. Same with both their knockout games. Oh and in between was a 14-0 win over Tonga in which three players scored hat-tricks (Joe Bell, Ollie Whyte and Charles Spragg) and a 4-0 win over Papua New Guinea with the damage all done in the second half.

What’s cool now is to imagine a World Cup squad next year which also includes fellas like Sarpreet Singh, Libby Cacace, Michael Woud, Eli Just, Callum McCowatt… not to mention whoever else pops up between now and then, there’s always someone out there just waiting for a chance. And a year can be a long time in football so you never know where Leon van den Hoven might be after a year with RKC Waalwijk or where Trevor Zwetsloot might be with old mates Werder Bremen after another season. Don’t fret about who’d have to miss out when there’s a squad in there which might be able to do some serious things at that tournament. Time to move NZ Football into the future after all.

If you rated the read then smash an ad to say cheers. Then head on over to Patreon and get frisky if you reckon what The Niche Cache does is worth a bit of currency.