It’s always hard to know what to expect at these youth tournaments. The prestige of a nation’s senior team doesn’t necessarily translate to the younger levels and there’s never an abundance of pre-tourney games from outside the confederations to let anyone know how teams compare. You have to go in blind... especially New Zealand. As much as we can look at teams like Guatemala and Uzbekistan and think: yeah, sweet, we can do them... they’re thinking the same damn thing (in different words) about us.

Guatemala proved a frisky competitor but the NZ U20s edged them both technically and tactically for the win. Uzbekistan, meanwhile, pushed hosts Argentina all the way only losing 2-1 in their opener. There was a penalty overturned against them too or they might’ve snatched a point. These guys won the Asian qualifying competition earlier this year – including knocking Aussie out on penalties in the quarters. They were also hosts for that tournament but still... there was more than enough evidence that this lot would be a step up from Guatemala. And so it proved in a 2-2 draw.

It’s a weird one because on the one hand the kiwis did extremely well to get a point out of a game in which they were dominated in both possession and shots against. Yet on the other hand they were 2-0 up and allowed a stoppage time equaliser. The way they defended in the first half especially you’d have backed them to hang on... but they didn’t handle the second stanza as well as they could have and, realistically, the two-goal lead did flatter them. The conditions also made it tough, not only the heat and humidity but also the fact they were playing their second game in 72 hours. The first-up victory means that a point isn’t a disaster by any means, even though that late concession has kept them from having already booked a spot in the round of sixteen. Perhaps that’s why the mood around the squad, and from the coach, didn’t seem as despondent as you’d usually get in those circumstances.

That quick turnaround, and the fact that the subs had been so influential last game, had Coach Darren Bazeley happy to make changes with five alterations to his starting eleven and a this time he went with the 4-2-3-1 shape from the start. The back three remained the same – although Lukas Kelly-Heald was now at left back – but Everton O’Leary swapped in on the right side. Dan McKay, Norman Garbett, Ben Wallace, and Kian Donkers were also all elevated to start. With Oliver Fay getting minutes off the bench towards the end we’re two games into the comp and only Finn Linder and the two backup goalies are yet to take the pitch.

This was a very different game to the last one though. This time it was the opponents with most of the ball, in fact Uzbekistan’s possession numbers were through the roof. The FIFA stats get frisky because they have that chunk of possession listed as ‘in contest’ (it used to just be based on each team’s attempted passes) but suffice to say that the Uzbeks ran the show. They were moving it around quickly, particularly with an eye on creating space in the wide areas where their 4-3-3 formation meant they could usually find those pesky triangles and overlaps.

The size advantage of the NZers helped them cope with that. Uzbekistan found space out wide, especially through Abbosbek Fayzullaev in behind O’Leary (who, along with McKay, picked up an early yellow card), but clear chances were at a minimum thanks to the big fellas in the middle. Lots of numbers behind the ball when required, the lads working hard. Particularly Finn Surman. It was blocked shot after blocked shot from that bloke putting his body on the line for the cause. Would’ve been nice to spend more time in the other half but that’s okay because they made it count when they did. First shot of the game for the Aotearoa side came after 22 minutes of football and it was Ben Wallace doing this...

Bang. What a hit. Keeper was slow to get down and that was doom against a shot as well placed as that. Remember when Ben Wallace was the surprise pick in the squad? Young bro’s put everyone on notice since.

The goal didn’t change the flow of the game but it did give New Zealand a timely boost. It wasn’t until the 35th minute that Kees Sims had to make a proper save and even then it was a soft header straight into his grasp. Uzbekistan were having issues getting to the final product, hesitant to shoot early (and when they did you could see why) yet regularly crowded out by recovering defenders in the middle. Surman kept leaping into heroic blocks. Then, in the 41st minute, the New Zealanders finally attempted their second shot and Jay Herdman’s turn-and-strike was even better than what Wallace had managed earlier...

One thing that’s abundantly clear with Jay Herdman is that you don’t want to give him space to shoot from outside the area. He already has a highlight reel of copious long-range bangers. It’s getting to the point where you have to wonder how far away a first team debut might be at Vancouver Whitecaps. Could he make it happen in 2023?

Sneaky subplot: both goals were assisted by Fin Conchie, who also assisted the goal against Guatemala. If it’s true that Chiefy’s looking for an academy midfielder to bolster his Wellington Phoenix squad then waste no more time, Fin Conchie’s the one.

NZ had taken two shots and scored two goals. Uzbekistan had taken nine shots and only one was on target, thus they found themselves 2-0 down at half-time. Strange circumstances yet that’s why finishing is so important. Funnily enough, both managers reacted to the same thing in their half-time adjustments. O’Leary had been burnt a couple times by Fayzullaev down the right so he was replaced by Jackson Jarvie at the break... while Fayzullaev himself was actually swapped over to the right wing anyway. EOL was also on a booking, to be fair.

That wasn’t the only thing that The Baze switched up: he also swapped to the other formation. The back three returned with Garbett sliding over to LWB. Wallace and Herdman in behind Donkers – call it a 3-4-2-1 formation. Alas, it didn’t exactly have the desired effect. Five minutes into the half they conceded when Uzbekistan got to the byline and nobody tracked the run of Fayzullaev into the pocket. For once Surman’s attempted block wasn’t successful and, bingo, the Uzbeks’ best player scored the goal that got them back into it.

Bazeley introduced Oli Colloty and Adam Supyk to keep things fresh. Still the blocked shots continued - Isaac Hughes made a brilliant one after 70 mins. Oli Fay and Jackson Manuel were also subbed on late. But easing the steady pressure on their backline was tough to do. Fatigue became more and more obvious as the Uzbek shots kept flowing. Depending on where you look, Uzbekistan may have tallied as many as thirty attempts at goal over the ninety minutes plus eight added on.

So it was that Sherzod Esanov popped up with a header to tie things up in the third minute of stoppage time. It was a soft goal to concede. The backline was caught wonky when Supyk’s weak defensive header landed with an opponent in a good spot, then in came the cross. Hughes had rushed out to cover the deeper option leaving Esanov unmarked in the six yard box while Surman and Kelly-Heald each seemed to be covering the same bloke. It was tired defending, basically. The kind of mistakes that tend to happen late in a game like this. But to everyone’s profound credit they never repeated it, seeing out the last five minutes to ensure they still emerged with a point.

Darren Bazeley: “I’m really proud of the boys. I know there’s slight disappointment because we were leading in the ninetieth minute. But the grit and determination and the effort the boys put into that game is unbelievable. You know they're a very good team and they piled on a lot of pressure onto us. Unfortunately the more pressure they put on, eventually we did succumb to one attack. That s disappointing. The boys have put in a really tough game and they've come off disappointed but they didn’t get beat, they secured another point at a World Cup. There’s a really great learning curve in that they can’t just go out and try and defend leads. We’ve got to still try and play. I thought we had moments but like I say Uzbekistan are a good team and the pressure kept coming. So it was a shame to concede so late but really really proud of the boys.”

Bummer about the late concession... but if we’re keeping it a hundy here we’ve gotta admit that Uzbekistan were easily the more dominant team and to catch a point against some of this statistical disparity is pretty amazing...

Even still, hard not to wonder about what might’ve been after getting so close to victory... although it’s worth mentioning that the last time that NZ played Uzbekistan in this tournament was in 2013 and they beat us 3-0 (Ryan Thomas, Bill Tuiloma, Tim Payne, and Tyler Boyd were all in that generation).

Finn Surman was immense. Champion defensive performance from the captain and his WeeNix buddy Isaac Hughes was not too far behind him on that count. Fin Conchie had another excellent display in midfield while Jay Herdman and Ben Wallace supplied the moments of quality that led to the result. Note that NZ covered ten kilometres more than UZB did – that’s not all because of the possession difference. That’s a team that put in the hard yards throughout.

This result does funky things to the group. With Uzbekistan facing Guatemala in the last round, and based on the respective performances against NZ they should win that one for sure, UZB are likely to end up on four points at the end of it. Which means that the NZ U20s will definitely go through if they take anything off Argentina... granted, in order to do that they’ll have to take something off Argentina. However only winning 1-0 against Guatemala combined with Uzbekistan only losing 2-1 to Argy means there aren’t too many circumstances in which Uzbekistan win and New Zealand lose their third games and the NZers remain ahead on goal difference. There’s a good chance that late goal has cost us second spot.

Having said that, four of the top six third-placed finishers also advance to the knockouts. It’d be much better to finish second and get a healthier tie but advancing is the main thing and four points almost always ensures that fate. As long as they don’t get thrashed by Argentina then they should be okay... and even if they do it might not matter. Oddly enough there were no draws in the twelve games of the first round so it’s worth cheering for winning teams to keep winning and meetings between losing teams to end in draws across the other five groups just to make sure. If three of the six groups have a third-placer stuck on three points then we’re good, bruh.

Argentina beat Guatemala 3-0 in the other game but they had some frustrations trying to break them down just like we did. Might be hope yet for a Guatemala defensive masterclass against the Uzbeks – anything other than an Uzbekistan win and we don’t even have to worry about the other groups. Argentine defender Tomas Aviles got a red card in that game so he won’t be playing. Plus the kiwis were able to dodge any suspensions themselves – albeit Kelly-Heald, Hughes, Manuel, O’Leary, Wallace, and McKay are all on yellows and thus in danger for the potential round of sixteen match. Argentina, of course, are already through to the next round after two wins. Let’s hope they slacken off. That game kicks off at 9am on Saturday NZT.

NZ U20s vs Uzbekistan:

Starting XI: Kees Sims, Everton O’Leary (Jackson Jarvie 46’), Isaac Hughes, Finn Surman, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Fin Conchie, Dan McKay, Norman Garbett (Adam Supyk 63’), Jay Herdman (Jackson Manuel 87’), Ben Wallace (Oliver Fay 83’), Kian Donkers (Oli Colloty 63’)

Goal scored by Ben Wallace (Assist: Fin Conchie) in the 23rd minute and Jay Herdman (Assist: Fin Conchie) in the 41st minute

Yellow cards for O’Leary & McKay

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