It was a bit much to expect the lads to sneak past the United States of America. Getting to the knockouts was the main aim of the tournament and they achieved that, progressing to the round of sixteen for the fourth consecutive time at a Men’s U20 World Cup. That alone is an incredible feat. The Men’s U17s have only escaped the group stages on three occasions. The Women’s U20s just once (in 2014). The Women’s U17s also only once... but that one time they did do on and do something no other kiwi youth team has ever achieved at a FIFA World Cup event: they won a knockout game. Beat Japan on penalties then ended up finishing third overall. You remember the story. That was in 2018.

Add in that neither the All Whites (3 draws, 3 defeats in two appearances) nor the Football Ferns (3 draws, 12 defeats in five appearances) have ever even won a game at a World Cup, let alone made the knockouts (although the Ferns and Men’s U23s have both emerged from Olympic group stages, to be fair)... and you get an idea of the football heritage at play here. It’s all good, we know the deal. New Zealand is only ever going to be an underdog in these situations. Knockout games are prizes in and of themselves thus for four consecutive Men’s U20s squads to have made it that far is choice as bro, even if they all lost.

The problem with the knockouts is that they’re always full of good teams. Like this USA lot, the entirety of which are based either with MLS clubs or have moved to Europe. Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina signed with Chelsea a year ago for an eight-figure USD transfer fee (having already played 43 times in MLS as a teenager) – that bloke didn’t concede a single goal during the group stage. The New Zealand squad does have a few professionals in its ranks but only Finn Surman, Kees Sims, and a little bit of Oliver Fay are playing first team footy as full pros. The rest are either with youth teams or are still on the rise in the NZ domestic scene.

Plus the kiwis were coming off the back of two games in which they’d been thoroughly dominated. They did hang on for a draw in the Uzbekistan one despite some overwhelming pressure but Argentinasubsequently taught them a ruthless and humbling lesson. Now they had to take on a USA team that had won three of three in the groups without conceding a goal? At least they’d already had the Argy wake-up call, during which they were able to rest a few key players. Also this USA team have a different balance to their play than the flowing, dynamic, powerful Argentines so perhaps that would help keep the NZers in the hunt for longer.

Yeah nah. It took just 14 minutes before they were broken, courtesy of a rare error from Kees Sims misjudging the direction of a shot from Owen Wolff. It was well-placed but not exactly a rocket and Sims could have tipped it around the corner but he refrained from going full-stretch, seemingly thinking it was missing the target. Hardly a howler but KS keeps high standards for himself so he wasn’t too chuffed when it snuck inside the post. Granted they later got lucky when a cross deflected via Finn Surman onto the bar so it balanced out as these things often do. Still, the early concession was rough. Despite the USA taking a long time to score their second, the fact that they were playing with the lead removed the element of friskiness that we probably needed to force a few errors.

Winding it back slightly, the starting eleven was kinda fascinating from Darren Bazeley. The last TNC write-up made a point of the contrasts in success between the back four and back five formations that this team has alternated between (3-0 in 67 mins with a four; 0-7 in 203 minutes with a five). Baze and company have seen the same things because they rolled out the 4-2-3-1 shape here...

Most of the selections were as expected but there were a couple of points of interest. Dan McKay zooming ahead of Jackson Manuel was one of those, probably based on performances through the group stage. Wingers Norman Garbett and Ben Wallace have been in and out but they were the initiating subs for the switch in formations in the Guatemala game so basically they’re first choice when the 4-2-3-1 is in action. Then the real funky one was Finn Linder at right back. He’d been the last outfielder to get game-time at Argentina 2023... he was also the best performer in the hiding against the hosts and was rewarded with the fullback gig in the knockouts.

It was a bit like watching the Football Ferns during their more injury ravaged games over the last year because all four defenders were centre-backs by preference. Lukas Kelly-Heald has certainly played enough left-back for that not to worry him. Not sure about Linder whose development has come out of sight/mind in Canada but clearly Baze trusted him there, probably for his CB skillset as much as anything. That did cause the back four to be a little wonky as Linder didn’t push on like LKH occasionally tried to do... though most of the game was spent, once again, in defence. You know how it goes.

Not as drastically as the previous two games though. USA had less possession than Uzbekistan or Argentina had against us and thus fewer clear scoring chances as well. They still had more than enough, as it turned out, but it wasn’t a complete hiding like Argentina had dished out.

Having been stuck half-in and half-out with whether to press high against Argentina (which is basically the worst mindset to have), there was visible instruction not to bother against USA. The four forwards stood off, waiting until USA hit their midfield before engaging them. America are clearly a superbly organised team with a lot of off-ball movement and sharp passing however this was a very different beast to the Argentines. That lot felt like magicians. This lot felt like engineers. USA’s style was functional and rehearsed. Less of that improvised stuff finding overloads and causing havoc. More about patterns from the training pitch. But, yeah, they were really good with it so that was hardly a helping hand for Aotearoa. Just a casual observation.

Believe it or not, the first good chance of the game was actually a New Zealand chance. Wallace collected the ball wide right and hit Jay Herdman on the underlap. Herdman then cut the ball back towards Garbett whose shot was blocked at close range and there was then a long VAR review for a possible handball. Must’ve taken a few good minutes just waiting for that decision without a single telly replay for us plebs at home... then when they finally did show a replay it was obvious that it had deflected off the defender’s leg and into his arm so it should’ve only taken three seconds to shrug that off and play on. Ah well. For a short time there it felt like maybe there was the genuine possibility of an early penalty (Oli Colloty was banging in pens for fun during the last National League for Melville just so you know).

Herdman also had a great chance while it was still 0-0. Picked up a loosie and, then chopping inside to shoot, forced a good save out of Slonina. Herdman’s knack for creating something out of nothing, mostly thanks to his brilliant long-range shooting, was always the best shout for the kiwis. Alas, that was as close as he’d get all game. The USA did their homework. They may have a coach who goes by the name ‘Mikey’ but the bloke knew what he was doing.

Then USA scored their opening goal. From there, New Zealand had only one more shot and it wasn’t on target. Finn Linder hurt his shoulder in a fall late in the half and although he was able to continue, he aggravated it again early second half and had to be subbed. Curiously Aaryan Raj was the lad to replace him rather than either of the specialist right backs in the squad. Keeping that CB-hybrid thing going on the right – may have been a tactical thing given a lot of USA’s work was coming via the overlaps there. America’s whole thing seemed to be about getting wingers running past and then crossing from deep - certainly not the worst strategy when you’ve got real pace out there. They weren’t as flash in getting past Surman or Sims in the middle but they were always threatening to.

So it was that the game remained at 1-0 until the 61st minute and then the pesky Yanks scored three more times in the last half hour as the NZers faded out. The second goal was from Cade Cowell (an MLS regular since he was still at high school age - now 19yo with 92 senior apps for San Jose) in a rare instance of a player angling inside to shoot rather than drawing the conditioned overlap outside him. Bazeley, who’d been yelling about aggression and higher positioning throughout the first half, responded by throwing on Noah Karunaratne for Dan McKay in a very attacking change that allowed the kiwis to get more numbers forward over the last twenty mins but also left them exposed on the break with only Conchie covering the middle.

Worst example of that was an attacking free kick which they took ages in setting up only for Garbett to hit the first defender with an awful delivery and USA countered and scored. A few good crosses from some better territory didn’t lead to a consolation goal. USA added another near the end. 4-0 final score. Disappointing way to dip out of the competition, although at least the four goal defeat was a fair reflection whereas the 5-0 vs Argentina probably shoulda been a lot more. They were bossed... but not as badly as the previous game (would love to see Argentina vs USA in the latter stages although it can only happen in the final/third-place playoff).

The formation stuff seemed to make a difference in the first two games. Honestly though, it just wasn’t a big deal in these last two. Argentina woulda done the same against a back four, USA woulda done the same against a back five. Tiredness was definitely a factor after four quick games even despite a bit of rotation along the way. Bazeley probably should’ve gone to his bench sooner (not counting the injury-enforced sub), with Garbett in particular really seeming to struggle with his touch and direction. Had wondered if Karunaratne might take his spot at half-time... or even Kian Donkers for a second target man. Never did get to see Colloty and Donkers on the pitch together. Some of those specialist fullbacks could’ve helped with their pace as well.

Mostly though it wasn’t about coaching, it wasn’t about selections, it wasn’t about performance, it wasn’t about loading or fatigue. It was a simple matter of being outclassed by a nation with far more youth infrastructure and a fully professional league. That’s how it goes. We beat Guatemala. We scraped a draw against Uzbekistan. Then we capped out against Argentina and USA. It is what it is.

Now the fun stuff happens, when we start to see these blokes picking up deals around the world. This wave wasn’t as stacked as the 2019 wave (which now forms the heart of the All Whites thanks to guys like Bell, Cacace, Singh, Pijnaker, Just, etc.) but already we’ve got guys in some enviable spots. Jay Herdman and Finn Linder at Vancouver Whitecaps getting regular reserves minutes. Kees Sims and Oli Fay playing first team for Ljungskile in Sweden (Sims in particular feels on a much higher trajectory). Kian Donkers in the NEC Nijmegen system. Oli Colloty trialling around England. Henry Gray just signed with Ipswich. Norman Garbett with Potenza’s primavera team. Not to mention all the Wellington Phoenix lads, with Finn Surman already in the A-League squad and Fin Conchie looking destined to join him on a pro contract.

Some of those guys will soon make bigger moves. Others will find their own way to the professional ranks in time... and that includes dudes who didn’t even make this squad. Later in the year there’s a Men’s U17 World Cup where we can do it all again with the likes of Marley Leuluai and Adam Watson. All Whites have fixtures coming up soon. Most European seasons are finished or finishing which means that the transfer window is about to swing open again with another collection of New Zealanders on the rise. And we’re now only 50 days away from the start of the Women’s World Cup and the absolute extravaganza that promises to be. The train keeps rolling. Don’t doubt it.

NZ U20s vs USA (Round of 16)

Starting XI: Kees Sims, Fin Linder (Aaryan Raj 50’), Finn Surman, Isaac Hughes, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Fin Conchie, Dan McKay (Noah Karunaratne 66’), Ben Wallace (Oliver Fay 81’), Jay Herdman, Norman Garbett, Oliver Colloty (Kian Donkers 81’)

Further Reading...

• Squad Yarns & Preview

• Game 1 vs Guatemala

• Game 2 vs Uzbekistan

• Game 3 vs Argentina

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