Darren Bazeley’s U-20 side suffered a 5-0 defeat this morning against FIFA U-20 World Cup hosts Argentina to see their chance of qualifying for the last 16 now depend on other results. 

In front of 25,000 fans at the sold out San Juan stadium, the 6-time FIFA U-20 World Cup winners put on an impressive performance to finish top of Group A on a maximum 9 points. 

The result means that New Zealand finish third in the group, after the 1-0 win over Guatemala and 2-2 draw with AFC Champions Uzebekistan. Bazeley’s side will still qualify for the next round if they are one of the four best placed sides in third after the final round of games have been played. 

The team saw nine changes from the previous game, including a first appearance for defender Finn Linder, due to the short turnaround time between matches and the squad have played significant minutes in the first two fixtures. 

After an even opening 10 minutes, Argentina’s dominance of the game told with three unanswered goals from Ingacio Maestro Puch (14’), Gino Infantino (17’) and Luka Romero (35’). Lazio’s Romero with the pick of the bunch and goal of the tournament contender, winning the ball in the centre circle before unleashing a powerful long range strike which Kees Sims in goal couldn’t do anything about. 

The second half saw New Zealand concede an unlucky penalty with the aid of VAR 5 minutes after the restart. The ball rebounding on to defender Aaryan Raj’s hand from an Argentine cross and Brian Aguirre made it four from the spot.

Argentina got their fifth in the 86th minute with a powerful header from Alejo Veliz. 

Speaking after the game head coach Darren Bazeley said:

“It was an incredibly tough evening for us. We came up against a very good Argentinian team tonight. 

“I thought we started ok for the first 10 minutes, we had a little bit of possession and we looked relatively comfortable, and then we conceded a goal and it gave them a lot of tempo and it hurt us. 

“They are a good team. It was really hard for our players to compete today. I thought we weren’t quite at it like we have been in our first two games so potentially the first two games, where we put in so much energy to get two good results, maybe trying to do it on a third day was maybe too much for us. But like I said, we came up against a very good team tonight.”


New Zealand Starting XI:

1. Kees Sims
2. Jackson Jarvie
3. Adam Supyk
5. Finn Surman (56' Everton O'Leary)
6. Fin Conchie
7. Noah Karunaratne (45' Jay Herdman)
8. Jackson Manuel
9. Oliver Colloty (71' Kian Donkers)
11. Norman Garbett (71' Oli Fay)
14. Finn Linder15. Aaryan Raj


Final Score:

New Zealand – 0 
Argentina – 5 (14' Puch, 17' Infantino, 35' Romero, 50' (P) Aguirre, 86' Veliz)

Article added: Saturday 27 May 2023