The New Zealand U-23 men have put in a quality performance to draw 1-1 with their Australian counterparts in the first of two international friendlies tonight in New South Wales.  

The Des Buckingham coached team, who are preparing for the OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Fiji later this month, competed well with Gary van Egmond’s Australian team with nothing separating the sides at half-time.  

The Young Socceroos, made up of quality players from across the A-League squads, took the lead in the 56^th minute when Lachlan Wales set up Riley McGree for the opener. The 20-year-old midfielder from Adelaide United made up for failing to convert the best chance of the first half when he found the back of the net after good lead-up work from Wales.

Australia kept pouring forward, but New Zealand got back on level terms soon after. All Whites midfielder Clayton Lewis delivered a sweetly timed free-kick to beat Australian keeper Tom Glover in the 71^st minute.  It was just reward for Lewis on his return to the New Zealand squad.

In fact the New Zealand U-23s could have claimed the win in the closing stages. With five minutes to go Lewis had a great chance to win the game, but Glover got a toe on the shot inside the six-yard box to deflect it over the bar.

The next generation of All Whites will look to back up this performance in three days’ time in Campbelltown. 

It was the first Trans-Tasman clash at U-23 level in more than a decade with the last meeting a 3-2 win to Australia in Sydney in 2008.

The two teams have now met 11 times with New Zealand’s best results a win and two draws; a famous 1-0 triumph in Adelaide in 1996, a 1-1 draw in Auckland in 2004 and tonight’s draw in NSW.

Buckingham, who led the New Zealand team to gold at the Pacific Games, named a strong squad for the friendly with three All Whites Lewis, Logan Rogerson and Myer Bevan in the starting XI.  

New Zealand began brightly in the windy conditions at WIN Stadium. They won the first corner but the cross was well contained by Australian keeper Tom Glover.

Australia grew into the game and New Zealand keeper Cameron Brown produced a good save in the 19^th minute to deny Ivan Vujica.

The home side’s best chance of the night came five minutes later when a clever ball over the top of the New Zealand defence saw Riley McGree in on goal. His first shot was cleared off the line and he blasted his follow up over the crossbar.

New Zealand got down the other end of the field and Lewis had a chance to find the opening goal. The 22-year-old from Scunthorpe United hit a free-kick from a dangerous area, but it was just wide of the post.  The score remained 0-0 at half-time.

New Zealand will take plenty of confidence from tonight’s result as they head into the second game but more importantly the OFC Qualifiers.

The New Zealand team will be aiming to qualify via the OFC U-23 Championship in September, where the winner will secure Oceania’s place in the tournament.

While the Australian U-23s will travel to Thailand in January to compete in the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship where the top three teams will earn the right to join host nation Japan as Asia’s representatives at Tokyo 2020.

International Friendly
Australia U-23 1 (Riley McGree 56’)
New Zealand U-23 1 (Clayton Lewis 71’)
HT: 0-0

New Zealand: 1. Cameron Brown, 4. Hunter Ashworth (14. William Jones 46'), 5. George Stanger, 7. Myer Bevan, 9. Max Mata (8. Jake Porter 83'), 10. Clayton Lewis, 11. Oliver Whyte (20. Dylan de Jong 62'), 13. James McGarry (6. Dane Schnell 62'), 16. Gianni Stensness, 17. Logan Rogerson (18. Lachlan McIsaac 89'), 19. Noah Billingsley (2. Jordan Spain 62') 
Substitutes not used: 3. Robert Tipelu, 12. Conor Tracey (GK), 15. Sean Liddicoat, 21. Aidan Munford (GK)
Coach Des Buckingham

Article added: Friday 06 September 2019