With the opportunity to represent the Oceania region at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey on the line, coach Chris Milicich says the team will be entering Fiji with qualification as the ultimate goal.
However, he says he doesn’t expect it to be a walk in the park for his team despite them being tagged as early favourites to retain the title.
“Obviously all the teams there want to qualify for the world cup and I think they are all going to be quite difficult opposition. The Oceania confederation is getting closer and closer all the time which is good,” Milicich says.
“Every team has got to be treated with absolute respect and there needs to be absolute dedication and professionalism from us to make sure we approach the games properly. I think that if we were to take any game lightly or think it was going to be an easy game we could find ourselves getting a result that we don’t want.
“So we are treating every side exactly the same – as very dangerous opposition.”
The New Zealand side is currently in camp at the OFC Academy in Penrose, Auckland, the first time the squad has come together as a whole ahead of the championship, and Milicich says the boys are gelling well.
“It’s quite a new squad because we’ve got four or five players that haven’t been part of this group before, but they’re looking reasonable together,” he says.
“You’ve got to remember that most of these players played together as they grew up, even the boys that grew up offshore are known to these lads and we work pretty hard on the culture and the development of our team.”
The team had two friendly matches scheduled as preparation ahead of their departure, the first of which was played on Thursday evening against the New Zealand U-17 team.
The U-20s took a 3-2 victory over their younger counterparts and Milicich says he is happy with the result which allowed him to test several scenarios, including playing two men short.
He says the objectives for the game were to get the team used to playing with each other, which was particularly important with several players based offshore and unable to join their teammates over the last nine months.
Their final warm-up match will be played on Saturday against a team from Auckland club Three Kings United
The OFC U-20 Championship will be held in Fiji from 21-29 March with the winner earning a ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

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