Junior All Whites coach Darren Bazeley and his team will spend a week in camp at the Aspire Academy and meet hosts Qatar, Morocco and Chile with four games set for the next 10 days.
Bazeley says after achieving an historic first for a New Zealand men’s side with a 0-0 draw with Brazil in their last tour to China in June, the team now need to show progression in final score line terms.
“We need to start getting positive results so that means we need to win games,” Bazeley said.
“The first three games of this event could be a World Cup group. So for us you need four points to get out of a World Cup group and qualify for the next stage. That’s the challenge we’ll be setting the players.”
The Junior All Whites won’t waste any time in pursuing that goal, playing the day after they land in Doha against the hosts, something Bazeley says makes the task tougher against some top sides.
“It will be around 38 degrees at 8pm at night and the kickoff time is actually 5am the next morning New Zealand time so having landed and then to be playing the next day causes a few problems.
“We don’t really know too much about Qatar but being the home nation I think they are going to be really strong because it’s in their own country.
“Chile is a really passionate football country and their record at age-group level is really good. At the last U-20 World Cup they reached the quarter-finals in Turkey and they’ve also got a few players who played there who are still eligible now.
“For Morocco, I’m presuming a lot of their players will come from the last U-17 side and they were really strong in that tournament. They were unbeaten in the group stage and lost in the second round to the Ivory Coast.”
With the FIFA U-20 World Cup on home soil in 2015, Bazeley is still surveying the options at his disposal with a number of changes to the squad who were involved in China with Bill Tuiloma on All Whites duty and several others unavailable after linking with American universities.
“That gives other players an opportunity and hopefully some of them will take that chance and show how good they are and what value they bring to the squad and the team.”
Bazeley says the group is also looking forward to spending time with their senior counterparts in Doha before the All Whites move on to Tashkent for next week’s clash with Uzbekistan.
“It’s a unique opportunity where we’ll be in the same hotel and at the same training facility and they’ll come and watch us play after they train.
“There will be opportunities for some of our players to go and train with the All Whites as well so that gives some our players the chance to have that exposure and that experience with Anthony and the senior team.
“It’s a great opportunity to start to align ourselves with what Anthony is going to be doing. Hopefully some of our boys are going to become All Whites in the future and it’s a great chance for them to show where they are at right now.”
Junior All Whites squad – Doha, Qatar
September 3-10
Goalkeepers
Oliver Sail – Central Utd FC/NZ
Zac Speedy – Three Kings Utd/NZ
Defenders
Spiros Agathos – Sydney United 58/AUS
Brock Messenger – Sunshine Coast Fire/AUS
Adam Mitchell – Central Utd FC/NZ
Jesse Edge – Vicenza Calcio/ITA
Deklan Wynne – East Coast Bays AFC/NZ
Midfielders
Andrew Blake – Miramar Rangers/NZ
Andre de Jong – East Coast Bays AFC/NZ
Michael den Heijer – Kashiwa Reysol/JAP
Clayton Lewis – Wellington Olympic/NZ
Matthew Ridenton – Wellington Phoenix/NZ
Alex Rufer – Wellington Phoenix/NZ
Gowan Stares – Pulse Premier Academy/UK
Birhanu Taye – Braga FC/POR
Forwards
Elijah Neblett – Birkenhead Utd AFC/NZ
Joel Stevens – Miramar Rangers/NZ
Tomislav Trbuhovic – Whittlesea Rangers FC/AUS
Match schedule
Qatar v Junior All Whites
Wednesday 3 September, 5am (NZ time)
Chile v Junior All Whites
Friday 5 September, 5am (NZ time)
Morocco v Junior All Whites
Sunday 7 September, 5am (NZ time)
Play-off – opponent TBA
Wednesday 10 September, 5am (NZ time)
Story courtesy of NZF Media.
For more on New Zealand football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz

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