A first half equaliser from Noah Billingsley got New Zealand back even at halftime before goals from Monty Patterson, Joel Stevens, Sam Brotherton and Clayton Lewis in a strong second half performance kept the team in with a chance of moving into the knockout phase of the tournament.
Darren Bazeley’s New Zealand side must now wait on the results of the remaining group matches to confirm their place in the knockout stage.
Bazeley said it was a proud evening for his team as they turned things around against a tricky opponent which carried a strong threat in the opening 45 minutes.
“We started a little bit edgy again tonight but once we got into the game, we played quite well in the second half and I thought we were quite dominant in that second half,” Bazeley said.
“Myanmar is a dangerous team, especially if they have something to hold on to – as seen against USA and in the first half against Ukraine.
“Unfortunately they scored first and it was a well taken goal. Some of their passing was very good, technically they are very good players and for 30 minutes it was edgy for us.
“Then we got a goal and we settled down and at halftime we had a good talk to them and just calmed them down and just relaxed them. We’d seen what happened against Ukraine, we just needed to stay safe and stay tight and the chances would come and we were reliant on people taking their chances.
“Once that happened the boys grew some confidence and it became an exciting game for us.”
Bazeley added that although the team are not yet confirmed in the knockout phase – an achievement which would be another first for the country at U-20 level – Friday’s result in front of over 15,000 fans puts them in a good position.
“Hopefully now we’ve done enough to be safe to qualify but we are in that third place realm. The result tonight gives us a better goal difference than we had earlier in the day.
“We’ll enjoy tonight, the boys are happy. They’ve worked really hard over two years. I’m pretty tough on them and tonight is a great reward for them, in the end.”
As the first half unfolded Myanmar settled quickly and showed some neat work moving the ball through midfield at pace but the New Zealand rearguard dealt well with the threats until the 28th minute.
The Asian side broke free and Aung Thu found space in behind as the ball was played into this path, he feigned a cross which took the recovering Brock Messenger out of play before touching inside and curling an unstoppable shot into the top right corner of the New Zealand net.
Seven minutes later the New Zealand side were lucky not to fall further behind as a 30 yard drive thundered down off Nik Tzanev’s cross bar and away to safety.
New Zealand steadied as halftime approached with their strength in the defensive moments still producing opportunities to attack and one such regain led to a through ball for Deklan Wynne in behind and the fullback’s cross picked out the run of Billingsley who tucked it home from six yards.
The Men’s U-20s started the second half strongly and were on attack quickly and they took advantage of that early dominance as Patterson gave them the lead again from close range after a neat build-up involving Billingsley, Clayton Lewis and Alex Rufer.
The home side went 3-1 ahead with 11 minutes to go, Stevens sliding the ball home from 12 yards after good work again from Billingsley to cut the ball back before Brotherton rose to emphatically head home from a New Zealand corner for a 4-1 lead just two minutes later.
Lewis completed the scoring a minute from time with a simple tap in at the back post to cap a historic night for New Zealand football on home soil.
In the other Group A match on Friday, Ukraine were 3-0 winners over the USA at North Harbour Stadium to finish top of the pool unbeaten in their three games.
FIFA U-20 World Cup – Match 27
Wellington Regional Stadium
Friday 5 June
New Zealand 5-1 Myanmar (half: 1-1)
NZL: Noah Billingsley 40’, Monty Patterson 47’, Joel Stevens 79’, Sam Brotherton 81’, Clayton Lewis 89’
MYA: Aung Thu 28’
New Zealand: 12. Nik Tzanev (GK), 3. Deklan Wynne, 4. Sam Brotherton, 6. Bill Tuiloma (capt), 8. Moses Dyer, 9. Alex Rufer, 10. Clayton Lewis, 13. Brock Messenger (7. Joel Stevens 77’), 15. Monty Patterson (17. Andrew Blake 68’), 16. Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, 20. Noah Billingsley (18. Andre de Jong 84’)
Substitutes not used: 1. Oliver Sail (GK), 2. Jesse Edge, 5. Adam Mitchell, 11. Matt Ridenton, 14. Cory Brown, 18. Andre de Jong, 19. Stuart Holthusen, 21. Damian Hirst (GK)
For more on the FIFA U-20 World Cup visit FIFA.com

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