Seems that they put out a stronger side in the 2nd game. But then of course the Young Matildas may have done the opposite. These games are to trial players, after all looking towards WC in Costa Rica.
This last game was a bit of a mix. They still attempted playing out from the back when ever possible. But hit it long a bit more in this game when there were limited passing options or to relieve pressure.
Is it really a tough group? I'd say it could be the easiest. Certainly Groups A & D look tougher. Imagine neither Brazil or Spain will be easy for Young Matildas. Only 16 teams, so shouldn't be any real bunnies.
In FIFA senior women's rankings, Germany is 4th, NZ 22nd, Colombia 26th & Mexico 27th.
Crude measure maybe (don't think there are world rankings for Womens U20 teams), but you'd think Colombia and Mexico are especially winnable games. Made likely a bit more difficult, by WC being played into another nearby Latino country Costa Rica.
See that Maya Hahn is now age 21, so Covid taken away any age group WC opportunity for her with Germany.
Quick Wiki search, In qualifying Columbia finished second to qualify behind Brazil. Qualifying Tournament played in April 2022. Mexico qualified second in CONCACAF losing in the tournament final 2-0 to USA but beat Canada 1-0 in the Semi's. Qualifying Tournament played in March 2022. Germany qualified second losing to France in there final 2-1, but beat the Netherlands in the semi's. But that was played back in 2019 as U19 level.
So maybe not the group of death. Hard to tell at age group level But probably good to avoid Japan and USA who both topped qualifying in there regions, also Korea who thumped Australia 9-1 in qualifying back in 2019 U19 level.
Imagine Germany will be favourites to top the group.
Interesting that CONACACF get 4 spots. Yes Costa Rica are hosts. But that's still 25% of the teams.
And yeah hard to know with age group teams, but suspect there are tougher groups. Brazil in women's football tend to be way ahead of the other Sth American nations.
“We’ve got some very interesting opponents. Colombia are a solid side and Mexico are full of confidence. I don’t know too much about New Zealand but we’ll study them.” Germany coach Kathrin Peter
“We’re delighted to be participating in a party like this. It’s important that our players come here and enjoy it. We like to play good football in the South American style and we want to go out and have fun. If, God willing, we can progress in the tournament, then we’ll do it without compromising our philosophy.” Colombia coach Carlos Paniagua
“I hope that we can give more visibility to women’s football in Costa Rica and I hope the fans will turn out in numbers. As for our group, it’s a really interesting one with some very strong teams. It’s going to be tough for us. They’re three good sides, Germany especially.” New Zealand coach Gemma Lewis
There are some Jemma Catherwood who was in the last squad is still playing for Wellington United. Charlotte Wilford Caroll had signed with Eastern Suburbs (not sure if she's played yet)
If they are in the FFDP or with the Phoenix alot of their games will be against boys teams and on an adhoc basis rather than league games - don't ask me why thats something the coaches would have to explain!
Story on 1 News tonight about Grace Wisneski, Looks like the U20 women are in camp. Wisneski is back training which is great, looks like Ava Collins there too. There are two quality players that didn't play against Aus a few months back.
Apparently not. But free entry if you live in Auckland. And there is going to be a second training game, but that one is totally behind closed doors. No dates or times have been given. Hasn't been any real media given to these games or this team. Kinda feels like Gemma Lewis is trying to keep things under wraps, so that they will be an unknown quantity come world cup in August. Probably not a bad thing having a social media black out for these girls though. Considering some of the mental health issues around womens sport at the moment. But am hoping we get some kind of reports tomorrow when this game is played.
Certainly a game of two halves, in that we were a freakin' rabble for the first 20 minutes but then got our act together and looked the better team in the second half. Edwards was solid and did a great save in the first half; McMeekan was solid apart from the error that led to their goal; Windham showed off her silky skills. Was in the loos for the penalty foul so I don't know whether it was a good call or not. On balance perhaps a draw would have been fair. Littlest hooligan says she only wants to watch women's games from now on, lol.
So hard to know how we will stack up against international opposition at this age level. Especially after the covid years. Initial thoughts are the squad looks pretty strong except when it comes to known goal scorers. Same old problem for NZ. Milly Clegg started most recent U20 games as striker but is still very young. (Still eligible to play U17 WC later this year) So big year for her. Ava Pritchard has a high work rate but lacked a bit of quality for the Nix last year. Hope she can turn that around. At the U17 WC where we won bronze. Our top goal scorer was Grace Wisnewski. But she has been converted into a DM it seems. A position we seem to have a lot of depth in NZ. Be interesting to see if someone can put there hand up and score a few. If someone can get 3 or 4 goals at this tournament they will likely have a big future in the women's game here.
If you look at previous tournaments and the strength of all the nations at senior level, we've easily got the most doable group. Take a look at Group D - USA, Japan and the Netherlands. Ouch.
You'd expect Germanys crop of talent to be good enough to get them through, then it's us against Mexico and Colombia.
✈️ Best of luck to our Junior Football Ferns, who tonight fly out to Costa Rica to begin preparations for the U-20 @FIFAWWC! 🌿🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/ao5c8vtF39
Put simply there’s probably never been an NZ age grade team better prepared for a major tournament than this one. Tactical familiarity, a high number of professionals, good calibre warm-up games, impressive results in friendly matches... every box is ticked.
But this selection speculation doesn’t really matter, it’s just a way to offer more of a glimpse into the structure of the squad. What matters is that there’s an U20 World Cup team about to rip into action with the potential to do something really special. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Every other team is trying their best and preparing as well as they can too... but the point is that these kiwi teams aren’t just making up the numbers at these things any more. And this team... this team has a vibe about them. Not sure how else to put it. There’s just a good feeling about them. Anticipation levels are high. Best pay attention.
I don't get all this behind closed doors / secret squirrel/ media black out stuff from NZF. At the expense of promoting the game to girls in NZ and getting women's football exposure one year out from the WWC being played here. Is it really going to make that much difference leading into a tournament if NZF posted team line-ups pics etc.
Brasil are the strongest South American team in this comp. From a quick look on Wiki, they have won like there last 10 games without conceding a goal. But all those game were against SA opposition. Be interesting to see how they go against Euro opposition. We have Columbia in our Group.