New Zealand play their chances against Canada in FIFA U17 World Cup

The Young All Whites still have some chances to qualify for the Round of 16 of this edition of FIFA U17 World Cup. To keep their chances alive they need to win their final group match against Canada – to be played in Estádio Bezerrão, in Brazilian capital city.

Both sides lost their two first matches of the tournament and to keep dreaming to proceed to the next stage they really will need a win. New Zealand suffered a very frustrating defeat against Angola and were outclassed by a 10-men Brazil U17 team in the last round. Suffering already 5 goals in the competition and having their sole goal scored by the Eastern Suburbs academy player Matthew Garbett.

The Canucks played their first match in the tournament and suffered a big defeat against the hosts by 4-1. The surprising Angolan team also were able to win the North Americans by 2-1 margin with a goal in the injury time. The Canada team just have one player out of the academies of the MLS Canadian teams – Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps – the goalkeeper Marc Kouadio that is currently at Montverde Academy in United States.

Both goals scored by the Canadians came from the Toronto FC’s academy product Jacen Russel-Rowe. Another important players of the team are the forward Kamron Habibullah, the captain and central defender Gianfranco Facchineri – both from Vancouver Whitecaps academy – and the winger of Toronto FC academy Jayden Nelson.

The New Zealand squad will need to bounce back from their lost against Brazil. Despite a promissing performance by the Oceania champions, the New Zealanders were not able to beat a strong side of Brazil – giving away two late goals in two defensive mistakes.

The captain Alex Paulsen needs to recover from his previous mistake against Brazil; he is a very important player for the Young All Whites and they will surely need him in this match. Marko Stamenic is surely one of the hottest prospects of New Zealand football, the number 10 has played well against Brazil and needs to keep creating opportunities for the front men. Matthew Garbett is impressing by his speed and hardworking character and it is very important a good game for him for the expectations of the young team from Oceania.

Altough a win does not mean New Zealand is qualified for the next stage – they depend on the results coming from the other five groups in the competition – certainly to end up a group stage with a win is always a good moment. It is important to remember this is a youth tournamet and the biggest aim is to keep the development of the young tallents.

The match will kick-off at 8pm (Friday) BRT and 12am (Saturday) NZT.