New Zealand win and keep their chances alive in U17 FIFA World Cup

New Zealand needed a win against Canada if they wanted to keep their chances alive in the U17 World Cup – and this is exactly what the Young All Whites have done. A superb performance of the goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and a fantastic goal scored by Matthew Garbett made the Oceania champions to win Canada by 1-0.

The match was very close; lots of tackles and battles for space, but the team from Jose Figueira knew exactly they needed to grab their first win in the competition – only the fourth in history for New Zealand football.

Canada was a threat with the pace of Kamron Habibullah at the flanks, as well the Toronto FC product Jayden Nelson in the other side were always a danger for the New Zealand defense.

New Zealand was able to break the deadlock in the 27th minute of the game when the prolific Matthew Garbett scored with outstanding shot from long distance. Finally New Zealand was ahead in the scoreline for the first time in the U17 World Cup.

New Zealand put their lines back and started with a defensive approach to defend their lead. The Canadians created some chances to score, all denied by the goalkeeper Alex Paulsen.

The second half was entirely dominated by the Canadians – the New Zealanders defended their lead and had few stints in attack. The Canadians had a brave Alex Paulsen in front them making several stops not allowing the Canucks to find an equalizer.

Although the Kiwi efforts to defend, Habibullah found Nelson free inside the box, the winger finished and found the nets. After lots of celebratios by the Canadians, the VAR analysed the play and dismissed the goal – Nelson was in an offside position.

Canada pressured the Oceania team until the end of the game and could not find an equalizer. Alex Paulsen made fantastic stops and he was the biggest responsible for the New Zealand win – their first in this edition of U17 World Cup.

After a hard fought win against Canada, New Zealand kept their chances to proceed to the Round of 16 alive. Now they need to wait what will happen in the remaining games of the other groups in the tournament to see if they are going to be one of the four best 3rd placed teams in the competition among the six groups of the U17 World Cup.