NZ U-20s advance to knockouts

New Zealand have qualified for the round of 16 at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in South Korea, despite losing 2-0 to France in their final group E match.

With Honduras beating Vietnam 2-0 in the other final fixture in the group, the Kiwis finished second, and will now play the winners of group F on Thursday night – that is likely to be the United States, with Saudi Arabia and Senegal the other contenders.

It means they have at least equalled their best finish at a Fifa Under-20 World Cup, reaching the same stage as they did two years ago on home soil.

That time around, they lost 2-1 to Portugal in the first knockout round, but exited with their heads held high.

An Allan Saint-Maximin double was enough for France to claim their third win in three matches, and both of the Monaco prospect’s goals were of the spectacular variety.

New Zealand opened the match with some of their best passages of the tournament so far, holding on to the ball and pinning the French back inside in their own half, and fashioning the first shot on target, when James McGarry delivered a cross with the outside of his left foot from the left flank that Myer Bevan headed goalwards, drawing a fine save from Paul Bernardoni.

Having already qualified for the round of 16, France had handed six players their first starts of the event, and it took a while for them to find their groove, but as the half progressed, they began to take control of the game.

Still, it took a wonder strike from Saint-Maximin to put them in front, as he picked the ball up and went on a solo run to the edge of the area, then fired past Michael Woud in New Zealand’s goal, his shot swerving and nestling in the bottom right corner.

That was in the 22nd minute, and he added another of similar quality 15 minutes later, this time shooting from out wide on the left, and getting the ball to both curl and dip past Woud and into the far side of the net.

Woud had been impressive in the first two matches, and it was no different for the Sunderlandbased stopper here – he made three massive saves in the first half to keep the margin close, and another two in the second spell.

With captain Clayton Lewis and right wingback Dane Ingham called up by Anthony Hudson for the All Whites’ engagements in Europe, under-20s coach Darren Bazeley was forced into making changes, bringing in Phoenix academy hopefuls in Sarpreet Singh and Jack-Henry Sinclair.