After opening the tournament on Saturday with a 0-0 draw with Ukraine, the hosts were beaten 4-0 by a sharp United States outfit in Auckland on Tuesday night leaving the New Zealanders likely needing a win from Friday’s game against Myanmar – one which would be their first at the event – to have a chance of moving into the knockout phase of the age-group event for the first time.
Having shifted to Wellington for their final Group A game, Bazeley said at Thursday’s press conference that some quintessentially cool and blustery capital weather since the team’s arrival could give his side an edge over their Asian opponents.
“A lot of our players are probably used to this weather so I’d like to think it would be an advantage for us,” Bazeley said.
“Some of our players live here so they are used to Wellington and hopefully we’re able to use that a little bit to our advantage and we get a good Wellington evening and we turn it on.”
Along with the tactical preparation of the side to face a Myanmar team which opened their tournament with a 2-1 loss to the United States before falling 6-0 to Ukraine in Whangarei on Tuesday, Bazeley said a big part of their preparation for Friday’s encounter has been ensuring the players are physically capable to produce the required performance they need.
“It’s been a tough schedule; we’ve played two games in four days and a lot of hard work goes into the playing. So we’re constantly assessing the players and making sure their loads within training are good and they get a lot of recovery and rest to help them be 100 percent for the game.”
Bazeley says that detailed approach is built on a deep desire within his squad to extend their time together in a campaign which has been years in the making.
“It’s a great tournament and it’s been great to be involved. There’s been so much build-up to get here to take part for all the countries.
“For us it’s been two-three years of planning, preparation, training and selections – covering everything that we can to go and play these games. We’ve had two games and now they’ve gone and we still have this one game to really attack.
“Myself and all the players want to stay and be here for more games in this tournament. If we don’t do the business tomorrow and perform and get the result then our World Cup is finished.”
The New Zealand coach said that despite that need to get the desired result, the team will remain focussed on achieving that outcome on their own terms.
“We’ve said all along, the way we play – we want to excite the crowd and make people proud of watching their New Zealand team perform.
“Hopefully at the end of the day the crowd will go away and be proud they’ve seen us go and get that historic win we’re looking for and they’ve seen us score some goals and we’ve excited them.
“We want to give the crowd something to really cheer about and that’s what we’ll be trying to do tomorrow.”
FIFA U-20 World Cup – Match 27
Friday 5 June
New Zealand v Myanmar
Wellington Regional Stadium, 7pm
New Zealand (from): 1. Oliver Sail (GK), 2. Jesse Edge, 3. Deklan Wynne, 4. Sam Brotherton, 5. Adam Mitchell, 6. Bill Tuiloma (capt), 7. Joel Stevens, 8. Moses Dyer, 9. Alex Rufer, 10. Clayton Lewis, 11. Matthew Ridenton, 12. Nik Tzanev (GK), 13. Brock Messenger, 14. Cory Brown, 15. Monty Patterson, 16. Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, 17. Andrew Blake, 18. Andre de Jong, 19. Stuart Holthusen, 20. Noah Billingsley, 21. Damian Hirst (GK)
For more on the FIFA U-20 World Cup visit FIFA.com

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