The diminutive Rojas, capped twice at senior level, was missing as New Zealand claimed their first ever point at a FIFA U-20 World Cup with a 1-1 draw against African powerhouse Cameroon thanks to a resolute defensive effort in Cali.
But coach Chris Milicich revealed at a press conference that Rojas was making a faster recovery than initially expected and, pending a fitness test on match day, could play some part as the Junior All Whites chase a win that would almost certainly seal a place in the second round.
“Marco is available to play,” Milicich told local media.
“Whether he starts or comes off the bench is still to be decided by the coaching and medical staff. But he got through a training session and is available.
“He does provide something a little different and has the ability to unlock defences so he’s very important to us.”
Uruguay drew 0-0 with Portugal in their opening match to leave Group B wide open. With the best four third-place finishers joining the top two from each of the tournament’s six groups in the round of 16, four points is seen as the mark needed to secure a place in the second round.
“I think it was very important to not lose game one,” Milicich said.
“To get a point allows you to really focus on getting another three in one of the two remaining games. We’ve seen in other groups that if you lose your first game you’re really behind the pack.
“It was important to get the point but also very important to give the players the confidence that they can compete at this level. A point was a big step but now we need to get the rest.”
Milicich is now looking for his players to build on their opening effort with improvement in key attacking areas.
“I thought in game one our back six and the goalkeeper played very well. They defended extremely well. They closed down the channels and they closed down space. They didn’t allow the Cameroon player who wanted the ball the chance to run at us.
“The key thing for us is to make sure we use the ball well when we regain possession. In the first game we tended to kick the ball away and it became an inability to play at that pace. But hopefully we have now gotten up to the speed of what we need to do and can fix that.”
The Junior All Whites play Uruguay at 10am on Wednesday (New Zealand time) with live coverage on Sky Sport 2.
FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011
Group B
New Zealand v Uruguay
Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero
Cali, Colombia
August 2, 2011
5pm (10am August 3 NZT)
Sky Sport 2
New Zealand: (from) 1-Stefan MARINOVIC (gk), 2-Andrew BEVIN, 3-Nick BRANCH (c), 4-Ryan CAIN, 5-Sean LOVEMORE, 6-Nikko BOXALL, 7-Cameron LINDSAY, 8-Ethan GALBRAITH, 9-Tim PAYNE, 10-Anthony HOBBS, 11-Dakota LUCAS, 12-Andrew MILNE, 13-Colin MURPHY, 14-James MUSA, 15-Marco ROJAS, 16-Luke ROWE, 17-Mikey KRAMER, 18-Adam THOMAS, 19-Liam HIGGINS, 20-Scott BASALAJ (gk), 21-Coey TURIPA (gk).
Coach: Chris MILICICH
Uruguay: (from) 1-Salvador ICHAZO (gk), 2-Federico PLATERO, 3-Diego POLENTA (c), 4-Guillermo DE LOS SANTOS, 5-Angel CAYETANO, 6-Leandro CABRERA, 7-Adrian LUNA, 8-Matias VECINO, 9-Federico RODRIGUEZ, 10-Pablo CEPELLINI, 11-Cesar TEXEIRA, 12-Leandro GELPI (gk), 13-Maximiliano OLIVERA, 14-Ramon ARIAS, 15-Santiago MARTINEZ, 16-Nicolas PRIETO, 17-Yefferson MOREIRA, 18-Camilo MAYADA, 19-Diego ROLAN, 20-Ignacio LORES, 21-Alexander DA SILVA (gk).
Coach: Juan VERZERI
Upcoming match
New Zealand v Portugal
Cali, Colombia
August 5, 2011
5pm (10am August 6 NZT)
Sky Sport 2
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand football go to www.nzfootball.co.nz