New Zealand’s hopes of reaching the knockout rounds at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland are now out of their own hands after three late Italy goals turned a brave defensive effort into a 3-0 defeat in Łódź.

For 78 minutes, New Zealand frustrated one of the tournament’s form sides, keeping Italy scoreless through disciplined defending.

But once substitute Rosanna Ventriglia finally broke the resistance, Italy struck twice more in the closing stages to book their place in the knockout rounds and leave New Zealand needing a win over the USA on Sunday morning (1am NZT), to have any chance of keeping their campaign alive.

“We had a plan coming into the game, and I thought for the majority of it, we executed that,” New Zealand head coach Callum Holmes said after the match.

“There’s a couple of little areas where we need to be better, and that’s something for us as a team to learn. We struggled a little bit to execute under pressure and that’s something that we’ve worked a lot on. It’s something we need to improve and improve quickly in three days’ time to give ourselves a chance.”

Italy dominated the opening spell but couldn’t break the deadlock with their best chance coming through Giada Pellegrino Cimo who forced a fine save from New Zealand goalkeeper Brooke Neary.

The Italians were finally rewarded for their perseverance 12 minutes from full time when they worked the ball across the area and Ventriglia reacted quickest, sweeping a low finish past Neary from close range.

Five minutes later, substitute Appiah burst down the right opening New Zealand again, finding Ventriglia, whose effort crashed against the underside of the bar, but crossing the line for Italy’s second of the game.

Appiah then capped Italy’s late surge in the 89th minute, lifting a composed finish over Neary into the far corner from the edge of the box to make it 3-0.

Italy finished with 24 attempts on goal, compared to New Zealand’s three efforts.

The result means New Zealand must now beat the USA in their final group match and hope other results fall their way if they are to reach the knockout rounds.

Italy 3 (Rosanna VENTRIGILA 78’, 83’, Karen Appiah AMOAKOAH 89’)

New Zealand 0