Size no issue for Rojas

But that happened on Friday when the Junior All Whites lost 1-0 to Portugal – a result that later proved enough to eliminate them from the FIFA U-20 World Cup – as Rojas came up against Rui Caetano, a fellow skilful yet diminutive player.Both have played distinguished roles in their teams’ performances despite being dwarfed…

Although in theory they still had a chance of progressing, the youngsters from Oceania knew after their 1-0 defeat by Portugal that they would go into their final group match with the homeward journey beckoning.“We’re upset, because we were hoping to go further,” coach Chris Milicich reflected. “The tournament was a great adventure for us,…

Sitting on two points, the Junior All Whites needed results in one of the final two groups to go their way on Sunday to join the last 16 as one of the four best third-place teams.But while Spain helped the Kiwis’ cause with a 5-1 thrashing of Australia, a 3-0 win for Ecuador over Costa…

The Junior All Whites currently sit second in Group B thanks to 1-1 draws against Cameroon and Uruguay, and a win over leaders Portugal in Cali would book progression to the round of 16 as one of the top two teams.A draw would also be good enough to reach the second stage as one of…

The tournament begins on Sunday and features ten of the country’s leading male club sides – Ba, Nadi, Lautoka, Suva, Savusavu, Labasa, Nadroga, Tavua, Rewa and Navua.The final will be held on August 14, not long before the commencement of the Pacific Games, which take place in New Caledonia from August 27 to September 9.Members…

Friday’s opponents New Zealand, for their part, are dreaming of building on two creditable draws so far – their first ever points at the competition – and extending their historic campaign into the knockout stages. The changes in personnel and tactical system introduced by coach Ilidio Vale gave Portugal a greater spring in their attacking…