NZ U-17 Side on the Cusp of Glory

There may well come a day when the sport loving public of New Zealand can expect one of their representative Football teams to win a match at a FIFA tournament, when progress beyond the group stage is not just some distant lofty goal, but a realistic and attainable target.

This is not that day.

But the current NZ Men’s U-17 side could take a huge step towards raising the expectations of a nation if they could get a victory against Burkina Faso at the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria tomorrow.

Victory against the small landlocked African nation (yes I had to look it up on Wikipedia) when added with their 1-1 draw against Costa Rico earlier in the competition, would equal the best ever result by a Kiwi side – any age group men’s or women’s in a FIFA World Cup. (The NZ Women’s U-20 side also achieved one win and a draw in Chile last year.)

However, it won’t be easy, as coach Steve Cain points out:

” We’ve never beaten an African team in Africa and playing at 4pm in 30 degrees and with 95 per cent humidity will be difficult”

The good news is difficult is what Kiwi football teams do best, and if the boys can squeeze past Burkina Faso then maybe, just maybe a place in the second round could be within their grasp and they might just be able to lift a giant monkey off the backs off all NZ Representative Footballers.

NZ vs Burkina Faso is on Sky Sports One at 3:45am Thursday Morning.