Head coach Chris Greenacre has praised Fiji for their challenging performance against New Zealand in the OFC U-19 Men’s Championship semi-final in Samoa.
“Fiji made things really, really difficult for us,” Greenacre remarked following New Zealand’s 1-0 victory that secured their spot in Thursday’s final.
“We rode our luck a little bit, and I’m open to saying that.”
Greenacre credited Player of the Match Alby Kelly-Heald for his crucial penalty save that kept New Zealand in the game.
“Alby came up trumps and made a terrific save from the penalty,” he said.
“But we didn’t create as much as we have done in recent games, and that’s down to the endeavour of Fiji.
“They were defensively pretty solid, and, you know, they competed for every ball.
“They made it really, really difficult for us but when the moment of class was needed, I thought we produced that with the goal.”
The winning goal came shortly after half-time, scored by Ryan Watson.
“I think it was a really well-worked team goal,” Greenacre noted.
He expressed his delight that the team had qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup in Chile but emphasized their focus on Thursday’s final against New Caledonia.
“We’ll take the final as we have every game. We’ll do our preparation, we’ll do our analysis, and then we’ll pick a team that’s hopefully going to be capable of winning the game.”
READ MORE: New Zealand book their spot at next year’s FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup
WATCH: Highlights from New Zealand’s 1-0 semi-final win against Fiji
Watch Chris Greenacre’s interview
Watch OFC Media’s full five-minute interview with Chris Greenacre here:
Results
Games played on Monday July 15, 2024
Semi-finals
New Zealand 1 (Ryan Watson 48′)
Fiji 0
Solomon Islands 2 (Gordon Iro 37′, Jimson Abana 45+4′)
New Caledonia 3 (Paul Qaeze 27′, Antoine Simane 86′, Kapone Xulue 118′)
*After extra time
Fixture
Game to be played on Thursday July 18, 2024
Final
New Caledonia v New Zealand
FFS Football Stadium, Apia, Samoa, 1pm (NZT)