Problems off the pitch overcome by Junior All Whites in Fiji

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 48

Problems off the pitch overcome by Junior All Whites in Fiji

Cramped hotel rooms, injuries, bumpy pitches, humidity and hassles with airlines all combined to make life difficult for the Junior All Whites soccer team at the World Youth Cup qualifying tournament in Fiji last week. The side,- which qualified for the next round by finishing second behind Australia, had its share of problems off the pitch but its performance on the field fully satisfied the coach, Terry Conley, of Christchurch. Mr Conley reeled off a list of problems which made the trip a test of patience for officials and players but he accepted them as part and parcel of playing football overseas. He was more concerned with the improvement shown by the side since the last attempt at qualifying for the World Youth Cup in 1985, when

New Zealand could only score once in four games. This time, there was a vast improvement. In warm-up games New Zealand drew, 1-1, lost, 1-2, and beat the Solomon Islands, 2-1, in Honiara before moving on to the qualifying competition. In Suva it beat Fiji, 2-0, beat Western Samoa, 160, beat Papua New Guinea, 1-0, and beat China-Taipei, 2-1, in the semi-finals. Six regular players were missing for the final against Australia, won 1-0 by the Joeys, who Mr Conley described as being bigger, stronger and quicker than the New Zealand players.

After that loss Mr Conley pointed out to the Australian coach that his budget was $9OOO. His counterpart laughed at that figure, saying he would ’ budget the same

amount to run a two-day training camp once a month, illustrating the financial pressure the New Zealand Football Association is under. The three Christchurch players in the side, Steve Toohey, Steve Adams and Julyan Falloon, all had excellent tournaments, according to Mr Conley. Toohey, not. an automatic choice for the side before it was selected, was eventually entrusted with the captaincy and performed very well at centre back. The New Zealand defence was well organised, conceding only two goals in Fiji, one coming from the penalty spot. Adams was a first choice midfielder and played in every match while Falloon, troubled by an achilles tendon injury that forced him to use painkillers, scored vital goals against Fiji and China-Taipei and

was an integral part of the attack, in spite of missing three games in Fiji through injury. Injuries also affected other players with a replacement goalkeeper having to be flown in when the two first choice keepers were injured. Mr Conley said the combination of bumpy pitches and physical opponents contributed to a high injury toll.

New Zealand now moves on to the final qualifying round where it meets Australia and the second and third placed teams from the Asia qualifying competition. India, Qatar and South Korea are expected to battle out those two places. Mr Conley will hold a training camp in Auckland at Labour Day week-end for the squad. He said if the next round is played in South Korea

he would push for warm up games in Hong Kong or Taiwan. If the venue was Qatar he would like to play preliminary matches in Bahrein or Kuwait, finance permitting.

“We will have three games in 10 days against the big boys. We won’t know anything about the other sides apart from Australia but we will give it our best shot.? He said the narrow loss' to Australia had been a creditable result.

“The lads performed very well. I left four regulars out because they had already received yellow cards and the points carry over to the next round. Six regulars were out altogether and after the game the lads were saying that Australia were not that good.” —GARY BIRKETT