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Angola a Stronger Side for New Zealand

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New Zealand lost their opening match to Angola at the U-17 FIFA World Cup held in Estadio Bezerrao in Brasilia. Zini helped the nation from Africa to lead the game in just 6 minutes of the match. Matt Garbett made an equal score with the side of the Jose Figueira nine minutes after the break; Harry Bark helped Angola to be ahead with 2-1. New Zealand shouted strongly for a penalty in the middle of the first half, when the goalkeeper from Angola, Geovani pushed the midfielder from New Zealand, Sean Bright to a corner which urged Craig Pawson, the video referee to interfere after it was ignored initially. The Kiwis finished the match with just 52% of ball possession. They were only able to hold the ball at the back because they started to build up again, but they lacked behind because they were short of ideas in the […]

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McCOWATT STICKS WITH THE PHOENIX

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The Wellington Phoenix will have CallumMcCowatt following a late change over the weekend. Des Buckingham was forced to bring in Jordan Spain after McCowatt told him on Friday he was keen on being ready for the A-League season with the Phoenix. Buckingham was hoping to get all the best legs available as the U-23 national side fly to Fiji Wednesday hoping to get a place at the Tokyo Olympics. The coach lost a key attacking threat and inviting a fullback in Spain means there is more defensive cover and Spain could also play in the wings as he did in the Australia game.

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Matty Ryan refuses to rule out a possible return to the A-League

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Australia international Matty Ryan has refused to rule out a possible return to the A-League during the final stages of his professional career. The 27-year-old is currently plying his trade in the Premier League with Brighton & Hove Albion whom he has helped to beat the drop with consistent performances in the past two seasons. Speaking in a press conference, Ryan revealed that he is currently enjoying his time with the Seagulls, who have cemented their place in the English top-flight. Despite this, he has acknowledged that a return to Australia could be on the cards when he approaches the final phase of his professional career, he said: “You never say never. I’m 27, us goalkeepers – like [Mark] Schwarzer – can go on to 40. Hopefully I have quite a long time left. I very much love this country and any way that I can give back and help, […]

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Des Buckingham, the Under-20 Coach of New Zealand is Modest about Wellington Phoenix Job

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Des Buckingham, the under-20 coach of New Zealand is silent about the potential of taking over Mark Rudan in Wellington Phoenix. However, he has said that this is going to be signed for the club when it comes to maintaining a proper connection with New Zealand Football. The thirty-four-year-old English is the previous assistant coach of Phoenix and he stepped in as the head coach along with Chris Greenacre with the resignation of Merrick in the early half of the A-League season of 2016-17. Phoenix has a record of 7 loss 6 wins, and 6 draw during the 19 game tenure of Buckingham. However, he, as well as Greenacre had been forced to re-apply for the job and had missed on the Darije Kalezić as the proved to be flop appointment.

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NEW ZEALAND TO BID FOR 2023 WORLD CUP

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New Zealand Football federation have indicated their interest in hosting theFifa Women’s World Cup in 2023. Which might be their lastopportunity to do so.The Interimchief executive of the federation Andrew Pragnell, confirmed it will submit an expression of interest document by March 15, which is the deadline set by Fifa, as it launched the bidding process last week. Three days after that, Fifa will spell out the modalities to those interested, and whatis required for them to host the showpiece event of the women’s game successfully. This is whenNew Zealand Football will find out if it has a realistic chance of hosting the World cup. Pragnell confirmedNew Zealand’sinterest. He said March 18, which is the date in which the requirement will be spelt outthrough the bid document is the real deal.

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A-LEAGUE EXPANSION DECISION IMMINENT

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Football fans around Australia were left disappointed as there was no announcement from the offices at 1n Oxford Street at the end of the day on Wednesday. There are six remaining bids that have been harboring hopes of gaining an entrance into the Australian A-League and they were left facing a nervous wait as Football Federation Australia’s board deliberated over expansion of the A-League but only ended up hinting on a potential further delay on an announcement.

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Fritz Schmid wants improvement to team

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New Zealand national team coach Fritz Schmid wants to see some improvement from his players.  The coach who took charge of the team in February said that there is still a lot of work to be done before turning New Zealand into a competitive team. The good news is that Fritz Schmid has plenty of time as the senior team will have their first official competition in 2020 and he still has a lot of time to tweak things around.

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NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA STRUGGLE TO KEEP USAIN BOLT IN A-LEAGUE

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Usain Bolt was the yardstick in Athletics after riding on a long stretch of success during his time on the track. But there has been enough dirt on the road for the retired sprinter, whose transition to football has begun to go downhill. Bolt announced his retirement from athletics, after enjoying long bouts of success in the competition–a news that stirred mixed reactions among fans.

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Ryan Thomas secures summer transfer to PSV Eindhoven

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New Zealand international Ryan Thomas has completed a summer move to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. The All Whites midfielder has put pen-to-paper on a four-year contract with the Eredivisie holders following five seasons with mid-table club PEC Zwolle, where he made 143appearances across all competitions. Speaking to PSV’s official website, the 23-year-old spoke about his progress at Zwolle and he is hopeful of making the next step in his career with the reigning champions, he said: “I am really looking forward to working at a higher level I think it’s time to take the next step in my development. I learned a lot at Zwolle. The fact that I can now show what I have in store at a top club like PSV is fantastic.”

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NEW ZEALAND WOMEN TO FACE THE JAPS IN FRIENDLY

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The New Zealand female national team is poised to clash with their Japanese counterparts in June, as per reports. The Ferns wants to test their abilities against the World No. 11 in a friendly ahead of their World Cup qualification bid set for later in the year. The one-off friendly game is expected to happen on June 10 in Wellington. The New Zealand side is ranked 20th in the World Football Ranking so they set out to prepare by facing strong sides.

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