[Source: OFC/ Facebook]
The Fiji U19’s dream of qualifying to the FIFA U-20 World Cup™ 2025 in Chile has been short-lived.
This is after our national side suffered a 1-0 defeat to New Zealand in the OFC Men’s U19 Championship semi-final this afternoon.
Fiji started very well holding off the fast and strong Kiwis in the first 45 minutes.
This made them the only team in the competition to hold off New Zealand for more than 40 minutes without scoring a single goal.
Fiji goalie Ilisoni Koro proved his worth during the semis, after making a few impressive saves for his side before the sound of the halftime hooter.
New Zealand came out stronger in the second spell after Ryan Watson managed to find the back of the net following an inside ball from the right side of the field.
Merely a minute later, Fiji received an opportunity to equalize but could not, after New Zealand goalie, Alby Kelly-heald, stopped Aiden Singh’s penalty kick.
Fiji kept pressing and had a few chances to level the score but wasn’t able to as they kept kicking the ball over and outside the goal mouth.
Our Digicel Junior Bula Boys will now fight for the third place against the Solomon Islands at 10 am before New Zealand and New Caledonia battle it out in the final this Thursday at 1pm.
