KEY POINTS:
Outgoing New Zealand under-17 soccer coach Colin Tuaa thinks the team are in good shape for their World Cup qualifiers despite a second loss to the visiting Chile under-18 team in Auckland yesterday.
The older South Americans won 3-0 with goals to Yashin Pinto in the 23rd minute and second half strikes from Bernard Campos and Benjamin Vidal.
That followed a 1-0 win to Chile in the first match on Friday.
The Young All Whites threatened mainly through attacking set pieces with Jack Hobson-McVeigh going closest to scoring via an eighth minute free-kick that curled over the crossbar.
Tuaa - who is expected to take the role of Samoa Football chief executive, with Steve Cain already named as his under-17 coaching successor - said another strong performance was an encouraging sign as the team eye a place in October's under-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
"I think we played pretty well throughout the match, but particularly in the first half," Tuaa said.
"These were our first couple of games together after being in camp environments with players coming in and out a different times, and it highlighted what we thought about needing to play top quality opposition to see where we're at."
Cain will take the team to Fiji for the Oceania under-17 championship in April - which doubles as the World Cup qualifying tournament.
He will next week name a 20-man squad for April's qualifiers with UK-based academy players Cameron Lindsay (Blackburn Rovers) and Andrew Milne (Glasgow Rangers) strong contenders to return to the squad.
- NZPA
