Sam Malcolmson: NZ restored respectability at World Cup

Stuart Holthusen of New Zealand celebrates after scoring a goal during the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 Round of 16 match between Portugal and New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images.

Congratulations to Darren Bazely and his Under 20 team for restoring 'respectability' to NZ Football after their credible performance against much vaunted Portugal.

I, like all other Kiwi supporters, was really disappointed that Portugal scored their winner with only three minutes to go. I felt that we could have caused a boil over in extra time, as we had definitely knocked the Portuguese out of their rhythm in the last half of normal time.

Unfortunately, Portugal's luck ran out in the quarter final, when they completely outplayed Brazil and hit the woodwork a number of times, only to bow out on penalties.

The closeness of games and the unexpected upsets of favourites like Argentina and Mexico added interest to the competition and attracted much more vocal and fervent support for the underdog.

The fact that the semi- finalists only really had one pre-tournament favourite in Brazil, fuelled an added interest in the competition and helped increase crowd attendances.

I think a bouquet is deserving to the NZ crowds who adopted a new team to support after the Junior All Whites' exit.

The vocal support for Senegal, Mali and Serbia were outstanding examples of this.

The Kiwi youngsters at the games I attended at North Harbour Stadium have to take credit for the increased volume and getting their parents involved. What a great advert for New Zealand's ability to stage a global tournament.

But NZ were well behind technically and in ball movement, compared with their opposition. This was very apparent in the early games. It was only when we reached the knock-out stages that we raised our game substantially, and a lot of that was to do with changes made by Bazely and the usual kiwi grit and endeavour shown by the NZ team playing against World Class opposition when rank outsiders.

It was no surprise to me that our outstanding players like Bill Tuiloma and Monty Patterson play their football overseas - as they are used to playing at an increased pace and skill level.

If there was one thing the tournament highlighted to me is the urgent need for a quality club-based National League.

There is no doubt we have some promising young players with real ability but they need a stage to perform on, that will allow them to increase their overall football intelligence and be better prepared when required for international duty.

The current league is not doing that for the majority of quality youngsters that are popping up all over NZ.

Players like Sam Brotherton, Deklan Wynne, and the like deserve to be playing quality and meaningful competitive games every week during the season.

I thought Serbia deserved to win as they were disciplined, played at pace, stuck to their game plan and gave the impression they were a very tight unit off and on the field. They also had a fabulous vociferous support from their legion of fans.

Whilst there was the odd standout individual performance, the tournament certainly never unearthed the next Lionel Messi or Sergio Aguero.

In fact the stars of the show were the men between the sticks, where there were countless sublime performances and out of the world saves.

One that springs to mind was the Senegal keeper's performance in the shoot-out that helped eliminate the much fancied Ukraine. However the top custodian was the Serbian goalie and captain, Predrag Rajkovic, who deservedly won the Golden Glove for Goalkeeper of the tournament.

I would be surprised if we don't see this young man turning up in some major league with a team like Barcelona, Man United etc - that's how highly I rate him.

I think the Local organisers can be proud of the way the tournament went and I think the NZ fans showed their support and appreciation for top football by supporting the competition in numbers despite the sometimes ropey weather, and not only the glamour countries but the minnows as well, so let's hope FIFA give NZ the Women's World Cup in 2023.