NZ through to U20 Cup playoffs after Colombia draw

Darren Bazeley’s New Zealand squad has qualified for the round of 16 at the Fifa Under-20 men’s World Cup after Colombia did them a massive favour.

The Colombians secured a 1-1 draw with Senegal in Argentina yesterday to dash the Africans’ hopes of making the playoffs, and dangle the Kiwis a coveted lifeline.

Depending on final group stage results today, New Zealand will either play the United States at 5.30am Wednesday (NZ Time) or Colombia at 5.30am Thursday.

The Kiwis were left to sweat about their qualification after failing to fire a shot in a 5-0 loss to host nation Argentina in San Juan on Saturday.

Their heavy defeat dropped them to third place in Group A with a -4 goals differential.

The four highest third-place finishers from preliminaries join the six group winners and six runners-ups in the round of 16.

New Zealand had a nervous wait for yesterday’s results to see if they made the cut.

If Colombia beat Senegal in Group C or the match was drawn, then New Zealand were guaranteed a last-16 place.

Senegal, who had an earlier draw, were just seconds away from going second equal with Israel when their dream was dashed.

The Africans had led Colombia for over an hour after Mamadou

Lame Camara struck in the 30th minute.

With time ticking away, Oscar Cortes equalised for Colombia in the fifth minute of added time.

When the points permutations were done, Nigeria (6 points from Group D) and New Zealand (4 points, Group C) were confirmed as playoffs qualifiers with the final two top third-place finishers finalised after the last group stage games.

Tunisia and Slovakia are also in top-four contention with three points each (and superior goals differentials to Japan), but Honduras (2 points) would crack the top four if they beat France.

New Zealand are now through to the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive Under-20 men’s World Cup.

Des Buckingham’s 2019 team finished second in its group with six points, ahead of Norway, who fielded current Manchester United superstar Erling Haaland.

New Zealand’s tournament ended in the first playoffs round after a penalty shootout defeat to Colombia. The score was locked at 1-1 after extra-time, but Colombia won the shootout, 5-4.

Many of the 2019 Under-20 squad have since gone on to become All Whites regulars, including Liberato Cacace, Sarpreet Singh, Joe Bell and Elijah Just.