Football: Edge excited to be playing for country

Jesse Edge, right, defends strongly against Panama for the New Zealand Under-20 team.

When Jesse Edge was growing up in Papamoa his desire to play in World Cup tournaments was always a driving force.

Now the 20-year-old is preparing to represent New Zealand at the Fifa U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 that starts on May 30 when New Zealand meet Ukraine at North Harbour Stadium.

This is Edge's third World Cup having been with the under-17s in Mexico, the under-20s in Turkey and now here in New Zealand.

The versatile defender, who can play anywhere across the back four or as a holding midfielder, joined the New Zealand camp from Italy where he plays for Serie B club Vicenza Calcio.

"I was on the bench against Australia the day after I got in (from Italy) and played against Panama (and Qatar)," Edge said. "I am learning this new style we are learning with coach Darren Bazeley. With the national team set-up, we try to do everything the same as the All Whites so with the help of Alex (Armstrong) and Anthony (Hudson) as well coming in to help us, we are setting up like a 4-3-3 and we have got some certain movements going on and stuff.

"Obviously each team is different so it is good to be in quite early and learn all these things before the World Cup.

"I have goals I set before every game but obviously I want to give it all my best.

"It is great playing for my country and it is exciting to be back playing at home."

New Zealand have been to three Fifa U-20 World cups and are yet to win a game, with their record standing at two draws and seven losses.

Clearly this is something Edge and his teammates want to put right playing at home.

"Of course we are working to get results and stuff like that coming into a World Cup.

"Everything is building up to those first games so results are important. I believe winning is a habit.

"We are definitely looking at how we are playing at the moment and building up to that first game against Ukraine.

"They have come out of the European qualifiers but we don't know too much about them at the moment ...

"We are focusing on how we are playing and all our kind of formations and then we will look at how they are set up and try and work on what they do closer to the time."