United U19s covered in glory after tourney

Wairarapa United covered themselves in glory at the national under-19 men's inter-club soccer tournament at Napier over Labour weekend, finishing third in their pool and beating one of the semi-finalists in the process.
It was a performance which stunned coach Phil Keinzley who conceded that with Wairarapa United being one of the youngest and least experienced teams at the tourney even he did not expect them to finish with the excellent record of two wins a draw and two narrow losses from their five games.
"They went huge, absolutely huge," Keinzley enthused.
"They performed way above expectations, and that goes for the lot of them.
"Everybody played out of their skins."
Keinzley agreed it was an effort which made the team's objective of doing better than last year, when Wairarapa did not win a game, look somewhat low key.
"Honestly, I personally thought after looking at the draw that if we won even one game we would be doing well," he said.
"But good as the results were we were probably unlucky not to have done even better than we did, it was unbelievable really."
Wairarapa United met Papakura in their opening game and after leading 1-0 through a Niki Keinzley goal they came away with a well-earned 1-1 draw.
Highlight of their effort was a superb individual performance from Anaru Te Rangi who had a marked influence on attack and defence.
Second up for Wairarapa United was a match against last year's finalists Dunedin City who eventually won their way through to this year's decider as well, beating an Auckland-based side 6-0 in the semis.
Pre-match speculation was that Wairarapa United could be cannon fodder for the well-drilled Dunedin City combination but while the latter won 2-0 Keinzley said his side had an even share of possession and territory and a draw would have been a more just result.
"We matched them all over the field but two unforced errors cost us, that was all there was in it," he said.
Wairarapa United also deserved better than a 1-0 loss in the last of their pool games on the Saturday when they met another of the more highly-regarded sides in Auckland Metro.
They actually had more shots on goal than their opposition but constantly failed to find the net.
"We outplayed them everywhere but in the goal shooting department, it was a super effort against such a strong side," Keinzley said.
"It was one of those games where it was cruel luck for the boys to lose but that's the way it goes sometimes."
Revenge was on the minds of Wairarapa United when in the first of two pool matches on Sunday they played Waterside-Karori, who had beaten them a few weeks earlier in an Ivan England Trophy relegation game, thus leaving Wairarapa United in the B division of that competition for another season at least.
This time it was Wairarapa United who called the tune and even though the only scoring action was a goal from Ryan Athow, who chipped over the 'keeper from 25m out, they were so dominant that Waterside Karori seldom even got into their territory.
"We were all over them, we could have won by three or four goals and they still would have been flattered," said Keinzley.
That left Wairarapa United with just Island Bay to play, another big challenge considering Island Bay eventually made it through to the semis where they only bowed out 1-0 to Cambridge.
Again, however, it was Wairarapa United who emerged triumphant, a Niki Keinzley goal giving them a 1-0 win.
It was a game which was evenly-contested and which produced some excellent saves from Wairarapa United 'keeper Jackie Chan.
Reflecting on the tournament as a whole, coach Keinzley said the main attributes for Wairarapa United were their fitness and self belief.
He said that whereas many of the other sides were noticeably tiring on the second day Wairarapa United were still full of running. "It's a tough schedule for young fellows but our guys thrived on it, they didn't tire at all," he said.
Keinzley was also impressed by the willingness of his players to impose both their individual and collective skills on their opposition.
"Reputations meant nothing to them, they just went out there and did their thing," he said. "I know it might sound parochial but they were probably the best team to watch at the whole tournament, they enjoyed what they were doing and it showed."
Spearheading the Wairarapa United effort were two players who were a regular part of the club's premier men's team last season in Aaron Spierling and Anton Ross but several others showed they will be pushing hard for selection in that side-and possibly even federation and national age group teams-by the time the 2008 season comes around.
They include Kota Maneo who relished the change from a 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2 formation in the last three games and created several attacking opportunities down the right side, left fullback Yuseke Maneo who was both robust and safe on defence and Joel Vatselias and Keiran McGruddy, two players who improved markedly as the tournament progressed.
For Phil Keinzley though the tournament success was more about teamwork than anything else.
"It's not often you can say that every single player reached standards higher than they have reached before but, quite honestly, that's what happened with us," he said. "And they played so well as a unit & it was staggering really."