New Zealand 3
Papua New Guinea 0
New Zealand are just one win away from a return to Fifa's Under-17 World Cup after comfortably seeing off Papua New Guinea 3-0 in their final group match at North Harbour Stadium yesterday.
The win sets up a dream final against Tahiti with both teams heading into Wednesday's showdown with
four-from-four unbeaten records.
New Zealand coach Steve Cain said his team had accomplished the first stage of their mission and could now look forward to a couple of days' rest before the final.
"The aim was to get to the final and we've done that, comfortably to be honest. We've still got a lot left in us and we'll show that in the final," said Cain. "We set out to score early and settle things down knowing they would have to chase us.
"At halftime we were reasonably comfortable the game was over, we were able to make substitutions.
"Tahiti are a strong team that have won their group very comfortably and we expect a very tough game from them."
The Young All Whites could have won through to the final with a draw against PNG but once they went ahead after just 38 seconds it was apparent they meant business.
While they had as much possession and territory as they had enjoyed in their penultimate outing against American Samoa, New Zealand were more clinical and got rid of much of the sloppiness which been all too evident in earlier outings.
Ryan Howlett charged on to a well-placed ball from Rhys Jordan to stab it under a despairing dive from PNG goalkeeper Benjamin Wilbert to open the scoring.
The home side continued to press. They forced five corners in the first 11 minutes but despite some deft delivery from Jordan they again failed to convert from set play.
But they were soon rewarded for their attacking endeavours when a neat cross from Jordan picked out Nathan Buswell, who scored from close range on an acute angle.
New Zealand continued to dominate against their seemingly younger opponents but - apart from half chances for Tim Payne and James Wypych - they rarely threatened to add to their tally.
A well-taken 55th-minute goal from Payne - a thundering volley from a pinpoint Howlett cross (his last act before being substituted as Cain took the opportunity to rest players before the final) - killed off any PNG hopes.
Tahiti booked their place in the tournament finale with Saturday's 3-1 win over New Caledonia in the much-anticipated clash.
The only interest in today's group B matches will be the battle to find the second-placed team who will meet Vanuatu in Wednesday's bronze match.
Solomon Islands are virtually assured of that chance as they play Cook Islands today. The Cooks had their day in the sun on Saturday with their 6-2 win over Tonga to pick up their first points of the tournament.
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Meanwhile, at the Oceania Congress in Pago Pago, American Samoa, New Zealand's Frank van Hattum and Fred de Jong withdrew their nominations for the presidency, allowing Papua New Guinea's David Chung to be elected unopposed for a four-year term.
De Jong was, however, re-elected to the seven-man executive.
In a major surprise, Tahiti and New Caledonia failed to have their representatives elected. They join American Samoa as the only countries without members on the executive.
The elected members are Martin Alufurai (Solomon Islands), de Jong, Lee Harmon (Cook Islands), Sahu Khan (Fiji), Lambert Maltock (Vanuatu), Toetu Petana (Samoa) and Honourable Ve'ehala (Tonga).
