New Zealand have made a positive start to their bid to qualify for the under-20 men's soccer World Cup in Colombia with a 3-0 win over the Solomon Islands in their opening Oceania championship match in Auckland today.
Former Wellington Phoenix now Melbourne Victory playmaker Marco Rojas had a handin all three goals, laying on the final pass for the first and last goals and netting from the penalty spot in between as the Junior All Whites leapfrogged the Solomons at the top of group B to put one foot into the semifinals.
After a goal less first half, Dakota Lucas controlled a Rojas cross neatly inside the six yard box before opening the scoring in the 51st minute, and 10min later Andrew Milne duped Freddie Kini into making a lazy tackle inside the area to earn a penalty.
Rojas duly converted the spot kick and then put the finishing touches on a fine individual contribution by slipping a pass into the run of substitute Andy Bevin, who made it 3-0 in the 68th minute.
Himson Teleda offered the biggest threat for the Solomon Islands, getting behind the New Zealand defence once in the first half then thumping a shot of the post with the score still 1-0. Otherwise, the Junior All Whites back four kept the quick Solomon forwards quiet.
New Zealand's next match is against New Caledonia on Monday.
In group A matches today, Vanuatu beat Fiji 2-0 to go two points clear at the top of the group while second-placed Papua New Guinea thrashed American Samoa 5-1.
