NEW ZEALAND ELIMINATED FROM U20 WORLD CUP BY RAMPANT USA

New Zealand have crashed out of the Under 20 Football World Cup in Argentina, dismantled 4-0 by the USA in the round of 16 in Mendoza.

Up against a USA side that completed the group stage unbeaten - and who haven't conceded a goal in nearly 12 months - the Jr All Whites hardly fired a shot, testing American goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina just once in 90 minutes.

At the other end, USA was far more clinical - registering 22 shots in total and breaching the Kiwi defence four times, three of those coming in the second half. 

After just 14 minutes, USA opened the scoring through winger Owen Wolff, where Kiwi goalkeeper Kees Sims' judgement saw him pull his arm away from the ball thinking the shot would travel wide of the goal.

Despite USA's superiority, New Zealand managed to hold their opponents at bay for the rest of the first half, limiting the damage to a single goal for a 0-1 deficit at the break.

In the second half, though, the floodgates opened.

After the hour mark, forward Cade Cowell beat Sims again with a left-footed shot that wrong-footed the keeper, left stranded.

Cowell was involved again in USA's third, as striker Diego Luna broke from a counterattack before a pullback from the left gave defender Justin Che a tap-in to end any faint hopes of a fightback.

For good measure, the USA added a fourth when Rokas Pukstas headed past Sims from a free kick, beating the keeper in the air after a curling effort into the penalty area from Brandan Craig.

The victory sees the USA advance to the quarter-finals, while New Zealand exit the tournament with a record of one win, one draw and two defeats.

New Zealand 0 

USA 4 (Wolff, Cowell, Che, Pukstas).

2023-05-30T20:03:37Z dg43tfdfdgfd