24 Nov 2008

NZ under 20 footballers a win away from qualifying

6:16 am on 24 November 2008

The New Zealand women's under 20 football team need to beat England on Thursday to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Fifa World Cup in Chile.

Yesterday's 4-3 win over the hosts yesterday was just the third for a New Zealand side in 26 matches over nine senior or age-group World Cups.

England and Nigeria - who drew 1-1 earlier in the day to sit atop Group A with four points each after two matches, with the Kiwis just one point behind.

Fifteen-year-old Rosie White led the scoring with New Zealand's second-ever World Cup hat-trick - she scored the first seventeen days ago against Colombia in the U-17 Women's World Cup - while substitute Renee Leota got the 4th.