New Zealand have lost their second game at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, conceding three late goals at Stadion Miejski ŁKS in Łódź.
Substitutes Rosanna Ventriglia and Karen Appiah made the difference as Italy booked their place in the knockout rounds thanks to a hard-fought 3-0 victory over a stubborn New Zealand side.
“We had a plan coming into the game, and I thought for the majority of it, we executed that,” New Zealand head coach Callum Holmes said after the match.
“There’s a couple of little areas where we need to be better, and that’s something for us as a team to learn. We struggled a little bit to execute under pressure and that’s something that we’ve worked a lot on. It’s definitely something we need to improve and improve quickly in three days’ time [against] the USA to give ourselves a chance.”
The Italians dominated the first half and almost led inside four minutes when Manuela Sciabica’s low drive cannoned off the post.
Giulia Galli was next to come close, firing a left-footed effort narrowly wide.
The best chance of the half fell to Giada Pellegrino Cimo who, after being slid through by Paola Fadda, only had Brooke Neary to beat, but the New Zealand goalkeeper saved well with her feet.
Italy continued to pile on the pressure in the second half and were eventually rewarded in the 78th minute.
The defiant New Zealand defence finally failed to deal with a cross, leaving substitute Ventriglia to sweep home from 10 metres.
Main photo: Italy’s Rosanna Ventriglia … scored a double after coming off the bench. Photo credit: FIFA.
In the 83rd minute, substitute Appiah darted down the right and cut the ball back to Ventriglia, whose shot hit the underside of the bar, bounced off the ground and hit the bar again, but referee Lizzet Garcia ruled the ball had crossed the line.
Appiah then had her golden moment, sending a stunning lob over Neary and into the far corner from the edge of the box to extend the scoreline to 3-0 with a minute of normal play remaining.
Italy coach Nicola Matteucci acknowledged the effort by the New Zealand defence.
“We know there are no easy matches,” she said.
“In a competition like this, every game, in its own way, presents you some challenges. In this match, we knew we might face the challenge of coming up against a deep-lying defence that perhaps closed down the passing lanes effectively, creating density in the middle of the pitch.
“So we tried various ways to find a way through, and I must say that even in the first half we probably could have broken the deadlock and taken the lead.
“However, we must bear in mind that this too has been a great learning experience for all of us, because matches like this do happen, and the satisfaction of breaking the deadlock and seeing the game through to a clear victory is all the greater for it.”
Match stats
Italy had 24 attempts on goal, with 10 on target, compared to New Zealand’s three goal efforts, of which two were on target.
Watch the match replay
Acknowledgement
We thank FIFA for providing information for this story.
Results
Games played on Thursday September 10, 2026 (NZT)
Group D
Italy 3 (Rosanna Ventriglia 78′, 83′ Karen Appiah 89′)
New Zealand 0
Japan
United States
*Result to come, kick-off 4am (NZT)
FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Group D
Team
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Italy
2
2
0
0
5
1
4
6
Japan
1
1
0
0
2
1
1
3
United States
1
0
0
1
1
2
-1
0
New Zealand
2
0
0
2
1
5
-4
0
Fixtures
Games to be played September 13, 2026 (NZT)
Italy v Japan
Stadion Miejski LKS, Lódz, 1am (NZT)
New Zealand v United States
Arena Sosnowiec, Sosnowiec, 1am (NZT)
This story was first published on September 10, 2026.