{"id":604394,"date":"2026-09-18T15:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604394\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:04:15","slug":"new-zealand-u-17s-lose-opening-game-3-2-at-japanese-youth-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604394\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand U-17s lose opening game 3-2 at Japanese youth tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand\u2019s U-17 men\u2019s side have lost their opening match at the International Youth Soccer Tournament in Japan, beaten 3-2 by the Niigata regional rep side.<\/p>\n

Playing at the Niigata City Athletic Stadium, New Zealand took the lead in the 5th minute when a shot by Matias Nunez was fumbled by the home side\u2019s goalkeeper, and the ball trickled over the goal line.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Matias Nunez (10) opened the scoring for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Niigata levelled in the 11th minute and stretched their advantage to 3-1 by half-time.<\/p>\n

New Zealand had the better of the second half and reduced the deficit to 3-2 when Cailean Hamilton rifled in a well-taken shot with five minutes to go.<\/p>\n

The three-match tournament is helping New Zealand prepare for November\u2019s FIFA U-17 Men\u2019s World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Their next game at the Niigata tournament is against Myanmar on Saturday.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: New Zealand U-17 men\u2019s team visit Japan for World Cup preparation<\/a> >>>><\/p>\n

Watch the match against Niigata<\/p>\n

New Zealand squad<\/p>\n

Tomas Blackhall \u2014 Melville United \/ Hamilton Boys\u2019 High School, New Zealand
Luke Carter \u2014 Western Springs \/ Avondale College, New Zealand
Zach Ashmore \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ Scots College, New Zealand
Grayson Cattle \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Jack Clegg \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand
Willem des Tombe \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ St Patrick\u2019s College, New Zealand
Gethyn Foster \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand
Cailean Hamilton \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand
Sean Kane \u2014 Auckland FC \/ St Kentigern, New Zealand
Lachlan MacIntyre \u2014 Brentford FC \/ Elthorne Park High School, England
William Martin \u2014 Queensland Lions \/ Ipswich Grammar School, Australia
Joseph McIntyre \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand
Matias Nunez \u2014 Auckland United \/ Rutherford College, New Zealand
Cruz Pietersen \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand
Keigo Shimokawa \u2014 Melbourne Victory \/ Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School, Australia
Zac Thomas \u2014 Bohemian FC \/ Castleknock Community College, Ireland
Ben Trenberth \u2014 Wellington Phoenix \/ New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand
Sena Vesty \u2014 Christchurch United \/ Burnside High School, New Zealand<\/p>\n

Result<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game played on Thursday September 17, 2026<\/p>\n

New Zealand 2 (Matias Nunez 5\u2032, Cailean Hamilton 85\u2032)
Niigata 3 (scorers to come)<\/p>\n

Fixtures<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game to be played on Saturday September 19, 2026<\/p>\n

New Zealand v Myanmar
Niigata City Athletic Stadium, 6pm (NZT)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game to be played on Monday September 21, 2026<\/p>\n

New Zealand v Japan
Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, 6pm (NZT)<\/p>\n

This story was first published on September 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s U-17 men\u2019s side have lost their opening match at the International Youth Soccer Tournament in Japan,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[297984,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-604394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-international-youth-soccer-tournament","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}