{"id":275774,"date":"2025-11-06T19:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275774\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T19:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:43:09","slug":"new-caledonia-hold-off-japan-to-claim-an-impressive-point-at-fifa-u-17-world-cup-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275774\/","title":{"rendered":"New Caledonia hold off Japan to claim an impressive point at FIFA U-17 World Cup 2025\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Caledonia have produced a superb performance to hold on for a 0-0 draw with Asian giants Japan at the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2025\u2122 in Doha. \u00a0<\/p>\n

It marks just the second time New Caledonia have registered a point at a FIFA event, repeating the feats of their 1-1 draw with Japan at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Japan dominated proceedings\u00a0throughout but\u00a0struggled to find a way through goalkeeper Nicolas\u00a0Kutran\u00a0and the New Caledonian\u00a0defence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Makoto\u00a0Himeno\u00a0came close inside just the first five minutes\u00a0for Japan, driving a direct free kick inches wide of the right post on his right foot.\u00a0Himeno\u00a0then missed another good chance not long after, poking the ball wide of the bottom-left corner after latching onto a cross to the back post.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That set the tone for the Young Samurai Blue, who conjured over 35 shots throughout the game, but lacked a decisive touch in front of\u00a0the goal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Caledonia\u2019s goal-keeper Nicolas\u00a0Kutran\u00a0also delivered a stellar performance between the sticks, denying Minato Yoshida with his first big save of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>DOHA, QATAR \u2013 NOVEMBER 06: Rento Noguchi of Japan is challenged by Malik Padome of New Caledonia during the FIFA Under-17 World Cup match between Japan and New Caledonia at Aspire Academy on November 06, 2025 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun \u2013 FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u00a0The second half continued in the same\u00a0vain,\u00a0Kutran\u00a0making himself big to parry away\u00a0a close-range effort from Jelani Ren McGhee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scorer of the goal in their first game against Portugal, Ezekiel Wamowe came closest to scoring again for New Caledonia, rattling the left post with a curling left-footed effort from long range. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Japan made changes but still\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0beat\u00a0Kutran, who pulled off big saves to deny both\u00a0Hirato\u00a0Osada and Daigo Hirashima.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The young Samurai Blue finally thought they had broken the deadlock late in stoppage time when Simon Yu Mendy powered the ball into the top of the net.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was disallowed for a foul on a New Caledonian defender in the build-up though, and the OFC representatives survived another late penalty review to hold on for a share of the points. \u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an historic result for New Caledonia, who celebrated wildly at the final whistle, and remain with a chance of progressing to the knockout stages should they beat Morocco in their final group stage match on Monday (NZT). \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Japan: 0\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Caledonia: 0<\/p>\n

HT: 0-0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Caledonia have produced a superb performance to hold on for a 0-0 draw with Asian giants Japan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-275774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}