The Montenegrins were masters of the turn and made much of the space available and had time to receive accurate passes to score.

Aleksandar Ivovic relished the opportunity to pour in goals and use his sprint speed to excellent effect. He scored in each quarter for a total of six, lifting his championship tally to 10. Captain Nikola Janovic scored his four goals in the first half, including two of the first three as Montenegro established itself early.

New Zealand’s single goal came from Adam Pye from 7m and goalkeeper Thomas Kingsmill can be proud of his seven saves.

Match 21: 17:30, Group A, MONTENEGRO 23 NEW ZEALAND 1
Quarters: 5-0, 8-1, 6-0, 4-0
Referees: Joao Cardenuto (BRA), Gaber Hatem (EGY).
Extra Man: MNE: 6/9. NZL: 0/3.
Pens: MNE: 1/1

Teams:
MONTENEGRO:
Zdravko Radic, Drasko Brguljan (2), Vjekoslav Paskovic (2), Antonio
Petrovic, Darko Brguljan (2), Ugo Crousillat (3), Mladan Janovic (1),
Nikola Janovic (4), Aleksandar Ivovic (6), Sasa Misic (1), Filip
Klikovac (1), Predrag Jokic, Milos Scepanovic. Head Coach: Ranko
Perovic.
NEW ZEALAND: Thomas Kingsmill, Matthew Lewis, Stefan Curry,
Finn Lowery, Jonathan Ross, Andrew Sieprath, Daniel Jackson, Matthew
Small, Eamon Lui-Fakaotimanaua, Matthew Bryant, Lachlan Tijsen, Adam Pye
(1), Dylan Smith. Head Coach: Jozsef Sike.

FLASH QUOTES:

Nikola Janovic (MNE):
“We held the game and it was far better than our score against Spain and Greece, so I am very happy.”
Sasa Misic (MNE):
“We have yet to see who we are playing against next, but our team is now ready for great things in this tournament.”
Ranko Perovic (MNE Head Coach):
“We expected this game to be easy. The score is less important than the win, but nearly all the players scored at some point in the game which is great.”
Andrew Sieprath (NZL):
“It was a tough game playing against Montenegro — they are always difficult opponents. It is an honour to play such a great team and a fantastic experience for all the young players. We have to continue to train hard and use our strategy, which we had in the second half rather than the first.”
Eamon Lui-Fakaotimanaua (NZL):
“We are disappointed because we did better against Greece. Montenegro is a strong team and our young players did the best they could.”