New Zealand wants to challenge underdog status at U-17 Women's World Cup

Young female footballers are only 90 minutes away from one of the biggest upheavals in the history of the Under-17 Women's World Cup.

New Zealand will face Spain, champion of Europe, in Montevideo, Uruguay on Thursday (NZT), with a place in the final.

This will be the biggest test of New Zealand history in the World Cup, with an invasion of Spain in its last 16 games.

"We're going to be the underdogs again but we're going to try to challenge that title, they've already done it, they've upset big teams here and I'm expecting it to be the same at next game, "said New Zealand coach Leon. Birnie said before the first appearance in the semifinals of the country.

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"They are realistic but they are now very confident, at the World Cup we have won three out of four victories and since we have been here, if you include Canada [warm-up] game, we won four out of five. This is unheard of for New Zealand.

"You can not get better preparation to build your confidence and build momentum in the future in this game." It worked out well. "We're in the best space, maybe we can get five games into a tournament and we have no excuse to go out and give the best shot. "

The road from New Zealand to the semifinals includes victories against Finland (1-0), Uruguay (2-1) and Japan (4-3 on penalties). They also lost their last Group A match against Ghana (2-0).

No one expected them to arrive so far. Not the coach, not the players, and especially not their family members who booked flights before the semi-finals.

"Just to see the support and coverage at home has been amazing," he said. "If you said it was a U-17 women's team that would bring the football community to life and move the game forward, you probably would not have thought about it, but things have gone that way."

"To see that this support has been great, I hope that after the tournament, it will continue and we will be able to continue this momentum and advance the game."

The New Zealand defense will have to be wary because the biggest threats of Spain will come from its attacking dynamics. Captains Eva Navarro and Clauda Pina have scored six goals so far.

Navarro and Pina were key players in the last match between the two teams at the 2016 tournament.

Spain won this match 2-0. They had 27 four-shots from New Zealand.

"For us, we have to go out and perform to the best of our ability to be competitive.

"They had two very good results in pool, with a 4-0 and a 5-0, and we have to be very careful that the game does not escape us.

"But I'm convinced that if we go out and perform like in previous matches, we will be competitive and we have a great chance to create more history and make the final."

Birnie will be able to choose from an almost complete team, with Arabella Maynard, the victim of a concussion ending the tournament against Ghana, the only player unavailable.