Papua New Guinea have been overwhelmed 8-0 by Oceania champions New Zealand in the first match of their tour down-under, as they finalise preparations for next month's Under 20 Women's Football World Cup.
Jasmine Pereira opened the scoring for the home side after 11 minutes, as New Zealand opened up a 5-0 at half-time.
PNG head coach Lisa Cole said it was a big month ahead for her team, who have been drawn in the same World Cup pool as South American champions Brazil, European champions Sweden and North Korea, who finished second at last year's Under 19 Asian Championship.
PNG U20 Women's football coach Lisa Cole. Photo: PNG Football
"We're taking on the challenge. It's not the easiest group but I told the girls it's actually perfect for us because if you want to learn how to compete against the best, you want to know what it takes to really grow as a country, you need to play the best," she said.
"You can't go out and play teams that are similar to you, you need to go and stretch yourself.
"Obviously Brazil is a country where people live and breathe football so they're going to be top notch...Sweden won the Euros so they were the top team in our age-group - over Germany, over France, over Spain, over Norway - all those great countries that come out of Europe where there's a great soccer culture - so they'll be tough," Cole said.
"And then North Korea of course just won the U-17 World Cup with their younger team so in the Youth World Cup they have been a powerhouse for a while now and not an easy group but it will be a great experience for our young players and all three teams will play differently."
PNG will play two more matches against age-grade development teams in New Zealand before returning home to host the World Cup in Port Moresby.
The PNG under 20 Women's team. Photo: PNG Football
