Ventura County Fusion to Face New Zealand’s Under-20 Men’s National Team on Wed., July 20

July 19, 2011 - PRLog -- VENTURA, Calif. — The Ventura County Fusion (www.vcfusion.com), the region’s first and only world-class, championship-caliber soccer franchise, the 2010 Southwest Division title holder, and the 2009 champions of the Premier Development League (PDL), today announced it will play an international exhibition match against the New Zealand under-20 (U-20) men’s national team at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, July 20, 2011, at Oxnard College Stadium in Oxnard, Calif. The game is open to the public, and free to attend.

Arriving on July 18, and staying at Fusion title sponsor Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach Hotel, the “Junior All Whites” will face the Fusion as part of an intense, weeklong training session prior to the team’s departure on July 25 to compete in the FIFA U-20 World Cup™ in Colombia. The prestigious international tournament, which takes place every two years, begins on July 30 in the country’s capital of Bogotá, with New Zealand to face Cameroon in the first round of group play. The team will later face Uruguay on August 2 and Portugal on August 5, after which the top two sides and the four best third-place teams advance to the knockout round of the tournament.

The friendly with New Zealand is the Fusion’s third scheduled international exhibition match of the summer, with all three games coming in a span of just six days. The Fusion will challenge five-time Football Association (FA) Challenge Cup winner and Barclays® (English) Premier League side West Bromwich Albion Football Club (www.wba.co.uk) at 3:00 p.m. PDT on Sunday, July 17, and then square off against world-renowned Argentinean side and 14-time Argentine First Division champions Club Atlético Independiente (www.caindependiente.com) at 6:00 p.m. PDT on Friday, July 22. All three exhibitions are at Oxnard College Stadium.

“We are thrilled to play host to yet another high-profile side in the ‘Junior All Whites’ this summer, and even more excited to offer Southern California soccer fans another rare opportunity to see a talented international team of this caliber face the Fusion in its own backyard,” said Ranbir Shergill, general manager of the Ventura County Fusion. “It also represents a unique opportunity for our players and coaches to test their skills against the world’s very best players, and to see if they have what it takes to advance to the highest levels of sport.”

About The New Zealand Under-20 Men’s National Team
The Thai Airways Junior All Whites are New Zealand’s U-20 men’s national team, which competes and represents the country in U-20 competitions in Oceania and throughout the world. The side punched its ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup by winning the 2011 Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) U-20 Championship in dominant fashion this past April in Auckland. Over the course of four tournament games, including a 3-1 win over Solomon Islands in the final, the Junior All Whites scored an unbelievable 22 goals, while conceding just one.

As part of the its preparation following its World Cup qualification, the team took part in the Suwon Cup in South Korea, where it notched a 4-3 victory over African champion Nigeria, and recorded narrow 1-0 losses to Uruguay and South Korea.

The New Zealand team consists of 21 players, including Marco Rojas and Chris Wood, a member of the national team who played in last year’s FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa. Two others on the squad, Anthony Hobbs and Colin Murphy, both play for major universities in the United States, with Hobbs at the Florida International University in Miami and Murphy at Boston College.

The Fusion wrap up their 2011 PDL season on Saturday, July 23, one day after the Independiente match, with a home game against the Los Angeles Legends at 7:00 p.m. PDT at the Ventura College Sportsplex in Ventura. The club has already clinched a playoff berth for the fourth consecutive year.

# # #

About The Ventura County Fusion
Based in Ventura, California, the Ventura County Fusion is a successful world-class, championship-caliber soccer franchise and participant in the Western Conference’s Southwest Division of the Premier Development League (PDL), an official operation of United Soccer Leagues (USL). Now in its fifth year of operation, the team enters the 2011 season with three consecutive playoff berths and as the reigning Southwest Division champions. The Fusion’s roster consists of members of the U.S.’s U-20 National Team, players from well-respected NCAA Division I university programs, and highly-touted standouts from international squads throughout the world. In addition to PDL play, the Fusion competes in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and in various exhibitions against some of the world’s best professional squads, including Burnley and Everton of the English Premier League, and DC United, Los Angeles Galaxy, and Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer (MLS).