Academy scholar Monty Patterson's New Zealand U20s face Portugal in the round of 16 at the FIFA U20 World Cup in Hamilton on Thursday (Eurosport 2, 8.15am).

The 18-year-old midfielder started and scored as the hosts came from behind to beat Myanmar 5-1 in their final group game last Friday to claim their first ever victory at the finals.

Happy to have scored for my country and a great team performance pic.twitter.com/K0MDDLRdGH– Monty Patterson (@PattersonMonty) June 6, 2015

As a result of that win they finished third in their group and their four-point haul was enough for them to qualify for the knockout phase.

Patterson had previously come on as a sub in the 0-0 draw with group winners Ukraine in their opening game and a 4-0 defeat to the USA, who finished second.

Coach Darren Bazeley admits it will be tough for his side to defeat the Portuguese, even on home turf: “This is a big challenge for us; they are a very good team Portugal, with some good players.

“They’ve had some success in the build-up and at this World Cup and they’ll be looking to move forward.

“The danger for them is they probably already have got an eye on the Brazil game ahead of them [in the quarter-finals] but they’ve got to deal with us first.

“It’s a big game but we’ve played quite a lot of internationals now over the past year.”

He added: “I want to see them give everything they’ve got and put on a performance that everybody is proud of and they can go away and say they gave it everything.

“Hopefully we get a great result and it can be a brilliant evening, a real celebration, if we can get through this game.

“The boys have felt that against Myanmar when we scored goals and we got the win and they celebrated that afterwards. There are good feelings in the camp when you win games like that.

“If we can get over the line in this game, they can have that feeling again and it will be a great achievement for us and New Zealand to get into the quarter-finals.”

Photo: Action Images

KiwiBlue2 added 09:24 - Jun 11 Portugal leading 1-0 at halftime. Monty competing very well and looking sharp with a few shots on goal.
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KiwiBlue2 added 10:00 - Jun 11 NZ equalised 65th minute with Monty prominent, having a great game.
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KiwiBlue2 added 10:15 - Jun 11 Portugal have scored a second in the 87th minute
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KiwiBlue2 added 10:32 - Jun 11 Finished 2-1 to Portugal. NZ tried hard and had their moments but Portugal just had that extra bit of class. Monty had a great game and was prominent throughout hopefully he continues to develop and make the grade at Town and for the senior NZ team.
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