Well now that was a weird old game. Lucky you if you stayed up until the wee small hours to get a peek at that, the All Whites winning a rare game against a non-Oceania opposition. Fritz Schmid with his first win as All Whites manager. The game was pretty massively lacking in, you know… quality… but a win is a win is a win is a win.

Chinese Taipei lost 5-0 to India four days earlier. New Zealand lost 2-1 to Kenya who then also lost 3-0 to India (albeit the game was closer than it appears, Kenya buggered up their chances then India ran away with some late goals). On the basis of that, we shoulda maybe cashed in here except instead the All Whites only came away with a scrappy 1-0 win thanks to a first half Myer Bevan penalty.

Far from convincing. Same as the performance. But then perhaps it’s too much to expect cohesion and fluidity and clinical football from a bunch of international rookies in what are obviously difficult conditions. There were moments, of course, and we’ll get to those. However this is why the focus in the last article was all about the result. Let’s just win a game. Get those three points and the rest will follow. We’ve had way too many half-decent performances for no reward over the last four years and ultimately those aren’t worth anything.

In the past year the All White have been busy with Confederations Cup games and World Cup qualifiers and played twelve times in those twelve months (including the Kenya game). We’d won only one of those, the Chris Wood inspired 6-1 victory in Auckland against the Solomon Islands. Sloppy though it may have been, now we’ve got two.

Schmiddy basically confirmed his rotation policy with this game, making six changes to the starting team that played Kenya. Myer Bevan started up front, Justin Gulley came in at right back – both consistent with the half-time subs last game. Libby Cacace and Nik Tzanev made debuts, with Tom Doyle playing centre-back with Niko Boxall, and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi playing in midfield with Cam Howieson. Henry Cameron replaced Matt Ridenton in the attacking mids with Jai Ingham and Sarpreet Singh retaining their places. With that only Woud, Brotherton, Dyer, Lewis, De Jong and Billingsley are yet to start a game from this squad… and who wants to bet that at least three of them are lining up against India? Would certainly expect Woud to get a gig in goal, a different keeper each game gets them all some experience.

It’s safe to say that the midfield didn’t really show up with TAHW and Howieson in the way it did with Payne and Howieson. Even then, P&H were playing too deep to effect much but at least they were able to ping the ball around. We didn’t quite have that this time, although maybe that’s more to do with an energetic Chinese Taipei opposition rather than a defensive-minded Kenyan team. I’m of the opinion that TAHW’s best self is as a Vicelich-esque sweeper, which he’s evolving into for Auckland City, but we simply don’t have many options in midfield so that’s where he played. And it’s where he always used to play, so fair cop.

As for Doyle at CB he’s done that for the Phoenix several times and at this stage you can’t have too many worries. It’s a genuine feather in his cap now. And while Libby Cacace was nothing special on this occasion, the mere fact that he didn’t look out of his depth shows what a prospect that bloke is.

A poor 45 minutes from Dane Ingham last game hasn’t done his immediate international chances much help but his brother’s sprinting back into contention all of a sudden after a couple very handy games in Mumbai. He had a handful of early moments, including a couple shots at goal that he couldn’t direct through traffic. Myer Bevan was looking sharp too. Whereas Alex Rufer worked hard and tried to hold the ball up, Bevan kept a laser focus on the goal. He had that ruthless instinct and almost put the kiwis up when Sarpreet Singh played him through but a last-ditch challenge took it off him. There was also a header at the far post which he got poor contact on, having been pretty wide open. Sarpreet with the lovely curling cross from the right, naturally.

Once again the All Whites looked their most dangerous whenever Sarpreet Singh was involved. The sponsors even gave him a big man of the match novelty cheque after the game for his toils, well deserved. His top shelf deliveries into the box might well have earned him a couple assists on another day and sure enough it was Singh who won the decisive penalty. Ingham played in Henry Cameron whose effort was saved but it fell to Bevan whose effort was blocked and deflected and Singh, instead of shooting first time, took it past his defender and drew a foul. Lovely work and great awareness. Bevan made no mistake from the spot. He was never going to.

By the way, Myer Bevan has now scored in both of his international starts. He’s a few years away from really dominating week in, week out at club level but you can tell he’s got that eye for goal which will carry him. He’s the natural successor to Shane Smeltz in this All Whites environment. Bevan already has more senior All Whites goals than Jeremy Brockie.

All this time Chinese Taipei were getting shots off at the other end but always dreamy ones from long range, most of which ended up in orbit. Hence a look at the stats and you could paint this as a closer game than it really was. The All Whites were always in control and anything that made its way into their penalty area was swiftly dispatched of. Boxall and Doyle were strong at the back. Their distribution was dead average but they did the most important job. Nik Tzanev didn’t have a difficult save to make, a header tipped over the bar the only one he even had to move for. To be fair, he would’ve had a much tougher evening if Chinese Taipei knew how to shoot with any accuracy.

NZ arguably had two penalty shouts in the second half better than the one they were awarded in the first half. Noah Billingsley’s one definitely looked like a spottie, how could that not be a spottie? There were other chances too. Jai Ingham had a dig. Singh buggered up a one on one which he probably should’ve scored. There’s a version of this game in which the All Whites won 3-0 and all would be swell but maybe that would have been too flattering. As the subs rolled in the last half hour, the NZers understandably got more disjointed and Chinese Taipei threw some of their best stuff at ‘em. But the defence stayed physical and dominant the whole way. A well-earned clean sheet in the end.

Nothing to brag about in terms of performance, you got the feeling that with a little more precision in the midfield and some swifter combinations up top that this could’ve been way more comfortable. But winning is a habit. Gotta start somewhere.

You can bank on a chunk more rotation next time, with only one full day’s rest in between this and the India game. Problem is that the All Whites really need to beat India in order to make the final. There isn’t a huge disparity between talent levels amongst these players so that shouldn’t make too much of a difference, but whether Schmiddy starts Bevan again and whether he gives Jai Ingham and Sarpreet Singh their third starts in a week are the big ones to watch out for. India are going to be extremely tough with a sold out home crowd. Might be three and out in that case, which falls back on failing to beat Kenya… but at least this time they’ll get to feel some sort of consequence for losing. Chalk it up on the learnings board, Schmiddy.

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