The All Whites World Cup Qualifying Quest Is Underway With A 1-0 Win Over Papua New Guinea
One win from one, three points in the bag. Don’t worry too much about anything else. The important thing is that the All Whites got what they needed out of the match against Papua New Guinea with a 1-0 victory and if they end up returning to Qatar in November for the World Cup then nobody, absolutely nobody, not a soul in existence, is going to care about what happened in their first game of qualifying.
It was not a special performance by any means. Very well organised but quite sloppy in certain areas. But gotta remember that this was the B-Team out there, a team largely build out of A-League players and as we know A-League players haven’t often been available during Danny Hay’s time in charge. Three of the 15 players who were used were on debut: the Welly Nix trio of Oli Sail, Ben Waine, and Ben Old. Meanwhile Dane Ingham and Nikko Boxall were playing for the first time under Hay (although both have been around before – Ingham especially thanks to the Olympics).
Not only was Cam Howieson in the same boat but also as the lone National League player in the squad he’s not played properly for several months (no South Central Series for Auckland City, after all). And Kosta Barbarouses, mate, this was his first international since the last World Cup qualifying campaign – November 2017 vs Peru. Large portion of fellas who haven’t had speaking parts in the play of the All Whites lately. The understudies stepping up.
So, like, what... you were expecting a fluid flowing performance? Nah, no worries there. This was a matter of setting up the rest of the tournament with a decent result no matter how it came about and that’s what they did. Ben Waine with a goal on debut. Bit of a sneaky one via a quick free kick by Matt Garbett and a square ball from Dane Ingham and then the Waine Train supplied the simple finish. That’ll do it.
The All Whites never looked like conceding. Winston Reid kept the dangerous Raymond Gunemba in his pocket all evening and Tommy Semmy found himself having to drift further and further away from the penalty area in order to get involved. PNG’s one big chance was a header into the side-netting from substitute Kolu Kepo but to be honest, momentary sphincter-clenching aside, Oli Sail probably had it covered. Would have been a rare involvement from him on debut. Nikko Boxall was also very good at the back. Bit messy with his passing at times but that’s a minor complaint in an overall strong showing.
It was the next step in the build-up that didn’t really click. The midfield and the wide areas. Clayton Lewis can do the CDM role all goods but he’s not an orchestrator like Joe Bell or a physical presence to the extent of Marko Stamenic. Kinda prefer him further forward tbh but needs must and he did okay. Cam Howieson and Matt Garbett were the other two mids. Howieson not always on the same page with his dudes even if there were a couple nice instances of interplay. Garbett a bag of mixed nuts as he tried his hardest to inject a bit of go-forward – turning the ball over too often in the first half but growing into the game as it went on to where he was excellent in the last half hour.
All three of them had good moments but the combinations weren’t there. It was a midfield of consigliere’s with no godfather (although, again, Clayton Lewis did a commendable enough job). Worth mentioning that the two other games that Joe Bell has hasn’t started since his debut were both All Whites defeats (1-0 vs Lithuania – where Bellinho was a sub, and the 3-1 loss to Jordan for which he was injured).
Having said that, with all those long balls from the back in the first half they weren’t always given much of a chance. Quick switches to stretch the defence and things like that. Getting the ball long to Andre De Jong. Except ADJ didn’t have a very fun night. He wants the ball at his feet in order to spin into space... but against the Komolong brothers at CB for PNG he didn’t have an inch to work with all arvo. It was a physical battle and De Jong tended to come off second best (in the same way that Reid & Boxall bossed it at the other end).
The alternative was to get the ball wide and some of the AW’s best stuff involved Dalton Wilkins on the left, who had a very good game. Didn’t get the same attacking work outta Dane Ingham on the other side which annoyingly limited Kosta Barbarouses too (who looked sharp when he could get involved). Still, Matt Garbett came super close to opening the scoring only to have his close-range attempt denied by Ronald Warisan – who was wonderful in goal for the Papuans – and set pieces always looked a threat with Clayton Lewis’ delivery on point. There were definitely chances.
However with a third of the game remaining, it was starting to feel like maybe the kiwis might have to settle for a draw. It wouldn’t have been a disaster given there are two more group games to come with reinforcements on the way but obviously an early three-pointer would make things much more comfortable. So Danny Hay went to his bench and completely changed the game with the introductions of Ben Waine and Ben Old (for ADJ and Howieson). Then, ten minutes later, Logan Rogerson too.
Waine gave more of a vertical threat than ADJ. Looking to run in behind rather than drop in, and while the All Whites never did figure out how to avoid that offside flag they did at least stretch things more with Waine out there. Plus they also had Old drifting wide left to create overloads, giving the All Whites a reliable outlet. It was Waine getting the ball on the move that led to the free kick that they scored from.
And shout out to Dane Ingham... didn’t do much but he popped up with a crucial assist. Was surprised he got picked ahead of Niko Kirwan but pretty sure that’s because Kirwan is going to be expected to play big minutes later in the tournament. On that point, the guys who are leaving after the second game are: Sail, Ingham, Wilkins, Lewis, Old, Barbarouses, and Waine. Every one of them featured heavily in this match. Soaking up those early tournament minutes in order to keep the others fresh.
Then Rogerson joined on the left wing (in place of a slightly placid Joey Champness, not near his sizzling dribbling best) and his raw pace really tilted things. This may have only been a 1-0 win but there was that close range save off Garbett. There was a header over the top from Winston Reid. There was a header cleared off the line from a Boxall attempt. Some tasty Barbarouses crosses. Then after the goal not only did Garbett rattle one off the bar with a shot from outside the area but so did Rogerson with a diving header that he probably should’ve scored. On another day this could have been a 4-0 win.
Or even more if Chris Wood had been around. The things that ADJ struggled with here are things that The Woodsman utterly dominates. Winning aerials, holding the ball up, linking with teammates. Wood should be available against Fiji on Tuesday morning and he’ll make copious levels of difference. He has done for Newcastle United, he’ll do the same for the All Whites. Interesting to see how much he plays. Ideally we beat Fiji next time to clinch qualification then guys like Reid and Wood can be rested for New Caledonia if necessary. Not that Winnie has club duties to stay primed for or anything. He’s all in on the WCQ Quest.
Three more debutants brings Danny Hay up to 18 in the space of seven matches. He’s blooded at least one new player in every game so far though that streak is likely to come to an end against Fiji as the only two uncapped players left in this current group are backup goalies Matt Gould and Jamie Searle.
Not much else to add. This was the game without the top dogs, it was always going to be a case of easing into the qualification quest. They did what needed doing. Only just... but again it could have been a bigger margin of victory with a few more twists of luck and it’s not like they ever looked like losing.
Plus also... they might have just gotten their toughest game out of the way with first up? They play Fiji next who beat New Caledonia 2-1 in the other game in the group, while the Solomon Islands look decent on the other side of the draw. But it was Papua New Guinea who made the final of the 2016 Nations Cup and they’ve proved tough opponents at senior men’s level in recent years. That Nations Cup final was a 0-0 draw that NZ won on penalties. They also only beat them 2-1 in the previous edition of that tournament in 2012. Now a 1-0 win with a weakened team here.
PNG didn’t offer a heap going forward but remember they were without David Browne who, at last check, is still “awaiting clearance from the PNG Immigration Authority”. But their keeper Warisan was excellent, as were centre-backs Felix and Alwin Komolong. This is a tough team. Technically skilled, physically strong, always up for the match. Don’t worry about anything other than the result and chill in the knowledge that The Woodsman is on his way to raise the bar for game two and by the third game the likes of Joe Bell, Libby Cacace, and Nando Pijnaker will all be good to go. The wheels are in motion. The quest has begun.
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