Mission accomplished. Objective complete. Level clocked. The All Whites had plenty of dramas around this OFC World Cup Qualifying tournament, shuffling their squad throughout thanks to some debatable scheduling and ending up using 29 different players, but ‘twas nothing they couldn’t handle. The lads looked composed and prepared throughout the journey. Five wins from five. Four clean sheets and only one goal conceded. Barely looked troubled at the back and consistently carved out chances to score at the other end. All of which culminated in a commanding 5-0 win over the Solomon Islands in the final.

Meaning that the All Whites will be back in Qatar in a few months to take on the fourth placed team from CONCACAF. Not sure how much you know about Costa Rica as a footballing entity but you’re probably about to find out. They do have Keylor Navas in goal. Joel Campbell used to play for Arsenal. Brian Ruiz was pretty good for Fulham and Sporting CP not so long ago. Celso Borges has over 150 caps in the midfield. Bryan Oviedo is another name. Francisco Calvo used to partner Michael Boxall at CB for Minnesota United. Former Welly Nix winger Kenny Cunningham is from Costa Rica though at 36yo he’s long since out of the picture. But hold up we’re getting ahead of ourselves with all that (don’t worry though, the Costa Rica scouting report is already in preparation).

The Solomon Island also got to the final by winning all their games, conceding more than the All Whites but also scoring multiple times in every match which is not something the kiwi team could claim. A 2-0 win over the Cook Islands ultimately didn’t count as the Cooks were forced to withdraw alongside Vanuatu due to covid outbreaks. But the Solomons also beat Tahiti 3-1 thanks to some excellent counter-attacking footy and then won their semi 3-2 over Papua New Guinea in a thrilling match. Raphael Lea’i scored in all three of those games – the 18 year old super-prospect who was once a part of the Wellington Phoenix academy.

No doubt whatsoever that the Solomon Island team posed the most significant threat to that NZ defence that they’d faced this tourney. Guys like Micah Lea’alafa and Alwin Hou in the mix alongside Lea’i. Ain’t no joke. This tournament has proved what anyone who has been paying attention already knew: there’s stacks of talent coming out of the Oceania region. And credit to the Solomons because no other team they faced in Qatar was as positive in trying to take the game to the NZers as they were. Especially that Lea’alafa and Lea’i combination on the right wing. The interplay, the triangles. Some really silky stuff.

However they had an achilles heel which doomed them: they could not deal with an aerial cross. Keeper Philip Mango wasn’t comfortable coming off his line and his defenders simply did not have the size to cope with the tall kiwi attackers. It’s hard enough trying to match it with Chris Wood but when the All Whites won a corner and up came Tommy Smith and Nando Pijnaker and Bill Tuiloma as well... damn, bro.

Hence something happened which had only occurred one other time this tournament: the All Whites scored inside the first half hour. They’d had to be very patient and disciplined against Tahiti in waiting for Libby Cacace’s 70th minute winner. The B-Team that started the PNG game didn’t score until Ben Waine’s 75th minute strike. Against Fiji the first goal came just before half-time. Against New Caledonia they took an 8th minute lead thanks to Alex Greive but conceded soon after and didn’t retake the lead until the 35th minute (going on to storm to a 7-1 win there). An early goal is always massive for the favourites in a knockout tie. Calms the nerves, releases the bad vibes, allows the team to go about their business with control. Bill Tuiloma gave them exactly that with a strong header on 23’.

Then Chris Wood struck five minutes before the break and Joe Bell scored five minutes after it. A second for Tuiloma with twenty to play was followed by a stoppage time Matt Garbett goal and there ya go. A positive approach from the Solomons but with a couple of defenders in covid protocols and the complications that arise from that, as well as Lea’i and Hou both playing through injuries, and their Dracula-level allergy to crosses... it was a bridge or three too far.

Honestly, you don’t see many games which are as overwhelmingly defined by one aspect as this one was. Any time the All Whites won a corner, it was like they’d won a penalty. That’s how dangerous they were. First goal was a Bellinho in-swinging corner from the left that was thumped home off the head of Bill Tuiloma. Second goal was an open-play cross from the right edge by Tim Payne that Chris Wood headed in. Third goal was Joe Bell scoring directly from a corner as Mango fluffed the ball through his grasp. Fourth goal was a thumping downwards header from Tuiloma off a Francis De Vries corner. You see the pattern? It wasn’t until the 91st minute that Andre De Jong turned beautifully on a deflected FDV cross to lay one back for Matty Garbett to score along the ground. Four goals from aerial crosses. Three of them headers. Three of them from corner kicks. The All Whites found a weakness and they prodded it over and over again.

Bill Tuiloma scored twice. He also scored against New Caledonia a couple games ago. His first All Whites goal came in his 27th cap with that (deflected) free kick against Curaçao so that means he’s scored four goals in his last five matches after none in 26 previously. But if you’ve been paying attention to Flying Kiwis over the last few years then you know that capital-g Goals are something he’s had in his bag for a while. He’s scored in all five MLS seasons with Portland Timbers and over the last 12 months has emerged as a genuine direct free kick merchant.

It was interesting to hear Piney say a couple times on commentary that Tui’s not the biggest bloke... because that’s something I’ve felt myself many times watching him leap up and win attacking headers for the Portland Timbers. Except that may be a point of debate. The Timbers website lists him as 5’10 which is about what I’d have guessed. However his Wikipedia has him at 6’0. Clearly there’s some Kevin Durant style conspiracy going on here.

Sidenote: Bill Tuiloma now has as many international goals as Kosta Barbarouses.

The big talking point prior to the game was how Danny Hay would manage those in his squad already on yellow cards. For some silly reason, suspensions picked up in Oceania qualifying translate into the next phase as well so Winston Reid, Liberato Cacace, and Alex Greive were all in danger of missing a prospective intercontinental playoff with another booking (yellows did reset after the group stage so it was only those booked in that feisty semi-final who were in danger... any red cards not withstanding). Feels unnecessarily harsh any time a player misses a massive tournament game because of two mere yellow cards, accumulation bans only make sense in longer league-style comps, but ah well, such is life.

It would be a risk to leave any of those three out of the OFC final, especially Reid and Cacace... but then it’d be an even bigger drama if they were to miss the intercontinental. Hence why Danny Hay gets paid the big bucks, gotta make decisions like that. Worth mentioning that Costa Rica had the same dilemma for their last last game against USA. Win 6-0 and they’d qualify automatically but that was never too likely so when their team was named with pretty much all the key outfielders rested... you had your answer and it was the same as Danny Hay’s. Costa Rica ended up winning 2-0, Aotearoa ended up winning 5-0. Rightio.

Depth has been the word of the tournament. An All Whites squad working on three tiers (second team into halfsies into first team) across five games. Already without a handful of regulars. But Hay has trusted his depth throughout so there was no reason to stop now. Francis De Vries came in at LWB. Bill Tuiloma and Tommy Smith partnered Nando Pijnaker in another back three. Tim Payne in at RWB. Pretty comfortable in calling this one a 3-4-3 formation given how high the wing-backs played. Then it was Joe Bell and Marko Stamenic in the middle with Alex Greive and Logan Rogerson offering plenty of movement around the powerful monument that is Christopher Wood.

Greive was also on a yellow... no shocker that he was the first man replaced ten mins into the second half soon after Bellinho had made it 3-0. Did his job and then they whisked him out like James Bond hitching onto a helicopter ride out of enemy territory. Probably needed that early ice bath too after the clobbering that Greive took in the first half. Chris Wood hung around long enough to score yet another brace against one of his favourite opponents but a possible second goal was (correctly) overturned by VAR for at least one, possibly two, offsides in the move. Then he was subbed with quarter of an hour to go. That’s the beauty of putting it away nice and early. No need to risk anyone.

Not kidding about Chris Wood vs the Solomon Islands. He famously scored a hatty against them in Auckland during the last World Cup Qualifying cycle. He also scored a hatty against them back in 2012. All up he’s scored nine times against them in five matches, hitting the back of the net on every occasion that he’s played them. Given what The Woodsman offers to a team you can therefore easily deduce that this aerial dominance thing that the All Whites had here against the Sols was not an anomaly.

How about them dead-accurate long switches that the back three were all pinging for the wing-backs? Pijnaker’s passing ability got a mention in the semi-final yarn but gotta acknowledge that Tommy Smith has been hitting those switches for years now. Very underrated distributor. Plus might as well use this moment to mention how often Smithy has been seen enthusiastically congratulating teammates after games this tournament like a top tier hype man. Love that. Smith remains the only player to have featured in every one of Danny Hay’s games in charge. 11 and counting. 47 caps now overall.

Joe Bell won the man of the match award which is something you could conceivably say about roughly 90% of the games that Joe Bell plays. This one didn’t even particularly stand out, such are the high standards that he sets. Marko Stamenic was equally as good. Both of them are amazing at receiving the ball under pressure and causally moving it on, not to mention how often they win the ball back in the first place. And one is 22 years old, the other is 20 years old. Cue the maniacal laughter.

That was Joe Bell’s first senior international goal. Same deal for Matt Garbett. Chuck them onto a long list of players who got off the mark for the All Whites this tournament: Ben Waine, Eli Just, Clayton Lewis, Logan Rogerson, Alex Greive, Liberato Cacace, Joe Bell, and Matt Garbett. Nice to see them spreading things out beyond Chris Wood... granted Wood still scored five times to make it eight goals in his last eight appearances. OFC WCQ Golden Boot for what that’s worth. Also Woodsy went outright third for all-time caps with this one. 65 and counting. Knocks Ricki Herbert, the coach who gave him his debut, back to fourth.

In the end it was kinda routine. The All Whites strolled after the third goal went in – one more time: what a difference it makes to score early in these matches. An unflattering scoreline for the Solomons based on where they stand within the confederation, they’re the second beat team in Oceania and you can’t argue it given they beat Papua New Guinea in the semis, but it was a fair reflection of a game in which the All Whites ruthlessly exploited one major advantage in particular. All throughout these WCQs the All Whites have refused to take a game lightly. Fully focussed. No cutting corners. It’s been a thoroughly professional tour. The lads have earned their biscuits.

Thus the All Whites are a mere ninety minutes away from qualifying for another World Cup. A one-legged tie against Costa Rica back in Qatar in June is the only remaining obstacle. Costa Rica are a strong team. Probably the best that the All Whites have played since they met Peru at this stage four and a half years ago. They made the last two World Cups and by the sounds of it they’re pretty happy with how things have worked out for them. And that’s okay. We’ll let them think that.

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