All Whites vs China: The Goal Drought Is Over And The Future Starts Now
An interim manager for a friendly tour, after a six-month international break, in the first games of a new World Cup cycle. Can’t be demanding anything too drastic under those circumstances. All we really needed from these All Whites vs China games was to see these players live in Aotearoa again and for them to score a goal or two. Ideally with a couple of wins.
We didn’t get all of that at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on Thursday night but we did manage to tick all the boxes at Sky Stadium in Wellington three days later. Game one felt disappointing because of how the All Whites kinda stymied themselves tactically by playing far too sideways against a Chinese side happy to sit deep with two banks of four... yet as much as that was a wasted opportunity, you also have to give a lot of credit to Darren Bazeley and his crew for the adjustments that were made in a much better second match. Both tactically and also in terms of personnel.
A 0-0 draw followed by a 2-1 win. Bound to give them a nudge up the next FIFA Rankings with the top 100 looming – and far more importantly it’s tangible success against a non-Oceania opposition as a young All Whites core continue to grow into this whole international football thing.
The lack of goals has been a pervasive issue for this team for longer than people tend to acknowledge. The complete absence of any goals in the previous five games before this tour (soon to be six after the Mt Smart stalemate) put it into starker territory although it’s fair to say those games were also the toughest that they faced during Danny Hay’s tenure. A 1-0 loss to Peru. A 1-0 loss to Costa Rica. 1-0 and 2-0 defeats against Australia. Two of those those teams were at the last World Cup and Peru were beaten by Australia in the other intercontinental playoff. In the middle was a 0-0 draw against Oman which the AWs allegedly dominated with plenty of chances but couldn’t manage to score. It wasn’t televised though so can’t really speak to that. However we do also know it was largely a backup team selected in light of the impending Costa Rica playoff and that only Bill Tuiloma started both of those matches.
The All Whites had strong spells in all of those games so to come away with a grand total of zero goal was a very niggly issue. But even before that they were hardly rolling in them. Hay oversaw wins against Curaçao (2-1), Bahrain (1-0), and The Gambia (2-0) which were made much tougher than they could’ve been thanks to limited creativity. Chris Wood scored three of those five goals. There was a very late Niko Kirwan winner in the Bahrain game. Sarpreet Singh didn’t play that one but he did play the two games in which they scored twice – the only two times that happened against non-OFC teams under Danny Hay. Two goals twice, one goal three times, no goals six times. Makes sense that after struggling to score against similarly matches/weaker opponents that they’d then have trouble against better sides.
In fairness to Hay, a lot of his other work was very good. His team was solid at the back. Confident in possession. He was also working with a very inexperienced group which makes those things more impressive. Compare his non-OFC mahi to the fella that preceded him (we’ll conveniently ignore the Fritz Schmid era with his four games with understrength squads) and it does definitely make for improved reading...
Danny Hay vs non-Oceania opposition:
11 GM | 3 W | 1 D | 7 L | 7 GF | 13 GA | -6 GD | 3 CS
Anthony Hudson vs non-Oceania opposition:
16 GM | 1 W | 4 D | 11 L | 8 GF | 24 GA | -16 GD | 2 CS
Both of those eras are behind us now, so the question was: what would Darren Bazeley bring to the table? Baze was able to pick a pretty strong squad for this camp although his team took a huge blow when Chris Wood’s battered thigh wasn’t able to recover in time to take part, watching the first game from the bench in a tracksuit before flying back to England before the second match. No doubt there’s an NZF accountant somewhere freaking out about the wasted airfares.
Predictably, Bazeley mostly stuck to the Danny Hay formula in Auckland. The 5-2-2-1 formation simply continued where they’d left off with seven of the previous eight games having seen back threes deployed. The shape of the front three changes, sometimes wingers, sometimes inverted tens, sometimes two up front with one behind and sometimes the other way around. But it was the same basic plan from the All Whites that we’d seen across this scoreless streak and sure enough it continued.
Admittedly that was against an unknown quantity China team, which Bazeley himself admitted they’d only had limited video scouting for. And whatever footage they had might not have been that valuable given that this is a Chinese team in transition with a new coach in place. They’re coming off years of poor results and a few boardroom scandals. Only ever qualified for one men’s World Cup. In terms of technique they’re no better than the average All Whites lad, however they did have the benefit of an extended training camp beforehand thanks to their entirely domestic-based squad. So in that context it did make some sense for Bazeley to stick to what the team knew, even if it hadn’t been working for them in attack. See what China had to offer and then adjust for game two.
China sat deep and remained organised, continually frustrating the New Zealanders who had no troubles passing the ball across the backline but lacked the movement, space, and courage to push that ball forward through the middle. Marko Stamenic tried hard. He drifted around and got plenty of touches... also got plenty annoyed at the lack of options around him. A few times Libby Cacace and Matt Garbett were there to help. But mostly it was too slow and static. Not helped by some sloppiness in their passing – Tim Payne had a couple shockers early on.
Also as cool as it was to see Alex Rufer back in a white jersey after more than three years... this one didn’t suggest he’ll be a regular any time soon. Rufer is very good at playing it simple but his control-and-pass rhythm is out of sync with the rest of the current engine room. Rufer doesn’t dribble. Nor does he go running off the ball very often. He sits and holds and controls... and there was no hint of a combination with Stamenic at all. Compare that to the second game and how beautifully Stamenic and Joe Bell linked up (or even Clayton Lewis coming off the bench both times). It was night and day. Nothing to do with Roof being poor, it’s all about fit and combinations (a three man midfield with a six and two eights might change that trajectory but with all due respect there are only a couple of guys worthy of changing things to suit their strengths and Roof ain’t one of them).
Despite all that there were still a number of chances but a combination of mental pressure from goal drought awareness and some quality one-on-one defending from the Chinese central defenders prevented them from capitalising. Can’t do much about good mahi from the oppo. Snapshots and impatient decisions in the penalty area are your own fault though. Plus it’s also not unfair to say that this particularly line-up didn’t hold an abundance of great finishers. Max Mata can put them away but they didn’t get their striker involved enough. That’s about it.
Luckily China didn’t have any great finishers either, if they did then they’d have surely won this thing. Even before the red card they were threatening counter attacking troubles. Oli Sail had needed to make a couple slick stops. Then Sail did something very silly and ran away from a backpass. An admittedly underhit backpass from Nando Pijnaker but a backpass that was always intended for Sail’s feet. Tommy Smith had to haul down Wu Lei in a last-man challenge. Red card for the man with the captain’s armband on the event of his 50th international cap. Guts, bro.
In a funny way the red card helped solve some of their issues. Clayton Lewis joined in a reformed midfield three which, with Joe Bell also out there (as well as Eli Just higher up) and suddenly there were passes between midfielders helping them slice through the defence. But with the man disadvantage they also had to be smart with how much they threw forward. Credit where it’s due, they showed a lot of heart in making sure they held on for the clean sheet. Shout out to Callan Elliot on a tidy debut as well. First All Whites player to debut in a home game since Myer Bevan.
Travel fatigue was an issue there. The red card happened. Conservative tactics and poor finishing instincts blunted the team further. But the response is more important than the setback and in that light it feels like the 2-1 win that followed in Wellington could prove to be a pivotal moment in this team’s development.
It began with the lovely sight of a back four. Having already seen how China play, there was no need for the third central defender. They’d held their own with a back four after the red card so might as well chuck an extra man into the midfield instead. That extra man was Marco Rojas, selected as a central playmaker. The entire front three was changed as well – Alex Greive in for Max Mata, Callum McCowatt and Eli Just in for Kosta Barbarouses and Matt Garbett.
All up, Baze made six changes so the difference in performance can’t be limited to the change in formation. Michael Boxall replaced Tommy Smith at the back. Boxall had featured late off the bench in game one and was very helpful in preserving that draw. Joe Bell also started, getting in alongside Marko Stamenic in midfield for the seventh time from the start of a game: five wins and two defeats (Peru & Oz) in those games. This is the All Whites midfield moving forwards and it might already be the best we’ve ever produced.
(Sidenote – salt to taste... but it feels like the AW’s five best players are Wood, Singh, Bell, Stamenic & Cacace. A fit Ryan Thomas would change that but we’ll not rush him. So far there have been two games in which all five were in a starting line-up: the 2-1 win over Curaçao and the 2-0 win over The Gambia. )
Even having sharp, technical players like McCowatt and especially Just in the team as well. That made a huge difference to the team’s fluidity (Just made a strong impact off the bench in game one too although the red card screwed that progress). And of course the presence of a central playmaker like Rojas with the freedom to drift and create overloads. It was a far better formation for the task at hand. It was also a far better selection for the task at hand (granted, maybe Greive and Mata should’ve alternated the other way around – Greive’s movement in that stale first game could’ve helped, whereas Mata’s hold-up presence would’ve been more dangerous in the second game when they could actually get him involved – as he did eventually show with an impressive half hour cameo at the end).
It didn’t pay off when it should’ve. Eli Just drew contact after half an hour with a wonderful burst into the penalty area. Brilliant bit of direct footy. Alex Greive took the penalty... and gently prodded it down the middle for an easy save. To be fair to AG, he was banking on the keeper diving early and he didn’t. It was a game of chicken. Who blinks first? Greive is a pretty good penalty taker, he’s shown that at various levels before, and ometimes you just miss. Hard to argue that this wasn’t partly impacted by the pressure of the goal drought too.
Also... the All Whites have a legitimately world class penalty taker in Chris Wood who wasn’t on the pitch. Max Mata has scored three outta three from the spot this season in Ireland (including a cold-blooded stoppage time equaliser). He was on the bench at the time. The two penalties that were scored during Oceania World Cup qualifying last year were taken by Clayton Lewis and Logan Rogerson, one was on the bench and one not in the squad. It’s all a bit awkward. These are the breaks you get when your luck is out.
But keep knocking at the door and eventually someone will answer. Marco Rojas struck a tasty inswinging free kick just before the break (earned by Stamenic being brave on the ball, as per) which was headed into his own net by Zhu Chenjie. Stink for that bloke. There was a suggestion of offside from Michael Boxall which may have been a bullet dodged but without the services of VAR it was never going to be spotted. And even with VAR it may not have mattered. The ball swung behind Boxall and he never made contact. With Greive lurking behind him, Zhu had to challenge for that header regardless. Nobody was negatively affected by Boxy’s presence. Happy to see that stand... but we’ve all seen them overturned before so, sure, some good fortune was involved. Overdue fortune as far as the All Whites are concerned.
It took ages for the killer blow but eventually Matt Garbett did supply it with ten minutes remaining. Joe Bell hit the superb ball over the top into Garbs’ run and then MG did the rest taking the ball down and finishing it efficiently. A genuine goal credited to a New Zealander... the last time that happened was Garbett’s first international goal, scored in stoppage time of the Oceania WCQ final against Solomon Islands (a 5-0 win) four days short of exactly one year earlier. Although there’s no need to discredit the own goal just because it didn’t get tacked to a kiwi player’s name. Still a valid goal. They all count the same.
Nothing comes entirely easy in kiwi footy so of course they then had to leak a goal with one minute left in stoppage time. Some tired legs out there, nobody tracking the runners. A couple of fellas had already shown signs of cramp so, as much as the goal pissed off Oli Sail, maybe we oughta cut the lads some slack there. Rather win without a clean sheet than draw with one.
This was a really good win too. It’s not them knocking off a top-50 team or anything but we’re not at that stage yet. Compared to recent victories, this feels bigger than Curaçao, Bahrain, or The Gambia. A bigger win than against India or Chinese Taipei in 2018. A bigger win than against Oman in 2015 (Huddo’s only non-OFC scalp).
Fact is, while this was probably only a stepping stone tour for them, the All Whites don’t have a history of beating good teams. Ambitions for this squad are much higher than this but we still should pause and celebrate the milestones along the way. A draw and a win. Didn’t concede until the second-to-last minute of the series. Two wins from two in the U23s curtain-raisers. The goal-drought monkey has finally gapped it. We got solid home crowds, bolstered by some lovely Chinese support (12k in Auckland, 10k in Wellington). Future games will require more clinical work in the attacking third, and probably better protection against the counter attack, but for now the vibes are splendid.
Seventeen players started across these two games. Twenty players were used in total – Stefan Marinovic, Deklan Wynne, and Cam Howieson were the three who didn’t feature at all (plus Chris Wood, obvs). Which means that Kyle Adams was able to match Callan Elliot by earning a debut. Subbed on in the 82nd minute of the second match, soon after the second goal. Always a special moment.
The two standouts across the 180 minutes were Marko Stamenic and Joe Bell. The potential that this side has moving forwards is built around those two players more than anyone else (well, maybe some Sarpreet Singh in there too). The way they’re both able to receive the ball under pressure, to roll through challenges, to use their bodies to shield possession, to search for progressive passes, to hunt for that ball back whenever they don’t have it, to carry the ball into space. It’s a rare midfielder who can do all those things and we’ve got two of them at the moment, both under the age of 24.
Elsewhere, Oli Sail had a howler for the red card instance, the most culpable of the three fellas, but other than that he was magnificent with presence at the back making a bunch of great stops. This was the version of Sail that we’ll need to see for the Wellington Phoenix the rest of the way. Obligatory mention of Libby Cacace being an absolute baller. And an absolute unit too... nothing new to anyone who’s been reading (or writing) the Flying Kiwis column each week but many others in the football community hadn’t seen the fella since he started bulking up in Italy. Heaps of time to hit the gym when you’re not playing that much... next season is when Cacace will get his chance to dominate Serie A. Right now he’s levelling up behind the scenes (seems like his crossing has been a big focus too).
Matt Garbett had some mistakes in the first game but you can’t deny he’s a bloke who makes things happen and that’s a magical trait to possess. Marco Rojas is similar and after a fine display in the second game the Rojnaissance Bandwagon is picking up more more passengers. There’s plenty more to come on the international stage from the man once dubbed the Kiwi Messi, don’t you worry about that one chieftain. Nando Pijnaker was solid at the back. Elijah Just had some silky moments. Max Mata did enough to keep himself on the inside track for further selections.
Remember how pumped we were for these guys to start breaking into the All Whites a few years ago? Because it’s happening. Those young dudes (built around the 2019 U20 World Cup and the 2021 Olympic squad) are now properly settling into international football. Cap counts into the double figures and rising. Would be nice to see the goal tallies rise as quickly – Wood has the NZ record of 33, Rojas is the next active top scorer with 5 – but all things in good time. Scoring once as an entire team was hard enough this tour.
The Costa Rica game happened a little too soon for an inexperienced All Whites team. Copped some bad luck along the way and weren’t able to grind it out like their battle-hardened opponents. That’s how it goes sometimes. It was a bitter disappointment but it doesn’t affect the hugely exciting team that’s steadily emerging from the All Whites chrysalis. There’s so much potential here. Even their one major deficiency (by no means the only one but the overwhelming one) with the lack of goals... let’s not forget that Chris Wood, Sarpreet Singh, and maybe even Ryan Thomas will be back to help out soon. This win in Wellington could be the game that sparks this team’s coming of age. Now if we can only find a coach...
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