For roughly ninety-percent of the game against Sweden in Stockholm, the All Whites held their own. There was some impressive football on display, particularly in those midfield areas, and they certainly didn’t look like the rank underdogs that rankings and reputations suggested they should have been. In fact for about half an hour it genuinely felt like they might even get something out of this game. Sadly, international football doesn’t allow for ten-percent wiggle room so they lost 4-1.

It’s annoying because the scoreline doesn’t seem like a proper reflection of the match... although perhaps it sneakily is because the seven minute blitz of ruthless finishing from attacking transitions that won this game for Sweden didn’t come about accidentally. They’d shown from the start that they would be pressing high in search of those exact moments and while the All Whites withstood it for most of the first half they simply weren’t good enough to survive the whole way. With a 3-1 lead at half-time, Sweden then sat back a little more and successfully prevented the AWs from retaliating... before scoring again on the runaway with about thirty seconds of injury time remaining.

That’s how it goes against top level teams. You might be going toe-to-toe but one lapse and they’ll punish you. Make that three lapses in the last ten minutes of the first half and they’ll absolutely bury you. You know what though? That’s a lesson that this All Whites team still needed to experience first-hand. One of the problems they had in that Costa Rica playoff game was that they hadn’t really played anyone of a World Cup calibre since the previous cycle. A large portion of this current squad are still young, still early in their careers, having come through the U20 World Cup (2019) and the Olympics (2021) together. Between the Olympics and the intercontinental playoff their opponents were: Curaçao, Bahrain, The Gambia, Jordan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Solomon Islands, Peru, Oman... and then Costa Rica. Not exactly primetime stuff.

Which meant that when New Zealand played Costa Rica it was a steep step upwards. A standard they’d not yet become accustomed to, beyond anything they’d faced in their preparations. Not for lack of trying, as the pandemic caused proposed games against England and Belgium to be canned, for example, but all the same it was an issue. Hence why they need games like this one against Sweden. Hence why, in this one against Sweden, they came up short. It’s a learning curve.

That’s also why it makes sense to focus on the eighty-odd minutes in which the All Whites were pretty good. Rising to the challenge, they completed just as many passes as one of the better European nations. They were winning the ball in the midfield. They created some good chances, particularly in the first half. It wasn’t a complete performance and that ultimately cost them... but there was enough there to think that the gap is shrinking between Aotearoa and some of these World Cup regulars.

The fears of a back five versus a back four were overblown – the All Whites have the players available to keep an attacking mindset with a five (whereas Bazeley’s U20s team recently did not) – but it was still preferable to see Darren Bazeley lean on that 4-3-3 shape again. Granted, not quite the same as we saw in the win against China. This was with the downward pointing triangle midfield rather than the upward pointing triangle midfield. In other words, a six with two eights rather than two eights with a ten. Joe Bell sat behind Marko Stamenic and Matt Garbett. Ben Waine got the nudge up top. Tim Payne started at right back. It was all pretty standard selection stuff considering the players available.

Sweden, on the other hand, went with their reserves as they rested key players for the upcoming European Championships qualifier against Austria. However a nation like Sweden has more than eleven good players so the drop-off wasn’t drastic. Plus these back-ups all had something to prove and we saw that straight away with a high press making the kiwi defence look uncomfortable (bit more dynamic than Michael Boxall and Bill Tuiloma usually see in the MLS to be fair). Luckily Joe Bell was a man on a mission in front of that defence and with mobility up top that quickly led to a lovely sixth minute goal from Callum McCowatt, brilliantly assisted by Matthew Garbett.

CMC’s first touch nearly got away from him only to end up sucking the keeper just far enough out to slip it past him for a second international goal – following on from a strike on debut against Ireland in November 2019. The only two players with more All Whites goals in this current squad are Marco Rojas (5) and Bill Tuiloma (4). McCowatt scored six goals in his last eight appearances for FC Helsingør (with a few assists in there too) and now he’s carried that hot form on for his country.

For about half an hour it really did feel like the All Whites had a chance to do something special. But then came the collapse at the end of the half, all from self-inflicted mistakes. The first goal from Jesper Karlsason came about as Eli Just hesitated while collecting the ball on the sideline facing his own goal. Michael Boxall could’ve given him a better angle. He could have had a better touch himself or been stronger against the challenge. What happened instead was he rushed a pass infield to Bell who couldn’t control it and then bang it was 1-1.

That messy moment didn’t come out of the blue, it was always threatening to happen. The cool thing was the All Whites responded really well to the setback. Straight after conceding they had a nice spell of possession in the other half and very nearly retook the lead with Libby Cacece volleying one over with his right foot. It’s a trick we’ve seen from him a few times and when he learns to keep those down he’s going to destroy goal nets all around the planet (but especially in Italy).

Unfortunately Tim Payne was then snapped in possession and Bill Tuiloma got caught in two minds as to whether to attack the loose ball or not. He chose not to, which was fine, but then he also didn’t close down Robin Quaison as he carried the ball into shooting range and went pop into the bottom corner. Even then, being 2-1 down at the break might have been digestible. The real killer was when Garbett played a crap pass out from deep and Sweden fizzed forward in transition. Both central defenders went for the same guy leaving Karlsson with heaps of space in the area. He swept his shot home via the inside of the post and a 1-0 lead after 37 minutes had become a 3-1 deficit at half-time. You simply can’t be doing that.

The difference between being 2-1 and 3-1 down is the difference between Sweden being nervous about allowing the kiwis extra possession and not being bothered at all. With a two-goal margin, they didn’t care if we knocked it around on halfway so long as there weren’t any gaps in the defensive line. The All Whites therefore managed to even out the possession without really creating the chances they needed to get back into the match. Eleven combined substitutions also slowed the pace of the game down.

Finally, to rub it in, Sweden ran away and scored a fourth at the very end. Anthony Elanga burning Bill Tuiloma for pace. 4-1 was a harsh reflection on what was a mostly positive performance from the All Whites but hopefully that harshness helps highlight the lesson to be learned. A mistake may happen once but three soft goals in seven minutes is how you lose games like this.

By the way, the last time that the All Whites conceded four goals in a game? It was a 4-0 defeat against Portugal at the Confederations Cup in 2017. Anthony Hudson was the coach. Cristiano Ronaldo got man of the match, scoring the first goal from the penalty spot. Bernardo Silva, Andre Silva, and Nani got the others. The starting line-up for NZ went: Marinovic, Ingham, Boxall, Durante, Smith, Doyle, Lewis, McGlinchey, Thomas, Rojas, Wood.

Yeah, they missed Chris Wood against Sweden. Of course they did. It’s such massive value to have that anchor up front whom others can work off while he draws defensive attention. Ben Waine had a couple silky moments but was otherwise quiet and you could tell he hadn’t played much footy for six months. Then when Max Mata came on there were lay-offs and touches that have been golden for him in Ireland all season which suddenly became giveaways at this higher level.

The pace of the game also seemed to cause hiccups for the mostly A-League/MLS defensive crew. In particular it has to be said that Oli Sail’s grasp on the number one jersey isn’t looking too sturdy at the moment. He couldn’t do much about the one that went in off the post but all three of the other goals were within his range. Might be a bit much to expect him to have saved them all... but to have saved none of those three looks poor. He got a big hand on the first goal, was beaten near post for the second which seemed to go under his reach, and the third was a rocket but again it was within his frame. We’ve seen him save those before... but he’s not coming off his best Wellington Phoenix season (his worst as a starter, actually) and has yet to deliver what he’s capable of for the national team. That mistake against Oman. The mix-up for the Tommy Smith red card versus China. It wouldn’t be a shock, nor would it be at all unfair, if Max Crocombe or Nik Tzanev got a go against Qatar.

For the most part, the blokes that looked like they were clinging on were those A-League and MLS ones. Some of them still did quite well (always impressed by Michael Boxall) but you could see it was a step up from what they get from their club footy. Meanwhile the guys who looked comfortable were the top flight European club lads (makes sense, right?). Joe Bell was superb. He captained the team in Woodsy’s absence and was the best on the park for the NZers. 86% passing accuracy, five tackles, more touches than any other All Whites player. Always getting a foot in and usually poking the ball loose. Lovely stuff. Even on a lesser day for him, Marko Stamenic still exuded quality. Libby Cacace was strong as always. Callum McCowatt had some great moments, especially in the first half. And don’t forget that this was a team without Chris Wood, Sarpreet Singh, or Ryan Thomas.

That’s pretty much where we’re at these days. The talent is there, bursting through, but it takes time to mould a team out of it. Getting games like this are part of that process. Finding a decent head coach is also part of that process. Letting the best players unfurl their club careers is also part of it (and an undercover narrative of this tour is that many of these lads are coming off seasons where they’ve met their first extended stumbles/hurdles as professional footballers). They shouldn’t have lost 4-1, they were better than that. But the fact that they did is also part of that process.

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