All Whites 2-0 Fiji: Same Score, Different Story
A much better performance, you reckon? A better style of footy, better goals? Sure… but the score-line was exactly the same. Maybe they loosened up in front of their own fans, probably given a little more licence by the occasion and also by the fact they’d gotten a good result over in Lautoka, but it was still another 2-0 win.
This is pretty much the deal with international footy in Oceania. The difference between home and away is huge and the difference between New Zealand and a country like Fiji is not as far as most people think. Sure, we’ve got the pros so we should always win, but that Fijian team have a new coach in Christophe Gamel who’s pedigreed from the Paris Saint Germain system. They’re not a one-man team beyond Roy Krishna either.
Fiji can’t stick with New Zealand over ninety minutes in a battle of skill and technique but they can always set up to make things tough for NZ. That’s exactly what they did in both games, making sure they always had numbers back on defence and relying on the pace of a few main attackers to secure the ball up topskees. Both times the kiwis ground them down for 2-0 wins, that just shows you what they were working against.
But it’s also true that this was a much easier performance on the eye and a lot of that was probably down to a loosening of the reins. They came in with the mindset to pass the ball around more and that’s what they did. Cool. That style was always gonna be more appropriate on the carpet of Westpac Stadium. However, repeating this one last time, the way they slugged away in Fiji got the same result.
Add those together and the All Whites are booked through to the final of Oceanian World Cup qualifying. As well as that they’ve got the Confederations Cup on the distant horizon, with a few friendlies on the calendar in preparation. Forget about the grating games in the Islands and to be honest forget about this one too – Anthony Hudson’s All Whites reign will only be judged on how they do against better teams, not weaker ones. The Confederations Cup and, supposing they make it, the intercontinental World Cup playoffs. Those are the ones that matter. Not these performances (and definitely not disqualified under-23 results).
Rightio, Bill Tuiloma was suspended after getting another yellow last game and Chris Wood wasn’t feeling 100%, so that was good reason for a few switcharoos. As predicted, Ryan Thomas and Tommy Smith came back into the starting team having played off the bench last time too. Smith in for Tzimopoulos and Thommo in for Tuiloma. Shane Smeltz was a readymade replacement for Chris Wood.
Oh and Huddo did that thing where he swaps his wingbacks. No dramas there either because that’s a tough position to play within this formation. You’re covering so much ground – we saw Antonio Conte swapping his wide defenders at the last Euros for the same reason and Hudson has done this before – which meant Tommy Doyle on the left and Dane Ingham, the youngblood, on the right. A debut for the Brissie Roar teenager; getting on the field before his older brother too. Guts, bro.
A bit frustrating to lose Woody but with the season he’s having for Leeds, it really is best to play things safe in a mostly meaningless qualifier. Plus Shane Smeltz had a really strong game in his wake and given how reliant this team has become on Wood in the last 12-18 months, they could hardly score a goal once he left the Nations Cup squad, it’s not the worst thing to give him a slide here or there. See what else we have in case he’s ever injured for a big one.
Plus we had Ryan Thomas starting. Now, you’ve probably read the headlines, hell you probably watched the game. For all I know you were there in the crowd, waving your #WengerOut banners. So you already know that Thommo had a quality game. Here is where that comes into sharp focus because Thomas was absolutely magnificent, this was the very definition of a breakout performance. Everyone knows Winston Reid and Chris Wood, most people have heard of Tommy Smith… for various reasons. Marco Rojas, Bill Tuiloma, anyone who plays for the Phoenix. There are some famous All Whites in this team. And Ryan Thomas is very arguably the third most talented of the lot of them, without a doubt he’s in the top five. Look at his movement off the ball. Look at that first touch he has. Look at the classy way he brings others into the game.
If he’d played more for the national team in the past then he’d already have that reputation but at least now he’s had this game to prove himself. The lad’s pretty brittle so injuries have ruled him out in the past, missing the Nations Cup and the American tour, but he’s appeared in all four of the team’s latest games.
In the 17th minute Thommo linked up with Clayton Lewis on the edge of the box. It was Thomas’ sharp feed to Lewis, with the defence playing for a switch out wide, that started the move and his run into the box on the end of it created something magical. Lewis laid it back, Thommo took the most sumptuous first touch you’ve ever seen in his stride and passed it back with Lewis then cutting one back which Thomas shot on target but was saved. It was superb football.
Lewis also had one of his best games in a white jersey, continuing on from a strong club season with Auckland City and a solid outing on the weekend too. It was his cross a few minutes later that Tommy Smith nodded off the crossbar. Mate, Smithy is a step above as well. Just the vision and composure at the back to play the whole field in front of him with the ball at his feet. His defending wasn’t tested too often but that’s because he did his job. With Andrew Durante playing two fine games here as well, it’ll be interesting who plays that third central defence role at the Confeds. Smith and Reid are locks if fit, Dura is presumably up against Boxall (also solid here), Tzimopoulos and maybe Brotherton for the last gig.
The All Whites nicely bossed possession and had the game in control. Thus the goal duly came in the 28th minute and it was glorious. Just after a graphic had popped up on the telly screen that the AWs were leading the ‘balls in the box’ stakes by 17 to nil, Shane Smeltz got the ball through the middle, on the end of a nod down, and laid it off perfectly – just silkily perfectly – to Thommo who smoothly put his right boot through it and dispatched the ball into the bottom corner.
Muy bonita.
Smeltz couldn’t quite get on the end of a Rojas cross, then he did get the noggin on another one but with no power on the cross or the header it was as simple save. He and Thomas were getting into some superb positions and with Mike McGlinchey pulling the strings from a deep midfield role, usually Tui’s role, they were seeing plenty of ball in those areas too. Always guys linking up and running off them. Lovely stuff.
Shout out to Dane Ingham too. Gotta say it was a surprise when he was named in the squad but when you hear nothing but good things about a bloke in all the write-ups then those nerves quickly disappear. It wasn’t much of a shock when he was named to start and for a young guy he was really good. Some fine touches on the ball, he made plenty of track down that right flank and didn’t panic when he got into good positions… which he did often. He was helped by how compact the Fijian defensive group played but still. Kip Colvey, Liam Graham, Matt Ridenton and Louis Fenton have all started games at RWB under Hudson. Storm Roux played there in a back four early on in the Hudson Era. Mike Boxall plays there for his club team (though again in a back four – and he’s been a regular CB for NZ). It’s a position that nobody’s really nailed down yet and Dane’s got himself a chance at it.
The second goal was equally pleasant on the eye. Lots of passes (presumably there’ll be a NZF tweet counting exactly how many) and lots of patience. Guys dropping in and out of space, dragging defenders around – especially Marco Rojas who weaved it all together – and suddenly the ball was spread wide to Doyle in heaps of space. He drove it in behind the defence where Thomas had made a great run and the Zwolle midfielder made it 2-0.
Jai Ingham got a run off the bench, as did Alex Rufer and Moses Dyer later on. So that’s the Ingham Bros locked down for New Zealand, they’ve played in an official FIFA tournament game and there’s no going back now. Jai admitted himself afterwards that he was a little sloppy, though we’ve seen more of him for the Melbourne Victory to know what we’re in for there. Dane was good, already mentioned. Sweet as.
It coulda been more than two. In the 73rd minute that graphic came up again and it now read 44 to 8 in terms of crosses made. Split evenly at 23 from the left and 21 from the right. This is a team that looks to swing the ball into the penalty area, that’s a trend that’s stuck with them in the minor and the major games both. Chuck in some of these extra talents though and that killer stuff through the middle becomes possible too. Rojas squared a free kick low to McGlinchey whose shot was deflected wide. Shane Smeltz had one in the net but the flag denied him (rightly so, though it was close). Eventually the whistle brought an end to it at 2-0 and job done.
Which is where this thing ends too. That’s four consecutive clean sheets for the All Whites with Andy Durante the only ever-present across the backline. In 90 minutes here Fiji never even came close, it’s hard to even remember Stefan Marinovic touching the ball for anything other than a goal kick. Twice the Fijians got close in the first half and didn’t have the confidence to try and create anything, dudes taking long-ass hopeful strikes from Hollywood range. Roy Krishna had this one in the middle of the second half where he held the ball up and dragged it back, carried it forward again looking for space and then turned back again still without support. By the time he had anyone to pass to there were seven kiwis back and defending and the move had already died. Mike McGlinchey was fabulous as a passer out of the base of midfield. It was just a solid game, you know. They took on a difficult but weaker team and they ground them down again, in a different way.
Next time we see the All Whites they’ll be shifting focus towards that Confederations Cup and that, ladies and gents, is when we really get serious. This is the end of the formative stage. I’ll see you on the other side.