That was probably about what we should’ve expected. A couple goals, a comfortable loss but with a couple half-chances that might have changed something. You can be frustrated with the performance but remember that this is still New Zealand and this is still the Confederations Cup.

As much as Russia shaped up as our best chance of a result, that was way truer going back the other way. Russia had to win. The pressure was on. Mexico, Portugal or New Zealand... which game did you think they were gonna target? There was a pretty big crowd at a flash new stadium. Great and glorious leader Vlad Putin was in attendance. They’re hosting the World Cup next year. And you, dear kiwi, you expected us to win?

The All Whites didn’t play especially attractively. Look, if they couldn’t do it against Belarus then they weren’t gonna figure it out suddenly in Russia. That doesn’t mean we need to agree with the long ball barrage but it does mean expectations oughta be tempered. This is how they prepared and this is how they’re gonna play. Not the most ambitious footy but at least there’s a direction.

Now with the disclaimer out of the way, it’s time to get real.

Right, so only two changes from Belarus: Smithy returned for Themi as expected and Barbarouses swapped in for Smeltz as anticipated. The lack of Tuiloma in the midfield is outrageous but, in the opening minutes of this game, the reason for that finally became clear like the sun peeking through the clouds. Anthony Hudson has criticised Tui’s fitness going way back and he obviously wanted a team that’d bring plenty of energy, lots of movement off the ball. Not so much movement into space trying to receive the ball, nah mate, but the ability to cover ground on defence.

The fact that Shane Smeltz started the Belarus game shows that this wasn’t exactly a master plan, however once Barba came in you had him, Thommo, Wee Mac and Lil Marco all buzzing around in the space behind Chris Wood, pretty much bees around a hive. Unfortunately they all also measure up with the pencil on the door frame much closer to hobbit size than human size, one more reason why silly long balls are a waste of time – it’s not too hard to isolate Woody as the only aerial threat there, short of set pieces when the defence can step up.

Ah yes and that defence. It wasn’t good. Even Mike Boxall who has looked the best of them in the friendly matches, he struggled badly against Russia. At least he usually has the pace to recover though, Andy Durante and Tommy Smith not so much. When you add in that all three made some dumb mistakes then you’ve got a backline that doesn’t inspire too much faith, sadly.

Immediately the All Whites were on the back foot, with Russia playing slicker and with more purpose… as you’d assume they would. Long ball from the kick off, Chris Wood lined up out on the left flank, perhaps not what anyone really wanted there but for a few minutes we saw the lads from Aotearoa at least rushing around a little, trying to close down dudes in possession. But they didn’t win a lot of it. Woulda been around 10-15 minutes in or something they said the possession stakes were 80% Russian so yeah.

Marinovic looked a little nervous the first couple of times he was called upon. He soon settled in nicely and would make a couple top stops to deny the hosts. Early on though it was Mike McGlinchey and Tommy Smith both clearing the ball off the line – Russia also hitting the post and getting called up for a couple very tight offsides (right calls… but still tight). Particularly worrying was that other than Chris Wood at the other end, nobody seemed to be able to win a header. Not even that back three who are usually quite good that way.

Smithy was most worrying. Everyone knows he’s had a tough season, out for several months with a back injury and although he got back in contention at the end, he was hardly a regular for Ipswich even then. Missed the last couple matchday squads altogether – probably because they were dead rubbers but watching him get skinned for pace several times here was bloody ominous given what’s to come in the next two games. But we need Smith, he’s the most talented defender in this squad. Just that we need him playing a lot better than this. At one point he tried on a few tricks down by the Russian penalty area and slipped over. Like, stumbled on his own feet and ate grass, no contact. Embarrassing as that was he might’ve saved some face if he’d gassed back to help with the counter attack that came from his mistake. He didn’t, and we were lucky not to concede again.

First goal we did concede came from Kip Colvey getting stuck trying to take the ball infield. Not like he had literally any support down the wing but walking into trouble, mate, that’s not on. Then the defence got caught playing staggered which allowed Denis Glushakov to make the run in behind and once Dmitry Poloz popped that perfect first time ball into his path it was unlikely he was gonna miss. He did, sort of, but as three guys all converged at the post the ball bobbled in off Boxall, who couldn’t do a lot else. Can’t hardly say they didn’t earn that lead either.

There is one man that deserves some unreserved praise here. Ryan Thomas was remarkable and those remarks come for things you wouldn’t necessarily expect from him. We know that Thommo is a technically gifted footballer with a strong work-rate but against Russia we saw him really throw himself around, launching into tackles and winning that ball back in the midfield. If that’s the dude we can expect when he plays in the middle then it might be Mike McGlinchey who’s more vulnerable with Billy T waiting feistily on the bench. Oh and Thommo also made a brilliant defensive clearance in the second half, clearing desperately after Marinovic had made a diving stop.

Thommo was man of the match for NZ; Marinovic was a comfortable runner up. The touch he got on the ball as Dmitry Poloz snuck through, kicking the ball away as he rushed out, saved a goal and also probably saved a penalty kick. The diving stop he made off Poloz straight after half-time was only bettered by the save he then made recovering at the near post from the rebound. Great stuff… although Poloz’s open header was pretty avoidable – Boxall caught playing way too close to Dura. Obviously this was a ruthlessly tough game for the CBs but they need to be better, they need to be more composed. Damn, dude. Where the hell is Winston when you need him?

The usual sub was made after an hour as Bill Tuiloma was introduced to bring the solidity to the midfield that the All Whites lacked by leaving him on the bench in the first place. He subbed in for Kosta, who worked hard but didn’t bring a lot of reward on the ball. Same you could say for Marco Rojas as the game mostly passed the two Melbourne Victory chaps by… though they’ll wanna make sure the hotel’s got some fluffy pillows because that pair’ll probably have some kinks in the neck from watching all those looping lobs sent over the top of them.

You don’t need another rant about how stupid it is using Chris Wood as a battering ram for long balls, you can just read that other thing we published. Suffice to say that nothing changed other than Woody being able to win a few more of the headers. You can see why they do it, it’s a safe way to try bring some chaos to the game. Headers can be tough to control and if you don’t back yourselves to create things with proper footy then putting the oppo defence in a situation where they’re more likely to make a mistake makes sense. The problem is that Wood’s the only player suited to that role and most of this team are crap at crossing. They’d be so much better with a little patience – the most dangerous they looked in the air against Russia was from those long throws coming in sideways.

Although having said that, they’re also not that far away from something good. You can see the glimpses of creative stuff in there. Especially when Tuiloma’s on, allowing McGlinchey and Thomas a little more freedom to attack, slowing things down in possession enough to allow the wingbacks to get far enough forward to threaten. With Kosta, Marco and Thomas on the field for the first hour, with Chris Wood – a fantastic poacher of a striker – also there it’s weird that they aren’t trying to fashion themselves as more of a counter attacking team. Maybe they think the early long ball is counter attacking. Dunno. After Tui comes on in these games there’s always a little more calm. Of course, I also thought/wrote he should’ve booked a starting XI role after the Northern Ireland game. Not really convinced that the extra pace and energy was used well enough to justify leaving him out, ya know? But a couple tweaks to a couple things and this could be the All Whites team we believe they’re capable of being.

Russia scored again. Ryan Thomas was beaten on halfway by Fedor Smolov who slipped it wide and then made a great late run into the box where he polished off a tap-in. Too easy, really. The midfield was caught in transition while Deklan Wynne was stuck playing too far inside. Nobody tracked the run of Smolov and Boxall missed the ball completely trying to stab at a clearance. Just put it out for a corner, bro.

Shout out to Smolov though. He was bloody magnificent, a constant threat. The Krasnodar striker has led the Russian Premier League’s goal-scoring charts for the last two seasons and is finally becoming a regular for the national team too. Putin looked pleased. Smolov himself looked pleased. Best player on the park right here.

After that: a couple decent chances. Ryan Thomas launched a great shot that drew a save out of Igor Akinfeev while Tommy Smith had a strong header from a corner cleared off the line. Monty Patterson and Shane Smeltz came on (replacing Marco Rojas and Kip Colvey) as Uncle Huddo called for his new secret plan of four at the back with a couple strikers and a couple roving playmakers. They pushed it to the end and despite having around 40% possession and playing with the confidence of a team that needed spotties to beat Papua New Guinea, this was an okay performance.

Seriously, it was. This wasn’t that bad. They were outclassed by a better team in foreign conditions who had much more to prove from this match. The style of play on show was nothing we didn’t see worse of against Belarus and nothing we’ve seen from Hudson’s Heroes over the last two years really suggested they’d play any different. Yes, there was that pair of games against Mexico and USA. You might also recall we had Winston Reid on that occasion too, though. He makes a difference – one that’s becoming abundantly clear on this tour by his absence.

They definitely didn’t exceed any expectations. But a 2-0 defeat was about what we should’ve expected as an even par result. To be honest, I lost all faith we could get a result from these games with the Belarus performance anyway. The struggle now is how the hell a lightweight midfield and error-prone defence is supposed to contain Mexico or Portugal to anything resembling their own dignity.

Umm… yeah. Not really got an answer to that one just yet.

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