It was a funny old tour. Beginning with some lofty expectations of hitting up Russia with an eye to snatching a result or two, by the time we got to the Confeds the trash we’d seen in the two friendlies pretty much ruined any hope of that. Losing 2-0 to Russia was probably an improvement in performance but the hosts still did it easy. Yet then against (a very complacent) Mexico, things suddenly clicked. Chris Wood put the kiwis in front and they were damn worthy too, playing some nice footy as the long ball bollocks was appropriately punted into the stands.

Mexico came out and righted the ship in the second half and would go on to claim a 2-1 win but it wasn’t a match without its chances. On another day, with a more clinical All Whites side, that could have even been a victory. They kept up the new and pleasingly ambitious approach against Portugal… but perhaps a little too much as they went pushing for a goal already down 2-0 and a couple late bangers coming back the other way instead blew that one out.

One goal scored in three games – one goal in five if you include Northern Ireland and Belarus. Eight goals conceded at the Confed Cup. The numbers are pretty ugly but the numbers, as always, don’t quite tell the whole tale. There are some worries and some concerns but there are also a good many things to be excited with, despite the three (to five) losses. So how’s about we roll through it all, aye?

Okay the main thing here is that we learned the All Whites – shock/horror – are more effective when they don’t lump a long ball straight towards an isolated Chris Wood as soon as they win possession. They’re actually more effective when they hold possession a bit, when they work the flanks, when they give players time to get into attacking positions, when they’re able then to win set pieces in dangerous areas, when they can get Ryan Thomas and Marco Rojas involved, when they can put crosses in from width, when they can give their defence a chance to rest, when they can disrupt an opposition backline, when they can… you get the point. After two mostly awful showings in the friendlies, they finally latched onto this against Mexico and were immediately rewarded for their ambition. That’s important: to see that this more positive approach can also bring them success against better teams.

Which makes you wonder why it took so long? What was going wrong that they didn’t trust themselves to play this way in the first place and against weaker teams in the build up? Anthony Hudson had these blokes talking about beating Portugal, it’d be weird if he didn’t also have themselves believing in their abilities as footballers. It could still be a confidence thing. It could also be that they evolved into that style as a natural progression, that Hudson was always trying to coax it out of them and it just took some time. Or that he drastically changed his mind after Russia. Dunno, there’s no way to speculate what goes on at closed training sessions.

Most fans already wanted to see this from them and Hudson has chatted up a positive approach from the start – but he’s also only spent about 13-14 months with this 5-3-2 formation, beginning at the Nations Cup, with only sparse opportunities to train with his squad. What was the worst footy we saw them play? The 2016 Nations Cup. What was the best? Probably Mexico a few days ago, in the first half at least. It was always a formation meant to get the most out of the defence first and foremost so it’d make sense that it took a long time for the attack to figure it out. Just hard to fathom why we had to put up with such rubbish in the meantime.

Hopefully now we can see them playing this way against the Solomon Islands in the next round of World Cup qualification. Wouldn’t bet on it but there were shades in the home tie against Fiji. Hudson’s strangely complacent way of not being complacent against the Island teams doesn’t lend a huge amount of optimism there. He’s right though, the most important thing is to get through to the intercontinental playoffs, doesn’t matter how it happens.

Player of the tournament for the All Whites was Ryan Thomas. Followed by Stefan Marinovic with probably a Mike Boxall or someone coming in third. Each of the defenders sorta had one standout match: Boxall vs RUS, Smith vs MEX and Dura vs POR, so it’s tough to say who stood out. Chris Wood had his moments, as did Marco Rojas, but neither were as effective as we’d need them to be to get results against these teams. Good to see that combination starting to get somewhere though, the balance of the team is best with Rojas running around Wood and Thomas as the advanced midfielder.

Ryan Thomas though, he had that wonderful game against Fiji where he scored both goals in March and what a player he’s now becoming. He’s got skill on the ball, he has arguably the best technique in the squad, he can shoot or pick a pass in dangerous areas and here at the Confeds we really saw for the first time what a hard worker he is. Bugger the fact he’s little and brittle, this dude will make his tackles, he’ll win the ball. Started every game on the tour too so you know he’s first choice.

Surely Stefan Marinovic has caught the eyes of a few scouts out there. It’s a naïve bit of thinking that three good games will win over a club in the highly intricate world of football transfers but Mari’s been doing great things for SpVgg Unterhaching in Germany all season, as well as trialling with Wolves in January – his name ain’t unfamiliar. If that’s the case then reputations were only enhanced with a strong set of performances in Russia, making several fine saves and never looking anything but assured. In helping Unterhaching get promoted, Marinivic kept more clean sheets (17) than goal conceded (13) and, guess what, his club contract expires at the end of June. Any takers?

Chris Wood’s goal, as an encore:

We still have plenty of confusion about the wingback roles. Dane Ingham started twice at right back after Kip Colvey played against Russia and in the two friendlies while Deklan Wynne played twice at the Confeds on the left and Tom Doyle the other (they split the friendlies). Obviously there’s some rotation involved there, it’s a tough gig with a lot of running. But it’d also be fair to say that even if we’ve now limited things to two main options on each side (guts to Storm Roux but at least he’s back in the picture) nobody stood out above the other. Ingham got burned badly against Mexico and was picked on by Nani for Portugal’s fourth goal – his inexperience was obvious. However Hudson seems to love him and he offers more than Colvey, a steadier defender, going forward. On the other side Wynne seems the more talented of the two but Doyle’s performance against Portugal was better than anything Wynne offered. With Wynne and Colvey on the fringes at MLS sides, you’d figure their development should come quicker but right now there’s a valid debate to be had. Hey, competition for places is always a good thing.

Speaking of defensive selections, if you thought that Themi Tzimopoulos or Sam Brotherton had a shot at sneaking in then you were mistaken. Themi only played the one game in Belarus where Tommy Smith was unavailable and other than that it was Boxall/Durante/Smith the whole way. If Winston Reid is available, he probably comes in for Dura. In central defence the hierarchy is clear.

Bro, Uncle Tony’s gotta settle down about the kiwi media. The European press gave New Zealand the big ups because they were a bunch of condescending jokers who figured we’d be offering more of what Tahiti did last time. He gets a tougher time in New Zealand because we expect more – because we expect the kinds of things that he tells us to expect: not accepting defeats, not accepting trash footy. Can’t have it both ways, matey. Most managers like to criticise their own criticism though, it’s a way of taking pressure off the players and the best managers all know how to take that bullet. No real worries so long as this doesn’t become a Sean Spicer thing.

As well as the apparent change in approach, the big change was Clayton Lewis coming into midfield. For an amateur player he damn sure changed things and he was responsible for several of NZ’s best creative stuff in the last two matches. Set up Chris Wood’s goal against Mexico. His willingness to pick a pass was symptomatic of the change… he started against Northern Ireland and he definitely didn’t play like this, again suggesting a tweaking in approach there from Huddo. Better late than never, at least.

Hudson sure loves those Hugo Boss sweaters, aye?

The impact that Lewis made was blatant when it was Mike McGlinchey who was replaced by Bill Tuiloma in the first half vs Portugal, instead of the 20 year old amateur next to him. Suddenly the man who has played more games for Hudson than any other player looks a little vulnerable and, frankly, he deserves to be because the rest of the midfield options all played better. They all had more of an impact. Wee Mac’s a great player but if Thomas and Lewis are offering more as creatives and as distributors and if Tuiloma is offering more in defence then where does Wee Mac fit into a starting XI? He probably doesn’t, honestly.

Although that doesn’t make that McGlinchey < Tuiloma sub any less odd. Anytime you sub a player in the first half and it’s not injury related, that’s weird. Either it’s a tacit admission that you got your tactics wrong or it’s a direct reaction to a player not doing their job. Here it was probably closer to the first option, with Tuiloma added to bring more bite into the midfield. In the moment that’s perfectly understandable. What’s less so is why Bill Tuiloma was on the bench in the first place. Every game of the tour, all five of them, he came on as the first sub, often to aid a switch to a back four too. Tuiloma could use more match fitness, he could stand to play for a much stronger team than he is (Marseille’s reserves). But McGlinchey’s playing left wing for the Phoenix so he’s not exactly in the Champions League either. Both great options but Tui made such an impact against Northern Ireland that it was annoying not to see him starting after that. Guess it depends if you viewed his timely introductions as a valuable second half tightening of the screws or an hour-overdue correction - coz it’s not like it doesn’t help to have a strong midfielder coming on after 55-60 mins.

The back four thing, it doesn’t really work. It’d be an outside possibility of Winston Reid were there but we don’t have the players to match up 1v1 with attackers of this quality. Nice to see that there’s some tactical flexibility there, although maybe we didn’t need to switch formations to chase every single game of the tour, just quietly. Particularly the Portugal one where it backfired and the lead was doubled. Look at that Andre Silva goal and marvel at the space he’s left with, our defenders can’t cover when your fullbacks are still expected to offer all the width – especially with all the risks taken at the other end. All goods to throw guys forward and try score but maybe don’t go crazy with it. We scored one goal all tour, don’t forget.

The other thing we saw in the last two matches was a really physical side that wasn’t afraid to get stuck in or hold their ground. First into every challenge, using their usual height advantage (there are some tall chaps in there). Have to think that was part of what also inspired the rest of it. Remember that time there was almost a fight against Mexico? Haha, good times.

A selection of regulars from this tournament: Stefan Marinovic (25 years old), Deklan Wynne (22 years old), Dane Ingham (18 years old), Tom Doyle (24 years old), Kip Colvey (23 years old), Bill Tuiloma (22 years old), Marco Rojas (25 years old), Ryan Thomas (22 years old), Clayton Lewis (20 years old), Chris Wood (25 years old). Add in a few other youngbloods that are already on the professional ladder (such as 20 year olds Monty Patterson and Sam Brotherton) and you can see how much room this team still has to grow. This is the most relevant point of all – we went to the Confederations Cup looking to be as competitive as possible but regardless of what happened it was always gonna be a huge experience for so many young players on the come up.

Having said that, the All Whites are now on a five game losing streak and Anthony Hudson’s record against non-OFC opponents now reads: 13 G | 1 W | 3 D | 9 L | 7 GF | 21 GA

(and his record vs OFC teams is: 9 G | 7 W | 2 D | 0 L | 16 GF | 1 GA)

Going by the FIFA.com stats, we had 43% possession against Russia, only 34% against Mexico and 42% against Portugal... yet which was the best performance of the three? Goes to show that in the Leicester City mould, the All Whites don’t have to dominate the ball to do well – but they do need to maximise their stuff when they do have it. (The Mexico halves would tell two different stories too, btw). There’s gonna be heaps of organised defending but when they do get the footy they’ve gotta be patient with it, slow the game down to their pace because they clearly can’t sustain what a team like Portugal can do to them. Either that or embrace the counter attack. Like… pick one and commit.

The shot numbers are pretty drastic too but it’s not so much volume of shots as quality of chances. Our ratios for on-target efforts are crap because we’re shooting from distance or getting up for competing headers. The three opponents were much better because they were getting efforts away from inside the box and with defenders already beaten.

Makes you wonder what a difference Winston Reid might have made. In the past it’s been a case of ‘let’s not assume he’s gonna be available, he’s repping NZ soccerball in other ways’. If this All Whites team genuinely wants to compete with these sides though, Winnie simply has to be there. He’s the only defender we have who is used to playing at this pace and intensity. It’s not just that he’s great at winning clearing headers and organising teammates and all that, he’s also less likely to make dumb mistakes that lead to goals and you can spot something he wouldn’t have done in every goal we leaked.

Just, ah… just wanted to share this once more is all:

Not really seeing a regular place for Kosta Barbarouses and Shane Smeltz for much longer, even if both still have a fair bit in the tank. Smeltzy’s close to retirement while Barba’s close to being overtaken by guys such as Monty Patterson, Myer Bevan, Jai Ingham and a couple others. Maybe the kiwi frontline of Rojas, Ingham and Kosta will spark things up for the lad.

Imagine how buggered they’d be without Chris Wood. He didn’t even play that well and was still a key contributor. Hasn’t always been the best at dodging injuries either, although he’s a lot fitter these days than he once was. Curious times emerging for him at Leeds United too (which had best be explored in the coming weeks) – new manager, big player turnover… gonna be weird for him… if he’s still there. For other Chris Wood thoughts, refer to this from right before the tourney.

TNC Match Reports/Reaction: Russia, Mexico & Portugal.

Overall it’s hard not to be a bit positive here now that everything’s been filed away nicely in its proper context. Once their preparation destroyed any realistic notion that we might already be good enough to beat a team or two, it was easier to take what followed. New Zealand is a small country, way smaller than Mexico or Russia and with nowhere near the football culture of Portugal. The Russia defeat was about as expected, the Mexico defeat a little better than expected and the Portugal defeat slightly worse. Adds up to somewhere around even. You can’t exactly celebrate even but you also can’t be too negative. For a minor tournament full of major teams, they should be better for it, lessons learned and all.

You don’t actually expect them to make the 2018 World Cup, right?

Like the All Whites, The Niche Cache is just tryna survive against the big dogs out there. You can support us if you want as easily as just clicking an ad, good on ya chief.