New Zealand Edge Closer to South Africa 2010

October 13, 2009

‘If they (New Zealand) can come back from Asia (Bahrain) with anything better than a two goal deficit then they can sneak a victory on home soil’ is what I wrote in my first article. Over the weekend, New Zealand duly obliged. As with some good goalkeeping, solid defence and awful finishing, Bahrain were held at bay for the full ninety minutes and Ricky Herbert’s men escaped with a 0-0 draw.

I did not see the match, I must confess, the glamour of a trip to Milton Keynes to watch my beloved Walsall proved too much of a temptation, that, and only being able to watch the game in a Walkabout pub on a Saturday night in central London, with drunken, arrogant, smug (and already qualified) Australians for company. This, for some reason, did not really appeal to me.

As a result of my trip to Milton Keynes, it is difficult to write a match report, but I will try, based on reading others match reports and watching footage from You Tube. Of the two match reports I read, it was very clear that Bahrain were the better team. ‘A heroic defensive display (from New Zealand)’ read one report, and when you consider that comes from the official All White’s website then it is clear who was making all the attacking moves. Myk Cameron, a Kiwi fan on Google Groups, backed up this report, as he wrote ‘We were a bit lucky to come away with the draw.’ He also goes onto list the highlights from the game, with nearly all the chances falling to Bahrain.

The clips I have seen on You Tube prove these two reports to be accurate, but it also leaves me with a little optimism as despite Bahrain creating most of the chances they were half-chances at best. The good chances Bahrain did have, were missed woefully and showed up the fact that either of the teams who make it to the finals, will struggle to get a point or a goal in any of their games.

What did stand out from the reports was how good Ryan Nelsen was at the heart of the defence. He is arguably New Zealand’s only true international class defender, that is someone who performs regularly well for a top flight team in Europe. He will have to be at his best to repel the Bahrain attack in the return leg if he wants to fulfil his dream of playing in a World Cup Finals for New Zealand, however.

Despite having been outclassed in the first leg, I have maintained throughout my reports that New Zealand will be there in South Africa in 2010 and I see no reason to change my original prediction of New Zealand to be victorious.

The return leg kicks off at 07:00am our time on the 14th November. I will make an effort to watch it this time, and hopefully enjoy wiping the smiles off the hundreds of drunk, smug Australians.

Robert Davies

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