All Whites hope to learn from defeat

NEW ZEALAND were given a lesson against Russia in St Petersburg. The question is can coach Anthony Hudson and his players quickly learn what needs to be done when they play Mexico next on Wednesday.

“We want to get the mentality right,” Hudson said as he reflected on yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to the hosts in the opening match of football’s Confederations Cup.

Hudson spoke of a scrappy first half, two goals conceded in disappointing fashion and perhaps a lack of aggression at times against ahome side who were “motivated, full of running, sharp and quick.”

The Confederations Cup is a learning curve for the Oceania champions. But learning and losing should not be part of the Kiwis’ game plan.

“We have to be incredibly single minded, mentally tough,” he said of his team’s next challenges against Mexico in Sochi on Wednesday and European champions Portugal in St Petersburg on Saturday.

“This tournament for us is an incredible opportunity for us to keep improving and make sure we are ready for World Cup qualifiers in September and November,” Hudson said.

“We don’t have many games like this. We don’t play many games against top opposition so this is an incredible learning curve.

“But we won’t be going into the next game using it as a learning opportunity.

“We want to prepare properly and do everything we possible can to make sure we go into that game and get a result.”

Hudson said the positives from the Russian defeat were that the players showed spirit and fight, especially after going two goals down.

But the goals were “preventable” – giving the ball away in a bad area for the first which led to Michael Boxall’s own goal and dropping back at the wrong time which led to the second by Fedor Smolov.

“There are going to be parts in there where you want to be more physical, compete a little bit more. That’s what happens when you concede goals,” Hudson said. – dpa