NZ coach upbeat after loss
If you were expecting Anthony Hudson to be panicked, you were expecting wrong.
Disappointed but still ‘‘very positive’’ better summed up the mood of the All Whites coach after his team was scratchy and disjointed in its final match yesterday before the Confederations Cup.
While the eventual scoreline in Minsk read 1-0 to the home side, a lacklustre New Zealand outfit was probably fortunate not to lose its first full international against Belarus by more.
Ranked just 12 places below their world No 83 opposition, the All Whites were expected to be highly competitive and had hoped to take winning form into their tournament opener against hosts Russia this weekend.
Instead they looked shaky defensively, struggled to hold possession for sustained periods and created just a handful of chances in attack, with Belarus largely dominating in front of a crowd of around just 2000 at Traktor Stadium.
With only five days to make adjustments before his side walked out into the 68,000-capacity St Petersburg Stadium for the first match of the Confederations Cup, Hudson remained upbeat.
‘‘I’m obviously disappointed we didn’t get a result, but it’s another very important 90 minutes under our belt and that is exactly what we need at this stage.
‘‘It wasn’t at all one of our best performances but these friendlies are for that purpose.
‘‘We showed character at the end to try and get back in the game. The key now is to recover quickly and fine-tune a couple of things to be ready for Saturday (Sunday 3am NZ time).’’
Other than the fact they had got through three warmup fixtures with a fully fit squad intact, there weren’t many other positives for Hudson to reflect on.
The All Whites looked good in the opening exchanges, skipper Chris Wood inches from capitalising on slick interplay down the right between Marco Rojas and Kip Colvey, but soon became muddled as Belarus claimed the ascendancy.
The lone goal came in the second minute of the second half, a defensive lapse from a quickly taken corner allowing Dzianis Paliakov to slip in at the back post and score from close range.