All Whites safely through after draw
New Zealand are safely through to the intercontinental playoff for a place at the 2018 World Cup, despite being held to a draw by the Solomon Islands.
The All Whites produced an efficient, if unspectacular, performance in the Oceania World Cup qualifying final second leg in Honiara yesterday, with a pair of scrappy goals earning them a 2-2 draw. That gave them an 8-3 aggregate win across the two legs after they won the first leg 6-1 in Auckland last Friday.
It means they will now play the yet-to-be-confirmed fifth-placed team from South America’s qualifying, home and away in November.
It was a pretty tough watch as the understrength All Whites laboured in stifling 31degC heat and high humidity.
Under-20s star Myer Bevan got his first senior international start - and goal - up front, while Themi Tzimopoulos and Moses Dyer were tasked with controlling the midfield and did an adequate job. Centre back Michael Boxall was benched due to picking up a booking in the first leg, with Tom Doyle replacing him in the starting lineup.
Micah Lea’alafa was back for the Solomons after missing the first leg with visa issues, sparking a much better effort from his side. They had nothing to lose with such a massive deficit to overcome and played well, forcing All Whites goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic into a number of good saves.
The All Whites played conservatively for the most part, opting to sit back and stay compact, but their pacey attackers and wing backs still caused problems.
Bevan opened the scoring in the 14th minute after some typically haphazard Solomons defending. Storm Roux hit the post with a shot, which fell to Kosta Barbarouses. His shot was parried by Solomons goalkeeper Philip Mango directly into the path of Bevan to stab home. Seven minutes later Barbarouses whipped in a cross which Solomons defender Nelson Sale tried to head clear, only to send the ball looping into his own net.
The match threatened to get testy soon after when Clifton Aumae went flying in on Roux with his studs showing. Referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim flashed a yellow card and stand-in All Whites skipper Andrew Durante was quick to get involved to calm his team down.
There would be nothing worse than New Zealand players picking up needless cards with the tie effectively over. At the same time, no-one wants to get their leg snapped by a frustrated opposition player, so the challenges couldn’t go on absent of some sort of protest.
As they did in the first leg, the Solomon Islands won themselves a penalty, in the 27th minute of this game, when Andrew Durante was late to a challenge on Benjamin Totori. Lea’alafa converted the spot kick.
A few half chances fell to either side before halftime, but none were converted. The away goals rule meant the Solomon Islands needed seven unanswered secondhalf goals to progress.
They got another penalty, converted this time by Henry Fa’arodo in the 77th minute, as the All Whites tired, but that was as good as it got for the home side.