Hudson’s promised land hasn’t arrived

The All Whites need to show some strike power.

Goals win games. That’s true, but only for the team that scores them and only if they score more goals than they concede.

That’s a bit long for a bite-sized cliche, which is probably why they just say ‘‘Goals win games’’.

The problem for the All Whites heading into the Confederations Cup in Russia – which started early this morning – is that goals have been in short supply recently.

Striker Shane Smeltz has come out with all the right noises. We’re here to win games. We’re not just here to make up the numbers. There is definitely a belief in this squad that we have goals in us.

The All Whites are right to feel this way. If they didn’t, they might as well pack up their matryoshka dolls and come home.

Looking at the stats, though, it’s hard not to feel a nagging doubt about where the goals are going to come from.

The last time New Zealand scored more than a single goal against anyone decent – i.e. a team other than one of our island neighbours – was more than three years ago, in a 4-2 loss to Japan.

Since then we’ve played 11 games against non Pacific sides and scored just six times. Those results include the recent 1-0 losses to Northern Ireland and Belarus, where goal chances, particularly against Belarus, were scarcer than Levis in the Kremlin.

Smeltz himself is one of the great All White strikers, second on the list of all-time scorers. But at nearly 36, he’s not the sharp shooter who scored goals by the truckload for Perth and Sydney.

At club level, attacker Marco Rojas has enjoyed a fruitful season with Melbourne Victory, while Kosta Barbarouses, Ryan Thomas and Michael McGlinchey are occasional, rather than regular, contributors to the score sheet.

On the international stage, though, their strike rates won’t send shivers down opponents’ spines, with Rojas netting five times in 34 games, Barbarouses three in 39, Thomas two in 11, and McGlinchey four in 45.

That leaves a heavy burden on striker Chris Wood. His 19 goals in 49 internationals is useful enough but 40 goals in 80 games for Leeds in the super competitive English championship means he poses a genuine threat against the All Whites Group A opponents provided he receives adequate service.

Therein lies another challenge. The creative possession football we were promised by coach Anthony Hudson hasn’t quite materialised and the football isn’t likely to get any prettier now that the practising is over and the results really matter.

Hudson has been hindered in his aim of a beautiful tika taka style by the same reality that’s faced managers everywhere since a buffalo bladder was first booted around the plains.

If your midfielders are not as good or as quick as your opponents’, there’s every chance you’ll lose the ball in midfield and be hurt on the counter.

So you lump the ball forward and fight for possession down their end of the pitch. If you win it, good things might happen. If not, you’re in no danger of conceding.

This tactic has worked wonders for technically limited teams such as the Republic of Ireland, Norway and Iceland down the years.

Despite assurances that we were bringing our football into the modern era, the long ball seems to have re-appeared in recent All Whites outings.

There is cause for optimism. Last October the Kiwis turned in excellent performances against Mexico (a 2-1 loss) and the USA (1-1). In those matches, the All Whites demonstrated an ability to control play and a genuine cutting edge that all the statistics listed above suggest they lack.