Close call: Marinovic helps keep Peru at bay
It was the save that saved the day for the All Whites.
Goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic scrambled back to stop the ball just centimetres before it crossed the line in the seventh minute, after a breakdown in communication between Winston Reid and Tommy Smith saw Peru striker Jefferson Farfan dart between the two defenders and get a toe to the ball.
But Marinovic was able to race back in the nick of time to claw the ball off the line. It would have been a horror start for New Zealand if they had conceded an away goal so early on in the game.
‘‘I was a bit gutted I didn’t deal with it earlier but I had to do what I had to do, to get back to the line,’’ Marinovic said.
Reid was a relieved man after Marinovic’s vital save, admitting that the All Whites would have conceded that goal on ‘‘another day’’.
‘‘The ball went over our head. It was in between me and Tommy and then the bounce took it straight into us. Lucky for us, Stef came back and got it off the line,’’ Reid said.
Marinovic was called into action again, in the second half, when Aldo Corzo sent a powerful header towards goal from a corner kick. This time, the Vancouver Whitecaps shotstopper was able to palm the ball over the bar.
The 26-year-old said the job is ‘‘half done’’ by drawing 0-0. Now the All Whites head to Lima, needing a scoring draw or victory to confirm qualification to the World Cup.
‘‘We can’t be too content with that. We’re not ecstatic about it,’’ Marinovic said.
‘‘We would have loved to have got a goal but we go to Peru with a really good chance of making it the World Cup.
‘‘I felt defensively we were really solid and we’re going to take that into the next game and see if we can get an away goal, which puts the pressure on them.’’