All Whites’ legs to be tested
It would be easy to forget the All Whites have a big game tomorrow night.
That is especially so when all the talk seems to be about November, and a potential playoff against a South American team for a place at the 2018 World Cup.
To get to that, however, they have to win the home-and-away tie against the Solomon Islands that starts tomorrow at QBE Stadium in Auckland, and continues next Tuesday in Honiara.
With November in mind, fitness has been the watchword. Fitness is why Bill Tuiloma and Clayton Lewis aren’t with the squad this week. Fitness is why Dane Ingham was sent home after failing tests on Monday.
And fitness is why November won’t be like June and the Confederations Cup, where the All Whites didn’t live up to the expectations they had set themselves, or so they hope.
‘‘We have to be at our best in every single area. If we’re not at our best in every single area, we won’t beat the biggest teams in the world, and that’s what we’re working towards,’’ coach Anthony Hudson said this week.
‘‘Physically we have to be at our best in every position, and tactically, and in every other department. And we’re not far away.
‘‘I’m not changing what I’ve said since I’ve been here, we’ll be ready by November.’’
In November, every potential All White will be at least a month into their club season, rather than at the end of it or well past the end of it, as they were in June, or only just beginning it or yet to begin it, as they are now.
And the hope is that with everyone at peak fitness, they will be able to take their best results in recent times - a pair of 2-1 losses to Mexico, in June and last October and go that little bit further.
Mexico are as good a proxy for what awaits the All Whites (or the Solomon Islands) in November as any. They are 14th in the Fifa rankings, which is around the level of the seven South American teams still in the running for the playoff - Argentina (3rd), Chile (7th), Colombia (8th), Peru (15th), Uruguay (17th), Ecuador (32nd), and Paraguay (40th).
Hudson is enthused whenever he talks about the most recent loss to Mexico, which was at the Confederations Cup in June.
‘‘We went 1-0 up and created more chances than New Zealand had ever created against a top team, we were the more dominant team in that game, and if we were able to sustain that level of game for longer, then we have a great chance,’’ he said.
Whether attaining that level of fitness is possible, and whether it leads to improved performance, will only be known in November, should the All Whites get there.
For now, it’s the Solomon Islands they must deal with, and who they should deal with, comfortably, if history is any indication - they have never lost in 10 meetings, and the three previous games in Auckland ended 5-1, 6-1 and 6-1 in their favour.
Leading the charge for the visitors will be a host of players with experience in New Zealand, including Auckland City winger Micah Lea’alafa, former Waitakere United (and Wellington Phoenix) striker Benji Totori, and former Team Wellington midfielder Henry Fa’arodo, their captain.
Speed will be the Solomon Islands’ biggest weapon, especially in transition, but a well-organised All Whites side should be able to contain them, as they did against Fiji in March, when they eased to 2-0 wins home and away.
The Solomon Islands got to this point by beating Papua New Guinea, twice, and Tahiti, once, in the last round of qualification, following their semifinal finish at last year’s Oceania Nations Cup, and they will be outsiders, by a long way (the TAB has them at $14.50).
But they will be aware that the All Whites’ preparation has been dominated by drama and that their hosts have three players missing due to fitness concerns, and four injured - including two of their starting defenders, Tommy Smith and Winston Reid.
If the All Whites look past them even ever so slightly, November could suddenly be a long way away.