Evolving door for All Whites
There was tension in the air in Cairo late on Saturday night – but everything worked out in the All Whites’ favour.
After New Zealand’s 1-0 loss to hosts Egypt in their semifinal at the ACUD International Cup on Friday, local time, they had to wait 24 hours to learn their opponent in the playoff for third.
Would it be Croatia, runners-up at the 2018 World Cup and semifinalists at the 2022 FIFA World Cup? Or would it be Tunisia, who exited their most recent major tournament, this year’s African Cup of Nations, winless after the group stage?
As expected, Croatia ultimately prevailed. What wasn’t expected was that they would need a penalty shootout, which they won 5-4 after the second round of sudden-death.
While a clash with the team ranked No 10 in the world by FIFA would have been a big deal for the All Whites, it’s not what they need right now.
They would have found themselves defending like Tunisia, who mustered just 30% of possession and took four shots to 14, and they would have gained very little.
World No 103 New Zealand’s big workon – the next step in their evolution, as coach Darren Bazeley and influential midfielder Sarpreet Singh put it after the defeat against Egypt – is turning the good football they are playing in the middle third and much of the attacking third into shots and goals.
Though world No 41 Tunisia will still be a tough opponent to break down they are likely to have a much better chance of beating them than they would have had against Croatia.
The All Whites took four shots to Egypt’s 10 as they lost courtesy of a questionable first-half penalty, which was one of the home team’s three shots on target to New Zealand’s one.
“We do play some good football,” Singh said afterwards, “but now it's about converting that good football into goals. That's the next step in the evolution of our team.”
His comments were echoed by Bazeley, who said: “We're obviously very disappointed to have lost the game. We came here wanting to build on our performance last time (in a 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland in November).
“There were moments in the game where I thought we played some good football. We’ve got in some good areas and created some pretty good chances and just didn’t have that final moment where we could put the ball in the back of the net.’’
Hay joins Auckland FC
Former All Whites coach Danny Hay is returning to New Zealand to work as an assistant for new A-Leagues club Auckland FC.
Hay has spent the past 18 months at Perth SC in Australia after electing not to reapply for his job as All Whites coach following a review.
Hay will reunite with former team-mate Steve Corica in Auckland. The two played together at English club Walsall in 200203.