New Zealand's two-decade-long wait to win a senior level football international against Australia continued unabated at Eden Park on 25 September, as the World Cup Finals-bound Socceroos overcame the All Whites 2-0 in front of a record crowd for a football match at our national stadium. 34,985 fans - the third-largest attendance to watch a football match in this country - piled into Eden Park to watch the All Whites grace home turf for the first time in five years, and hopefully witness an end to a statistic which dogs the New Zealand game. You have to go back to 14 July 2002 to find the last time the All Whites won a trans-Tasman derby, while for the Football Ferns, 14 October 1994 was the date of their last victory against the old foe from across the Tasman Sea. Sadly, while the sun shone brightly, fortune wasn't on the All Whites' side in a match which witnessed a helter-skelter opening five minutes before giving way to a spell of controlled pressure from Danny Hay's charges. The combination play of Marko Stamenic and Liberato Cacace was particularly eye-catching as the home team worked their way into the match, the pair first combining in the ninth minute, with the overlapping fullback's cross ricocheting off Nathaniel Atkinson into the grateful gloves of Andrew Redmayne. Two minutes later, a quickly taken free-kick by Stamenic found Eli Just, whose angled pass invited Cacace to roam forward once more. His teasing cross was turned past the far post by Socceroos fullback Joel King, but the corner, like so many All Whites' set-pieces in this match, went unrewarded. Riley McGree - the pick of the Australians in a rugged encounter - stung the gloves of Oli Sail soon afterwards, before the All Whites suffered an injury setback when Chris Wood copped a blow to the ribcage from solidly performed central defender Thomas Deng. The team's talisman was able to continue, albeit briefly - he was substituted just after the half-hour mark, much to Wood's evident dismay. Wood had returned to the field after his initial treatment when concerted Kiwi pressure on the left culminated in a slick interchange between Stamenic, Cacace and Just - despite the interventions of McGree along the way - and a cross to Wood, who controlled the ball neatly but saw his volley on the turn deflected over the bar by Deng. Halfway through the first half, the All Whites went desperately close to breaking the deadlock. Again, Stamenic was central to the action, linking with Cacace, who jinked inside before slipping a pass into the stride of Just outside him. His driven cross ricocheted off two defenders and was pounced on by Redmayne before Wood had the chance to capitalise on the opportunity. Matt Garbett then set off on an enterprising run through midfield before stinging the gloves of Australia's goalkeeper with a twenty-yarder, the last threat on goal offered by the home team before Wood's premature but enforced departure, Ben Waine taking on the task of leading the line. His first involvement earned the All Whites a free-kick just outside the penalty area, but Bill Tuiloma's set-piece delivery was wasteful, to put it mildly. For a team which struggles to score goals against non-Oceania opposition, opportunities such as this one can't afford to be spurned so easily. Just tried to make amends by taking on all-comers in a swashbuckling run from halfway in the 37th minute, but the end result was predictable, and resulted in an Australian counter-attack which earned them a corner. McGree's delivery wasn't as well dealt with by Sail as he would have preferred, but his defenders came to his rescue, in particular Winston Reid, on the occasion of his final appearance in a New Zealand shirt - he retired from international football after this match. Both teams spurned chances to break the deadlock in the dying minutes of the first half. Cacace sent Garbett galloping through in the 42nd minute, and he nutmegged an opponent before scything past two more into the penalty area, where his progress was curtailed. The ball broke for Stamenic, however, and he sent a twenty yarder sizzling over the bar. From the resulting clearance, the Socceroos should have scored, without a shadow of a doubt! Connor Metcalfe outbattled Joe Bell in midfield before

playing the ball into the stride of Mitch Duke, who drew Sail out of goal before setting up Marco Tilio for what should have been a tap-in. Unbelievably, the Socceroo fired wide from inside the six yard box with the goal at his mercy … such misses could well cost the one missing them a World Cup squad spot. Australia began the second half in far more aggressive fashion, Mathew Leckie and McGree combining to present Tilio with the chance to make amends for his miss in the 52nd minute. Sail parried this effort to safety, but was powerless to prevent the Socceroos from opening the scoring two minutes later. McGree loomed large on the left this time before linking with Metcalfe, whose inviting cross found Duke soaring over all-comers to power home a header from eight yards, much to the dismay of the crowd. The visitors were delighted, of course, and looked to build on their hard-earned advantage in the 57th minute. Tilio's deft lay-off invited the overlapping figure of King to charge down the left before fizzing in a low cross which was foiled by Sail, as gold-shirted players arrived beyond him looking to exploit the opportunity. The visitors gave debuts to substitutes Ryan Strain, Cameron Devlin and Jason Cummings just after the hour mark, but before they had got up to speed, Waine outmuscled an opponent in midfield, allowing Garbett to take control and bring Stamenic into play once more. He teamed up with Alex Greive, but the substitute's shot was blocked, as was that of Cacace as he looked to ram home the rebound from twenty yards - the first New Zealand attack of note since the interval. The next came in the 68th minute, Waine forcing an error from Harrison Delbridge which presented Greive with a shooting chance. But he shot straight at Redmayne … the collective groan was palpable, and was repeated three minutes later as the All Whites squandered another gilt-edged opportunity. Bell and Tim Payne teamed up with Waine, who engineered some space on the right from which to deliver a quality cross to the near post. The flight of the ball completely deceived Redmayne, but not Garbett, who arrived on cue but mis-directed his header past the post with the goal yawning invitingly in front of him. A Tuiloma free-kick thirteen minutes from time offered much but delivered little, and prompted an Australian response which decided the contest firmly in their favour. Another Socceroos debutant, Garang Kuol, dashed down the right towards goal in the eightieth minute before setting up Cummings for a shot. Sail's brilliant parried save saw the ball rebound to McGree, whose drive was blocked by Cacace. The rebound off his arm fell to Cummings, whose shot hit the crossbar, but as he hit it, Japanese referee Yusuke Araki was blowing his whistle and pointing to the penalty spot, then booking Cacace for handball. Cummings sent Sail the wrong way from the spot - 2-0, to which the crowd's collective reaction was that of a punctured balloon, from which all the air dissipated swiftly. They rallied briefly as the All Whites piled on the pressure late on in search of a consolation goal, but a combination of resolute Australian defending and crosses which just failed to find their intended targets meant the masses would head home disappointed with the outcome of another trans-Tasman tussle. This one had special meaning, however, part of a two-match series marking a century of international football action between New Zealand and Australia. Sadly, the good guys once again failed to emerge on the right side of the ledger on this occasion, the 66th clash between the All Whites and the Socceroos ending with the visitors triumphant for the 42nd time. All Whites:     Sail; Tuiloma, Reid (Boxall, 74), Pijnaker; Payne (Roux, 74), Stamenic, Bell, Cacace; Garbett (Old, 74), Wood (Waine, 32), Just (Greive, 56) Socceroos:     Redmayne; Atkinson (Strain, 62), Deng, Delbridge, King; McGree, Genreau (Devlin, 62), Metcalfe (Baccus, 82 (booked, 88)); Leckie, Duke (Cummings, 62), Tilio (booked, 70) (Kuol, 72) Referee:     Yusuke Araki (Japan)