The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home
250311 | 010611 | 050611 | 290212 | 230512 | 260512 | 040612 | 080612 | 100612 | 110912 | 161012 | 141112 | 220313 | 260313 | 050913 | 090913 | 131113 | 201113
201113
Mexico Bring Down Curtain On Herbert's Reign
by Jeremy Ruane
Mexico deservedly confirmed their place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals in Brazil on 20 November, downing New Zealand's All Whites 4-2 at Wellington's Westpac Stadium to claim a 9-3 aggregate victory in their intercontinental qualifying play-off.
Trailing 5-1 from the first leg in Mexico City, and urged on by a 35,206-strong crowd, the All Whites set about their quest of overhauling the deficit with a much-changed side, one laden with youth and vitality.
A debut was afforded fullback Storm Roux by coach Ricki Herbert, who, twenty-four hours prior to the game, announced that he would be stepping down from the position he has held since 2005 upon the conclusion of New Zealand's World Cup campaign.
Bill Tuiloma was given his second cap, while among the substitutes in the match were debutant Louis Fenton and Craig Henderson, another player making just his second "A" international appearance for his country.
Throw in the likes of Marco Rojas, Costa Barbarouses, Tommy Smith, Michael McGlinchey, the suspended Chris Wood and injured captain Winston Reid, and there's the core of a promising team for Herbert's successor to build on.
That is for the future, however. What confronted this team from the outset was the task of restoring some pride and credibility in the All White shirt after their first leg endeavours.
They certainly achieved that objective, beginning the contest brightly as they set about their unlikely task of pegging back this quality Mexican combination on the scoreboard.
However, it was the visitors who provided the first threat on goal, in the eleventh minute. Carlos Pena - he had a grand game - worked a one-two with Luis Montes before seeing his twenty-five yarder tipped away for a corner by Glen Moss.
New Zealand's goalkeeper then punched out Oribe Peralta's header from the resulting Montes corner, in doing so sparking a counter-attack which featured a delightful cameo of speed of feet and thought by Rojas which allowed him to evade two challengers, and race on past two more before Miguel Layun's timely tackle thwarted his progress in the penalty area.
Two minutes later, it was the Mexicans who were counter-attacking, and the sound of stunned silence which met their move at its conclusion could mean only one thing. Sure enough, Juan Carlos Medina's pass to Pena saw the midfielder split the Kiwis' defence with a pass into the stride of Peralta.
He still had work to do, with Andrew Durante sliding in to challenge inside the penalty area, but the striker executed the chance expertly, his effort ricocheting into the net beyond Moss via the outstretched leg of the All Whites' stopper - 1-0, or 6-1 on aggregate.
Naturally enough, the All Whites were reeling from this setback, but after Peralta went close with a header from a Montes free-kick which flashed narrowly past Moss' left-hand post, the home team sought an equaliser.
McGlinchey and Barbarouses combined with Jeremy Brockie, whose cross sought out Rojas. Juan Carlos Valenzuela stepped in to clear the danger, igniting a Mexican counter-attack which culminated in Pena slipping Raul Jimenez through with a peach of a pass. The hand of Moss foiled the front-runner in this 22nd minute incident.
Roux's timely tackle on Pena allowed the debutant to turn defence into attack in one fell swoop. James and Barbarouses were the principle beneficiaries of their new team-mate's intervention, with the latter's pass rewarding Brockie's angled run in behind the defence.
Moises Munoz, Mexico's goalkeeper, finally had a save to make, his first in the entire tie. He was little troubled to keep out Brockie's effort - after all, the New Zealand "striker" has yet to score on the world stage, and this was his 42nd international …
After Moss thwarted another Pena-inspired opportunity for Peralta, the striker struck twice in four minutes either side of the half-hour mark to confirm Mexico would be Brazil-bound next June, as well as complete his hat-trick.
The visitors' 29th minute strike was a superb goal. Montes played a gem of a pass in behind the defence for Layun to latch onto, and his measured delivery into the penalty area invited Peralta to slam the ball into the net without breaking stride - 2-0.
Four minutes later came goal number three for the Mexicans, a strike which well and truly took the wind from the sails of the vocal locals, who were now resigned to the fact that there would be no repeat of November 2009 four years on.
Once again, Mexico caught the All Whites' defence square, with Jimenez slipping Pena in on the left. His ball into the near post found Peralta prowling with menace, and he gleefully completed his hat-trick in style.
3-0 then, tie over. At 8-1 on aggregate, and with three of those Mexican goals being of the away variety, how could it not be? Cue the quest for more - "El Tri" weren't yet satisfied.
Layun and Pena combined on the left for Montes' benefit, but Moss was equal to his twenty-yarder. Then in the 37th minute, Layun played the ball to Jimenez, who worked a one-two with Pena which allowed the striker to surge into the penalty area and round the advancing figure of Moss before rolling the ball towards the target.
4-0, surely. New Zealand's captain, Smith, had other ideas, racing back to clear off the line before colliding with the post - an example of putting team before self which all Kiwis appreciate and place great store on, no matter what sporting code is involved.
How starkly Smith's example contrasted with that of Brockie sixty seconds later. Played in by Rojas, he went down a little too easily in the penalty area as Munoz raced out to save at his feet, with subsequent replays showing that the 'keeper hadn't made contact with his opponent.
German referee Dr Felix Brych was fooled by Brockie's dive, however, and pointed to the spot - penalty. Cue Shane Smeltz, on the occasion of his fiftieth "A" international, to … Brockie had other ideas.
Having earned the penalty, he was going to take it come hell or high water - there was no way the All Whites' foremost spot-kick specialist, or any of his team-mates, for that matter, were going to prevent Brockie from stepping up to the plate.
So they duly stood aside, and watched in disbelief as a player whom this writer has long regarded as a "one-trick pony" promptly fired a poor penalty at a saveable height, one which Munoz reached with little trouble to maintain the 3-0 scoreline.
Cue filthy looks and more in Brockie's direction, not to mention the odd unprintable word which seems to be globally understood, language barriers notwithstanding! Yet it was a case of justice served - having dived to earn the spot-kick, it was quite apt that he should fail to convert it.
And hardly a surprise, too, given his per game conversion rate on the international stage. Which begs the question - why oh why did he put self
|
before team and take it?
Oh, to have been a fly on the All Whites' dressing room wall during the half-time break. Guarantee there would have been a few choice words exchanged at this likely life-line having been so cheaply and needlessly squandered.
They still had six minutes to negotiate before the recriminations could begin in earnest, however. And in that time, Mexico twice more went close to increasing their lead.
Pena once more dictated terms in the 42nd minute, slipping a ball through the All Whites' rearguard which Jimenez sent fizzing across the face of goal - had he chose to cross and not shoot, the fast-arriving figure of Layun would have had a far post tap-in to savour.
On the stroke of half-time, a scintillating interchange of passes between Peralta and Jimenez prised open the home team's rearguard, with the latter getting to the by-line before angling the ball back into the stride of Paul Aguilar. His twenty yard drive cannoned to safety off Smith, the last act of a most entertaining and free-flowing first half.
The second spell saw Mexico ease off the pace somewhat - they'd done all they needed to confirm their name would be in the draw when it is made in sixteen days' time.
That allowed the All Whites to impose themselves on the match a bit more, and they produced some good flowing football at times throughout the final forty-five minutes of Herbert's eight-year reign as New Zealand's coach.
Such as in the 48th minute, when patient build-up play culminated in Tuiloma, James and McGlinchey combining, the last-mentioned unleashing a shot which startled Munoz, who failed to hold onto it.
Brockie failed to capitalise on the loose ball, his inaccuracy allowing Mexico to spring yet another counter-attack, this one featuring Jimenez and Peralta, who was thwarted by both Moss and Smith at the sharp end of a swift riposte.
Seconds after taking on four players down the left, Barbarouses stung the gloves of Munoz with a twenty-yarder in the 55th minute, moments after Smeltz had been withdrawn in favour of Rory Fallon.
The tall front-runner soon made his presence known in Mexico's rearguard, his towering fifteen yard header, from James' corner on the hour, being hooked off the line by Medina.
James twice fired over from distance inside the next ten minutes, before another blink-and-you'd-miss-it Mexican counter-attack saw four visiting players facing just two defenders - they had to score again, surely.
Pena led the charge, and fed substitute Aldo De Nigris on the right. He stroked the ball towards the target, only for one of the defenders, debutant Fenton, to make his mark by getting back to clear off the line, nineteen minutes from time.
Henderson entered the fray seconds later, and his first touch was a driving run across the Mexican penalty area, followed by a shot from its edge which Munoz smothered. Cue another outstanding move by the Mexicans, engineered by Layun and Medina fifteen minutes from time.
The latter's angled ball invited Aguilar to rampage down the right, and after a brief surge he sent a wicked low cross thundering across the face of goal - it only needed a touch to go into the net, and Peralta was a stride at most away from providing it.
Back came the All Whites, who were up in arms seconds later as referee Brych and his team missed a clear-as-day handball offence in Mexico's penalty area by Aguilar. Fallon, in particular, was livid, given he was a mere two yards away when it occurred.
Remarkably, the official did award the All Whites another penalty eleven minutes from time, and this time the outcome delighted all-comers … well, perhaps not the Mexicans!
James' driving run down the left pre-empted a pass through for Barbarouses, whose progress was halted by the sliding challenge of Mexican captain Rafael Marquez. Unfortunately for the visiting skipper, he got himself into a right tangle as he slid in to challenge, and a penalty for handball was almost a given in the circumstances.
Sure enough, referee Brych pointed to the spot for the second time in the contest, and this time James took charge of the ball - there was no way on earth Brockie was going to be given a second chance after his disastrous earlier effort! - before planting it in the top left-hand corner of Munoz's goal ten minutes from time.
3-1, then, and a goal to delight and reward the natives, whose support had been long and loud despite the scoreline, both on the night and on aggregate. But wait! There's more! A mere three minutes later, it was 3-2!
Roux stormed - sorry, couldn't resist! - down the left past a couple of opponents before feeding Henderson, whose lay-off from near the by-line invited Barbarouses to pick out the unmarked Fallon with a cross to the far post. The All Whites' hero of four years ago gleefully steered the ball beyond Munoz - surely they couldn't …
They certainly tried to, McGlinchey sending an 86th minute volley fizzing past the post after Fenton featured in another vibrant All Whites' raid as the home team chased an equaliser which had long been thought highly unlikely.
Alas, it was to prove so, for a mere sixty seconds later, Mexico iced the cake with a fourth goal. Escoboza fed the overlapping figure of Medina as he raced into the penalty area on the right, from where he pulled the ball back into the stride of the late-arriving figure of Pena. His display deserved a goal, and he duly obliged - 4-2.
Moss made sure that scoreline would remain unchanged before the final whistle, tipping a thunderous thirty yard free-kick from Escoboza round his near post in stoppage time, soon after which the final whistle sounded to mark the end of Oceania's interests in Brazil 2014 - why FIFA continues to deny one of its members of its footballing family representation at the top table every four years …
Mexico's delight at qualifying for Brazil was swiftly evident. Out came the celebratory t-shirts, just as they had for the All Whites four years ago. There were no such local celebrations this time round.
Instead, a lap of honour in appreciation of the fans' urgings was the order of the day, with Ricki Herbert taking his final bow after a record 67-match reign as national coach, a first-ever win over European opposition (Georgia) and, of course, South Africa 2010 the undoubted highlights of his tenure, achievements which made us all proud, and which ultimately far outweigh the low points of Herbert's time in charge.
All Whites: Moss; Roux, Durante, Smith, Tuiloma (Fenton, 50); Rojas (Henderson, 72), McGlinchey, James (booked, 88), Barbarouses (booked, 34); Smeltz (booked, 20) (Fallon, 53), Brockie
Mexico: Munoz (booked, 38); Marquez, Valenzuela, Rodrigues; Aguilar, Montes (booked, 2) (Escoboza, 58), Pena, Medina (booked, 90), Layun; Jimenez (De Nigris, 68), Peralta (Zinha, 76)
Referee: Dr Felix Brych (Germany)
|