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Confederations Cup Finals Beckon For All Whites
by Jeremy Ruane
The 2009 Confederations Cup Finals are just four points away for New Zealand's All Whites, after they recorded a solid 4-1 victory over Vanuatu at a sparsely populated Westpac Stadium in Wellington on November 21.
The win was their third in succession in the second phase of Oceania's FIFA World Cup qualifying group, the winner of which will represent the Confederation in South Africa in 2009, after which they'll play off against Asian opposition over two legs to determine if they will return to the African country a year later for the World Cup Finals.
New Caledonia, the South Pacific Games gold medallists, are the only country who can realistically prevent the All Whites from topping the table, their 4-0 win at the Stade Numa-Daly Magenta in Noumea effectively putting paid to Fiji's World and Confederations Cups hopes.
Those of the All Whites are well alive, however, after they produced an impressive first half display en route to overcoming Vanuatu 4-1, despite finishing the match with ten men after captain Tim Brown needlessly got himself sent-off for committing a second bookable offence in the final minute of stoppage time.
The home team began quietly, David Mulligan's third minute volley - saved by David Chilia at the second attempt - the only shot in anger fired in the first ten minutes. It was then that Leo Bertos, who had set up the shot for the All Whites' match-winner from Saturday's encounter between these teams, decided enough was enough.
The Perth-based player had a whale of a game, and twice went close to breaking the deadlock in the twelfth minute. His first raid culminated in a cross which arced just over the head of Shane Smeltz, while a brilliant solo raid on the second occasion, featuring a no-look nutmeg of fullback Jacques Nawan, saw him unleash a screamer over the crossbar from a tight angle.
Seconds later, a Mulligan corner was headed off the line by Ephraim Kalorib to Bertos, whose volley thundered wide. But you sensed that an All Whites' goal was just seconds away, and sure enough …
Needless to say, Bertos was the instigator, playing Smeltz in down the right before setting off on an angled run into the penalty area. The newly-crowned NZ Footballer of the Year had plenty to do near the by-line, but evaded Ken Masauvakalo's attentions cleverly before firing in a cross.
It was blocked by Nawan, but fell perfectly for Bertos to lash goalwards. The ball crashed down off the crossbar, and before the hesitant figure of Jean Robert Yelou could react, Mulligan cheekily poked it home between the midfielder's legs to open the scoring.
It was just the start Ricki Herbert's charges had been looking for, and gave them a platform from which they could not only achieve their ambition of merely winning, but go about doing so in style, and in a manner which their supporters would appreciate.
Even the paltry 2500-strong gathering at New Zealand's first home game in a World Cup series for over six years, a tally which renders rather embarrassing Wellington fans' pompous Tui-ad-like claims that the capital city is now the home of NZ football. Yeah, right!
The All Whites' performance steadily gathered momentum from this point. In the 25th minute, Bertos' corner saw Andy Boyens' bullet-like header blocked by a defender.
Two minutes later, Brown's cross found Duncan Oughton charging through the middle. Chilia parried at his feet, but the rebound fell to Bertos, who was promptly upended in the penalty area by Moise Poida, leaving Tahitian referee Jacques Averii with no option - penalty. Up stepped Smeltz - 2-0.
After an inswinging corner from Mulligan had hit the inside of the far post and cannoned into the goalmouth, the All Whites went 3-0 up in the 34th minute with the goal of the game.
It all started from a Poida corner at the other end of the park. Brown's clearance found Bertos lurking some ten yards inside his own half, with Kalorib on his shoulder. He wasn't for long, Bertos bursting past him at the start of a sixty-yard run down the left flank, at the tail-end of which he evaded two challenges in the penalty area before clipping over a cross.
Smeltz, his most able partner in crime in this counter-attack, had made a bee-line for the far post as Bertos buccaneered down the left, and was perfectly placed to guide home a ten-yard header just inside Chilia's left-hand upright - a superbly
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crafted and executed goal.
Chilia was called into action again ninety seconds later, his spectacular flying tip-over save denying Mulligan a twenty-five yard scorcher which had `4-0' written all over it. Vanuatu's goalkeeper then thwarted a Bertos drive through a crowded penalty area, as the All Whites queued up in what was shaping up as a rout.
The visitors reminded their hosts in the 39th minute that they weren't there to make up the numbers. A stray pass from Tony Lochhead was swooped on by Poida, whose angled pass found Fenedy Masauvakalo lurking just outside New Zealand's penalty area. Ben Sigmund came across to block his effort.
Smeltz, Jeremy Christie, Mulligan and Bertos combined to present Brown with a shooting chance on the stroke of half-time, but when the net next bulged, it was Mark Paston's goal-line which was breached, five minutes into the second spell.
Poida intercepted an Ivan Vicelich pass - a rare error from the Dutch-based defender - and worked a one-two with Jean Naprapol, a move which only came off thanks to Sigmund diving in unnecessarily.
Poida skipped past his challenge and exploited the space to the fullest, picking out Francois Sakama with a measured pass which allowed the midfielder to deftly steer the ball beyond the advancing Paston and in by the far post - 3-1.
The goal set the Kiwi combination back on their heels for a spell, and it was some time before they re-established their first half dominance. Signs of life were forthcoming in the 65th minute, when Christie's long throw-in was flicked on by Bertos to Smeltz, whose close-range effort was blocked by Chilia, the striker seeing his attempt to turn home the rebound cleared off the line by the overworked Fedy Vava.
After Oughton had fired tamely at the target following a slick one-two with Brown, Vanuatu's goalscorer, Sakama, reminded the All Whites that the contest was far from over, as he sent a shot on the turn tantalisingly over the top in the 73rd minute.
Cue the introduction of fresh legs into the home team, with Jarrod Smith and James Pritchett quickly into the action. Indeed, the former was thwarted by Vava within a minute of coming on.
Eight minutes from time, Mulligan made the game safe for the All Whites with a sumptuous free-kick, a twenty-five yard curler which arced over the wall and into the top near corner - a cracking finish!
It inspired the All Whites to come home with a wet sail, and they contrived a handful of opportunities before the final whistle. Pritchett and Bertos combined splendidly in the 83rd minute for Smith's benefit, only for Vava to intervene, while Smeltz's on-field replacement headed at Chilia soon after, Bertos again involved - he had a stormer!
Sakama rattled the hoardings just to the right of Paston's posts as Vanuatu sought a late consolation goal, an action which stirred the natives into action once more, two minutes from time.
Vicelich gathered a Lochhead free-kick and crossed for Boyens, off whose head Chilia swatted the ball. It fell to Sigmund, who steered it inside for Oughton, whose full-blooded volley was splendidly saved by the recovering Chilia - a top save in the circumstances.
It wasn't his last. That was made at Brown's expense in stoppage time, seconds before the All Whites' captain earned himself a one-match suspension for his last-minute indiscretion, one which took a wee bit of the gloss off New Zealand's 4-1 triumph.
Oceania World Cup qualifying action now takes a break until mid-June 2008, when New Caledonia and Vanuatu clash, initially in Port Vila. By then, a date and venue for New Zealand's rescheduled home encounter with Fiji should be known, a match in which an All Whites win will leave them on the cusp of Confederations Cup contention alongside the likes of Brazil, Iraq, Italy, the USA and hosts South Africa, the five countries which have secured their spots to date in the eight-nation event.
New Zealand: Paston; Sigmund, Vicelich, Boyens; Christie (Pritchett, 76), Oughton, Brown (booked 62, 94 - sent off), Mulligan (booked, 31) (Campbell, 87), Lochhead; Smeltz (Smith, 73), Bertos
Vanuatu: Chilia; Nawan (booked, 79), Vava, Kalorib (Tarivuti, 42), K. Masauvakalo; Yelou, Tomake (booked, 67) (Malas, 90), Poida, F. Masauvakalo (Soromon, 46), Sakama; Napropol
Referee: Jacques Averii (Tahiti)
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