OFC Men’s Nations Cup 2024 (Vanuatu)

What a rocket from Howieson!

Didn't see that coming from Howieson.

goooaaall!!!

Nice strike

YoungHeartHM

Packed to the rafters by the looks.
Love to see it!

Also keen to see how many will be sitting on the roofs of the adjoining properties. 🤣

Suspect there will be more than a few!

Also crowded on roofs of cars in the carpark

Could be a long day at the office for Vanuatu at this rate.

My 4-0 pick already looks inadequate. 😅

Half a Pint

YoungHeartHM

Packed to the rafters by the looks.
Love to see it!

Also keen to see how many will be sitting on the roofs of the adjoining properties. 🤣

Suspect there will be more than a few!

Also crowded on roofs of cars in the carpark

Really good to see to be honest. Need to see more of this around the islands. Probably helps the cause that Vanuatu have probably never hit the heights in Oceania like they have with this match today.

Someone pointed out that we wouldn't get this level of fanfare if the tournament was being held in NZ - Absolutely spot on! We'd be lucky to get a few thousand to the games if they were hosted here.

I know it's not his real name but I keep cracking up every time he's on the ball and my brian tricks me into thinking it's heard the commentator say "Smokey Jack"

We are second to the ball and misplacing a lot more passes today then recent matches.
The crowd is leveling this a lot!

Rock Hopper

I know it's not his real name but I keep cracking up every time he's on the ball and my brian tricks me into thinking it's heard the commentator say "Smokey Jack"

He is my favourite!

Awful refereeing but man, Vanuatu look so much better in possession than last time

Rock Hopper

I know it's not his real name but I keep cracking up every time he's on the ball and my brian tricks me into thinking it's heard the commentator say "Smokey Jack"

what you get when you mix jack with Barbarouses https://ngapuhiroad.co.nz/collections/smokey-jack-bbq-sauce/products/smokey-jack-bbq-sauce-coming-soon

Falling in to their game plan -  Slowing the game down suits them perfectly fine. 

Need to find those passes in between lines, easier said than done I guess as Vanuatu are much more compact than they were last time out a few days ago against us. Still too much dawdling and too many long balls for my liking, we need to look to get back to what we've been building on these past 2-3 performances.

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

Vanuatu have been a lot more disciplined than I expected, and have also had much more posession than I thought they would.

Tired looking performance so far - A good first 10-15 minutes, as we've become accustomed too in this tournament, but as the half wore on we slowed things right down, and that works out fine for them. The passing was pretty rubbish all round to be honest though.

Still, 1-0 is a dangerous scoreline, and we haven't completely put this to bed yet. Want to see a more engaging second half though. 

Mata on for Waineo, who's been pretty much invisible up top this arvo. Randall will probably get a pretty good run at some stage too.

This is not a good game. Vanuatu are shark, and NZ are merely pretty bad. 

This game is arse

The refereeing has gotten worse the longer this tournament has been going on

imanixsupporter

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

You'd be about the only person I've ever heard that'd be happy with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. 🤨

We are giving them too many chances, granted they aren't necessarily doing much with them - but at only 1-0 ahead it only takes 1 moment for them to even it all back up

Hopefully Randall gives us some spark.

YoungHeartHM

imanixsupporter

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

You'd be about the only person I've ever heard that'd be happy with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. 🤨

I think NZF will be happy with it - why we are here, get our ratings up!

We all forget how hard the islands are - bad pitches, bad refereees, tough weather

Getting absolutely no leeway here. As always, player safety is an afterthought in the OFC

Card had to come out there.

Was gonna say that should be a 2nd yellow for that tackle. Vanuatu down to 10

Oh, shame Rufer. What a horrible dive and bullshark acting that he got his face hit. 

Who’s down to 10 here?

maynardf

YoungHeartHM

imanixsupporter

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

You'd be about the only person I've ever heard that'd be happy with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. 🤨

I think NZF will be happy with it - why we are here, get our ratings up!

We all forget how hard the islands are - bad pitches, bad refereees, tough weather

26°C and mid 60's humidity. Hardly the most confronting conditions weatherwise.

Refereeing has actually been quite decent in the tournament to be honest. Today has been a bit of a slip, but he's not been horrible.

Randall!

Nice finish Randall.

2-0 now, this should probably be enough for the win.

Other than that we haven't been good since Vanuatu dropped to 10

YoungHeartHM

maynardf

YoungHeartHM

imanixsupporter

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

You'd be about the only person I've ever heard that'd be happy with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. 🤨

I think NZF will be happy with it - why we are here, get our ratings up!

We all forget how hard the islands are - bad pitches, bad refereees, tough weather

26°C and mid 60's humidity. Hardly the most confronting conditions weatherwise.

Refereeing has actually been quite decent in the tournament to be honest. Today has been a bit of a slip, but he's not been horrible.

I think it’s absolutely awful today, definitely the worst of the tournament, but against Tahiti the refereeing was fantastic. Fair, consistent, kept control and kept people in line

Happy for Jesse Randall there. 
Puts the game to bed after a bit of a hairy moment at the back a few moments earlier.

That took a massive deflection. I was about to say that it's nice to there there's someone who can actually hit it on target but I'll hold that for now.

Wusty Wab

Hopefully Randall gives us some spark.

 spark provided!

mrsmiis

YoungHeartHM

maynardf

YoungHeartHM

imanixsupporter

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

You'd be about the only person I've ever heard that'd be happy with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. 🤨

I think NZF will be happy with it - why we are here, get our ratings up!

We all forget how hard the islands are - bad pitches, bad refereees, tough weather

26°C and mid 60's humidity. Hardly the most confronting conditions weatherwise.

Refereeing has actually been quite decent in the tournament to be honest. Today has been a bit of a slip, but he's not been horrible.

I think it’s absolutely awful today, definitely the worst of the tournament, but against Tahiti the refereeing was fantastic. Fair, consistent, kept control and kept people in line

I was just writing the same thing! I wonder if its the crowd/ ocassion that has impacted this?

mrsmiis

YoungHeartHM

maynardf

YoungHeartHM

imanixsupporter

We have created the better chances all half and we aren't looking at all suspect at the back. If it ends 1-0 so be it. Like Costa Rica in '21, we don't need to score again

You'd be about the only person I've ever heard that'd be happy with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. 🤨

I think NZF will be happy with it - why we are here, get our ratings up!

We all forget how hard the islands are - bad pitches, bad refereees, tough weather

26°C and mid 60's humidity. Hardly the most confronting conditions weatherwise.

Refereeing has actually been quite decent in the tournament to be honest. Today has been a bit of a slip, but he's not been horrible.

I think it’s absolutely awful today, but against Tahiti the refereeing was fantastic. Fair, consistent, and kept people in line

For mine, for the most part he's been serviceable, still missed a few calls and he hasn't caught everything - a few late rash challenges that could've been carded.

It's been a better standard across the board for the tournament as a whole. Still improvements to be made of course, but I'd give this bloke a solid 6-6.5/10.

I've seen far, far worse.

The score will probably flatter us a bit now

Max Mata makes it 3-0

Old has looked terrible, but these subs have proved the different between 1 - 0 and 5 - 0. Honestly, the starters were very tame all game.