WCQ vs PNG | Sat 19th Mar | 3:00am | SS7

Think we should chuck Ollie Sail up front and de Jong in goal. 

Best pitch OFC qualifiers have been played on? Broadcast decent.

Think the reffing is fine. 

Niko Boxall the only one so far to have enhanced his reputation for the Kiwis. 

siac

I'm unconvinced DeJong is better than Waine. 

 

in my opinion, you’re absolutely right. bear in mind Hay coached de Jong at Eastern Suburbs and is familiar with what he brings, so probably feels he can utilise his ES system using an already known quantity as a focal point.

Waine, raw as he is, is undoubtedly the better striker. de Jong naturally sits deeper, which begs the question - wtf is his role out there?

Feel that NZ carved out only 2 - 3 good chances that half. Very tense affair so far, played very direct by both teams so far.

Need a goal to settle the nerves. The longer we go without a goal, the more PNG will grow into this.

mrsmiis

Yet again, some absolutely atrocious refereeing on display

I think overall it's been ok.

As for the AWs, not so much. We're a bit crap.  Even Winnie is playing bad balls. Howieson is crap and should be watching the game on the box/web with us from Auckland.

Right, what a frustrating half, where to begin...

Overall it's not terrible from us, as we've dominated, created plenty of chances while they've made none at all, feels like we aren't clicking at times. De Jong and Garbett both have no excuse for not scoring those easy chances. We're unlucky not to lead.

Champness is good in patches but his link up play with Wilkins is terrible, De Jong is looking absolutely toothless, Kosta is dangerous when he gets on the ball. I'm not sure Garbett should be playing midfield, feels like we are missing Bell/Stamenic a lot here, even though Lewis has been decent. 

Just need to step up the intensity a notch more, finish off a chance and then we'll roll home from there. Danny needs to use his subs well. Come on boys!

I really dislike how Hay gravites to the kids he taught. There are better kiwis out there who should be in the team today over those who are out there, looking especially at those playing in the USA.

Refereeing has been niggly to be honest. They are so quick to put the flag up as if it's the default option, PNG should have had a couple more yellows, quite a few fouls not given to us. Doesn't feel like we can expect much from them this tournament. 

I thought PNG would struggle given the lack of match fitness and the fact that most of our team are pros and have been playing...

They are actually holding there own and might progress to the next round if they keep up this form.

probably doesnt help that VAR is not in play, but the 4 offsides looked pretty clear cut, we just have to be better - De Jong and Garbett should have scored and this game would be sealed.
Hay does seem to stick to his kids, but that is to be expected. Waine and Wood would have had us up by 2 at least, Singh and Bell would have made a massive difference in the middle. 
Need to come out firing in the second and make more use of the possession we have.

Marto

I thought PNG would struggle given the lack of match fitness and the fact that most of our team are pros and have been playing...

They are actually holding there own and might progress to the next round if they keep up this form.

They've been better than expected in closing down the space and restricting our movement. Helps that we don't have our best ball-players yet this tournament. 

There’s no VAR until the semifinals apparently. But all the off side calls have looked correct on the replay. The refs been a little lenient, but much better than the AWs have been. He’s got a good control of the game. I’ll be annoyed if we’re looking to be given penalties to win this game. 
Don’t know if you remember but previously against island teams we’ve been kicked in the head (Smeltzy, Paston) for no foul let alone a card, so on that scale! 
We’ve got to play a lot better. 

Are we nervous yet?

The injury to their keeper might help us- he’s played well so far.

How the hell did that not go in! 

siac

How the hell did that not go in! 

 Three times now we haven't scored from an easy position... seriously guys, ya make it hard for yourselves. 

It's a shame A league counts Oceania players as imports. Some of these PNG guys are looking as good as our A-league guys. 

3rd football match I've watched last 24 hours (Newcastle in the EPL, Nix, All Whites). No goal yet for the team I support... 

What's with this damn commentator? Seems more interested in Qatar and it's stadiums than he does in the actual match at hand. 

de jong needs to get off, how did he fudge that up

De Jong. Off. Now. Please. 

lthomas20

What's with this damn commentator? Seems more interested in Qatar and it's stadiums than he does in the actual match at hand. 

 $

Fudge me De Jong is terrible.
Hopefully Old and Waine can make a difference,

Looks like Danny has been listening to us. Howieson and De Jong gone finally. C'mon you Nix (boys).

lthomas20

What's with this damn commentator? Seems more interested in Qatar and it's stadiums than he does in the actual match at hand. 

 I think he's been forced in to talking BS about Qatar here. I'm sure he also thinks the only reason the WC is there is because of mysterious bags of money appearing in Blatter's lap.

And someone on for Champness? Or switch him and Kosta?
PNG playing well, unfortunately for us.

All aboard!!!!

look what happens when someone knows how to score a goal

martinb

And someone on for Champness? Or switch him and Kosta?
PNG playing well, unfortunately for us.

Champness and Kosta are looking tired. 

Why the fudge did Hay not start Wayne?

Choo choo 

Was getting rather worried TBH, 
Fiji will be a tougher prospect with Krishna up front.

Marto

Why the fudge did Hay not start Wayne?

nepotism.

That’s what playing week in and out is like. Get goal side, draw a foul, play a quick one. Ball on deck, tap in.
Garbett with that free kick? Who fed the cross? 

Yeeeeeeees

Hay cant be satisfied with 1-0, the PNG guys have made us look like an average side and to be fair we've payed like it.
I cant imagine many of the starting 11 will be starting come the inter-continental playoff, 

theprof

Hay cant be satisfied with 1-0, the PNG guys have made us look like an average side and to be fair we've payed like it.
I cant imagine many of the starting 11 will be starting come the inter-continental playoff, 

Was just thinking about that, there's only 4 starters tonight who would be in the conversation for that Sail, Reid, Garbett & Champness. Of them only Reid is a dead set starter

with the current lineup we've tested their keeper more than in the fist 70 minutes. Should be 4-0

Maaaaaaatt

theprof

Hay cant be satisfied with 1-0, the PNG guys have made us look like an average side and to be fair we've payed like it.
I cant imagine many of the starting 11 will be starting come the inter-continental playoff, 

Was just thinking about that, there's only 4 starters tonight who would be in the conversation for that Sail, Reid, Garbett & Champness. Of them only Reid is a dead set starter

Can't even see a missing Rojas making the starting 11, Rogerson is a better prospect.

Not a great win at all (but a deserved one). Nice to see Waineo get his first international goal, as for De Jong, less said the better...

All in all we knew this wasn't going to be pretty, backup team with a bit of a mix and match lineup that hasn't played a lot together. As long as we improve off that for the rest of the group stage it'll be well forgotten. 

The young guys who came on the end were more exciting then most of the starters. Garbett, Rogerson and Waine all played well.

N. Boxall my MoM.  Hopefully the above all start the next match and Howieson and De Jong don't play again in this tourney.

Rogerson, Boxall and Waine increased their reputations. Cam Howieson didn’t do too badly. 

The commentator talked a lot about Garbett, but I honestly thought he should have done better. We know he’s talented, but the last attack encapsulated it- got caught between a cross and a shot and the net result was no goal. 

Was a bit disappointed in Old too, because I rate him. Seemed to get muscled out of it a bit.

Bit of a first game. Think we’ll see better from them. 

Maybe Waine coming on late was a plan to run at a tired defense and not have him fouled out of the tournament early on? 

Anyway PNG played well against us and we got the 3 points.