New Zealand has been ruthlessly exposed for the second time on their tour of the Americas, conceding an improbable free-kick, a penalty and an own goal during the Maracaibo mauling.
Herbert, who will coach the newly branded Wellington Phoenix in next summer�s A-League, left a somber All Whites dressing room with no illusions of how badly let down he felt or what was expected from his players ahead of the Oceania World Cup qualifying campaign starting in October.
�Ninety to 95 percent of our players have come into the national team environment without a club, without training, without matches and that�s totally unacceptable,� Herbert said.
Herbert said the All Whites had to share the same World Cup ambition as New Zealand Soccer which had �gone out on a limb� to get the national team back on the world stage with quality matches.
�Have we got concerns? You don�t lose 4-0 and 5-0 and not have concerns,� he said.
�The All Whites are a team everyone needs to be proud of and there is a massive responsibility for the team to do well and be successful and we�ve let ourselves down tonight.�
Herbert said it was now imperative that players looked at their
commitment to the World Cup campaign and agreed that some could be
offered international lifelines by the emergence of the Wellington
Phoenix.
�It would be too easy to have no solutions to this but we�ve thrown solutions at them � we�ve told them what the next seven months must look like,� he said.
�I�m not saying that I�m at Wellington and everyone should come there. What I�m saying is get yourself to a competitive club.�
He refuses to allow his players to hide behind the fact that
Costa Rica (50) and Venezuela (74th) are ranked well above his
129th-rated All Whites as there would be no excuses if New Zealand
qualify for a home and away World Cup playoff against
Asia�s fifth-ranked
team.
�This is a level we have
to pit ourselves at because when you look at the rankings in Asia,
maybe 12 or 13 teams are above us. If
we�re successful in
getting through Oceania then
we�re going to be
playing someone in the top 60 or 70 and
we�ve got to be ready
for that.�
New Zealand were on the backfoot after just eight minutes when Ricardo Paez beat Mark Paston at his near-post with a curling, left-footed free-kick from a seemingly improbable angle.
Striker Fernando De Ornelas made it 2-0 in the 31st minute when he slipped the ball past a stranded Paston following another defence splitting ball from Venezuela�s midfield.
De Ornelas added his second and Venezuela�s third four minutes after halftime, curling the ball past Paston and into the far-post, side-netting after New Zealand were caught with fullback Noah Hickey out of position.
Fedor Nicolas scored Venezuela�s fourth four minutes from time from the penalty spot after All Whites skipper Danny Hay dragged the halftime substitute down in the box.
New Zealand�s misery was complete in injury-time when Paston watched a parried Juan Arango cross cannon into his net off Hickey.
What disappointed Herbert most was the fact New Zealand produced periods of football of a higher quality than they had against Costa Rica only for lapses of concentration to let them down again.
�I don�t think we got as exposed as much as we did against Costa Rica but when you�ve got players of that [Venezuela�s] technical ability and you lose concentration, there�s only one outcome and that�s getting punished�and we were.�
Venezuela 5 (Ricardo Paez 8, Fernando De Ornelas 31, 49;
Fedor Nicolas 86, own goal 90+)
New Zealand 0
Halftime: 2-0
bad bad result. but good to see that herbert isn't sticking up for
the players at least and is being quite hard nosed about it.
perhaps the good news is that herbert will be reminded that an
a league team built around kiwis will need extra super duper
quality imports and a couple of first rate aussies too
Selecting two defenders that move at the same pace as Mt. Vic is
unacceptable Ricki...
i think a problem in nz is that we think a prerequisite to being an effective defender is size/height. some of the best in the world a little, strong and quick... ayala, cannavaro, etc
I think we can afford one player of that type (and I'd have Che),
but two or three against the likes of Costa Rica and Venezuela
? Just foolish.
I think Ricki was on the right track with 3 at the back, but the three couldn't be Old, Hay and Che who are all incredibly slow. Now Ivan, Che and Noah... that might just have worked.
I think Ricki was on the right track with 3 at the back, but the three couldn't be Old, Hay and Che who are all incredibly slow. Now Ivan, Che and Noah... that might just have worked.
I agree that having 3 players who are much the same at the
back was a risk and it showed, but a couple of the
goals came from deep midfield passes. Where
was our defense midfield?
That team lacks class and importantly lacks pace. What got me
was the lack of ambition...we've stressed peformances but results
are going to become important very very soon. I don't think
we can continue picking guys out of the NZFC because by definition
they aren't professionals. We got shown up, badly.
Hard News, I have to take offence to your earlier comment. Mt Vic is actually quite a lively little suburb these days ill have you know
I meant the hill itself, not the suburb :-)
Ivan Vicelich. disappointing
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
We'd have them at half time...
Well it was always going to be hard.
The trip was definately worth it.
I guess playing team like that is only going to make NZ better. Hopefully when we play Wales in May we will have some of our European based players in the lineups.
The trip was definately worth it.
I guess playing team like that is only going to make NZ better. Hopefully when we play Wales in May we will have some of our European based players in the lineups.
Nelsen and Killen - The players we obviously really missed against Costa Rica and Venezuela.
NZ have played two teams in the top 100 in world football. They
have played the teams in their homeland and should keep their heads
high. The concern for Rikki should be the fact no goals were scored
rather than the scoreline. 6-2 or 7-2 would have been better.
Penetration in the forward line is what was needed. Rikki has alot
to do.
I knew we werent going to score more than 1 goal in either game.
Lets face it. Smeltz struggles to score in the conference,
hows he going to do it at International level. Before the Costa
Rican match Brockie hadnt played 90 minutes for 6 months. Chris
James looked like scoring a few times but never happened. Killen is
a huge part of the line and someone we dearly missed in South
America.
Ricky's gonna have to be tough minded about which of the All Whites
he thinks he could get something out of. At least he knows that
Noah and Buncey can hack it at A League level. Blimey I wouldn't be
signing anyone else very quickly, assuming Chris James will stay in
England. Oi Oi Edgecumbe2007-03-31 18:02:28
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
Danny Phoenix is wrong when he says Brockie hasn't played for 6
months. I was photographing the U20 WCQ's in January for Soccer
Talk and Brockie played in most of those games. Ok so its not of a
high standard but he definitely played 90 minutes in the games I
watched. Pedantic I know, but if you gonna post stuff at least
quantify it.
And you can get stuck into me because at times I can write as
much bollocks as the next man...or woman.
Getting back to Herbert I was pleased he came out about being
angry and not accepting those performances. 9 goals conceded
over two games and none scored is plainly not good enough. Danny
Hay is definitely passed his best internationally and he aint the
future. We've got to pluck up the courage to bring someone else in
because frankly many on this forum could run quicker for a start. I
suspect Hay may have a role to play with the Phoenix as he is
always spotted sidled up next to Herbert when watching some games
(ala NZ A v Tahiti). To me it seems the relationship is a little
too close between the two. Hay was also quick to say he wouldn't be
interested in moving to Wellers. That aint good enough, especially
if fans are going to be travelling from Auckland, Hamilton,
Edgecome:-) and the like to Wellington to support the side. If fans
are prepared to do that then it should be good enough for the
player to relocate and make the effort. You just have to question
his commitment to being a professional player.