The All Whites are still searching for their goal-scoring moments, a problem that coach Darren Bazeley wants to find the solution to.
A 1-0 loss to world no. 36 Poland on Friday was the first time the All Whites had played against a European team, in Europe, since November 2023 when they held Ireland to a one-all draw.
“I think there is a lot of moments in this game where we’re in good possession around the edge of the box and that final little slip pass or final little movement isn’t quite ruthless or clinical enough,” Bazeley said.
“We have to take our chances we have to be better with our final product, the final ball.
“We’ve got to take our moments to score goals.”
Despite the 1-0 results, the New Zealanders put in a respectable performance against the Europeans. (Source: 1News)
Since March this year, when they qualified for next year’s Football World Cup, the All Whites have played five games against opposition ranked higher than their 83rd in the world.
The one win, against the then world no. 41 Cote d’Ivoire in June, was a benchmark that Bazeley has referred to often but the challenges keep coming with a second game against European opposition, world no. 31 Norway, in Oslo on Wednesday.
“We do a lot of good things in the game in and out of possession, we have to have our moments… and we’ve got to start rewarding ourselves for some of the possession and some of the play we have now.”
Bazeley said the plan after losing the Soccer Ashes to Australia in September was to push forward more in this window.
“More forward runners, more forward balls… we’re starting to mix our play up a little bit more in regards to short possession play but also mixing that up with trying to hurt teams in behind and get in to better goal-scoring areas.
“We know that when we’re at full-strength we have got some different threats.
“Ultimately, it would be nice to score the first goal.”
Once again, Bazeley was needing to manage the minutes of Premier League striker and New Zealand captain Chris Wood.
Wood came on in the 84th minute against Poland.
“We have to help him manage his loadings and make sure that he’s 100% at all times so that we get him for the big moments, for the big games.
“We have to look after him with what he is going through and where he is performing.”
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Beyond the Norway game is two matches against highly-ranked South American teams – Colombia and Ecuador – next month.
Bazeley believed the All Whites were better than their world ranking suggested.
“We’re under-valued… I think we’re better than that.
“There is more to come from this team.”
New Zealand takes on Norway in another friendly next Wednesday – which can be viewed live and free on TVNZ+.
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