Having avenged their OFC Nations Cup semi-final loss to New Caledonia with a 2-0 victory in Noumea on Friday night, the All Whites will be looking for a second win in as many games as they welcome fellow opening day winners Solomon Islands to Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium in the second round of Stage 3 FIFA World Cup qualifying tomorrow.
They will, however, be wary of the unpredictable threat the Solomon Islands pose, especially after stumbling to a 1-1 draw and a 4-3 win against the Bonitos in that ill-fated Nations Cup campaign in the Solomon capital in June.
“We know what they’re like, they’re going to miss-control a pass one minute and hit one home from thirty yards out in the next,” All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen says.
The nearly 35-year-old, who was unavailable for the Nations Cup due to injury, is also quick to suggest the All Whites have now put those underwhelming performances behind them and are using the experience to learn and become better players for it.
“It’s like anything in sport, or in business, you have to learn from your mistakes and that was a mistake, there’s no hiding from it,” he says.
“As long as you learn from those experiences, you come out better for it.”
Nelsen is ensuring his players feet remain firmly on the ground following that opening win in Noumea and knows that Oceania’s 2010 FIFA World Cup representatives are anything but guaranteed a safe passage through to the next phase of qualifying, insisting they will need to be at their best if they are to avoid a shock defeat at the hands of the Bonitos.
“They’re athletic, they’re unpredictable, and we know they’re going to be tough,” the Queens Park Rangers defender says.
“Upsets happen in our industry, that’s why it’s the most popular sport in the world and why everyone loves it. We’ve just got to focus on ourselves and do the job.”
Coach Ricki Herbert is another who is more than happy to put the Honiara nightmare to rest and concentrate on the positives from the first-up win against Les Cagous. He will be hoping to see more of the same from his charges come Tuesday night.
“We had a good tempo going in the first half and that was great,” Herbert says of the showing against New Caledonia.
“We created a lot of chances, probably could have won by four or five, and we limited their chances. Besides a back pass, Mark Paston didn’t have to make any saves.”
Herbert and his coaching staff are unlikely to ring the changes and will reward most of the players who got the job done in Noumea with a starting berth in New Zealand’s first home international since February.
“I’m not really keen to change a lot,” Herbert says.
“There’s one or two thoughts but not a lot. That group had to step out and get the campaign underway, there was pressure on all of us to do that and they did it pretty effectively.”