Source: Radio New Zealand
Marko Stamenic leads the All Whites on to Eden Park during the Fifa Series. Shane Wenzlick / Photosport.nz
A “flat” performance in front of their home fans and eight games since a win is not a cause for concern leading into the Football World Cup, according to former All White and current assistant coach Simon Elliott.
On the back of two years of “progression”, Elliott is confident the All Whites are on the right track.
The broad principles of how they want to play are locked in and Elliott believes the focus will sharpen once the team arrives at the world’s most watched sporting event.
“What I think you’ll see is once the World Cup gets close, you’ll see a change. I think you’ll see a focus. I think you’ll see an elevation of everything we’re doing.”
Players and coaches were disappointed with Friday’s 2-0 loss to Finland in Auckland in the first of two games as part of a home send-off.
“You have to take it with a little bit of grain of salt. We did enough good things where we can be encouraged, but we weren’t where we wanted to be and we were short in key moments on and off the ball.
“We need to improve, but again, I think we’re a little bit closer than maybe some folks realise.”
The team will likely now need to make history if they are to leave fans with a real sense of confidence in their chances of getting out of their group for the first time at the World Cup.
The All Whites have never beaten a team from South America and Monday’s clash against Chile in the Fifa Series will be a test of tactics and mentality.
The occasion of playing at home and wanting to impress enough to book a place in the World Cup squad were some potential reasons coach Darren Bazeley floated for why the New Zealanders “didn’t look like ourselves” on Friday.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley and assistant Simon Elliott. PHOTOSPORT
“Pressure’s going to be there whether we’re playing here or away or at the World Cup or not. That’s just part of the gig,” Elliott said.
“If we’re not used to it, then we need to get used to it because it will go up from here.
“That being said, I think most of the players where they’re playing, they’re pretty used to some kind of scrutiny, some kind of pressure.”
The World Cup is 73 days away and following the Chile match the players will return to their club environments before linking up with the national team for warm up games ahead of their opening World Cup game on 16 June (NZT).
“I think this group has shown that they’ve got a lot of potential, I think we are improving.
“It’s not linear, there’s going to be moments where we get it wrong and then we have a responsibility to have robust conversations to get it as good as we possibly can before we go into the June camp.
“So I would say we’re heading in the right direction.”
Slovakia’s Zdenko Strba and Simon Elliott during All Whites versus Slovakia at 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. Andrew Cornaga / PHOTOSPORT
Elliott was there when the All Whites were last at the World Cup in 2010.
Leading into the tournament in South Africa, the All Whites then ranked 78th in the world upset the world number 15 Serbia in a friendly in Austria.
“The Serbia game was an important marker for that group.
“Good performance, could have gone either way, but we got the result, gave the group belief and built momentum.
“You’re always looking for things like that, the signs here are positive that one of those is coming. You never quite know when. We’ll keep working at it.”
The last home game before the World Cup against a side ranked 31 places higher than New Zealand would be as good a time as any to start building the winning momentum.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
