\u201cThe challenge is that we go again and we become consistent while improving as well,\u201d said coach Darren Bazeley. \u201c[So] the moments that happened the [other] day, can we improve on those moments, in an attacking sense and defending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesse Randall is a rising star within the All Whites. <\/p>\n
Bazeley outlined three ingredients for a successful outcome. Firstly, the team need to be more decisive in the final third \u2013 he mentioned several examples against Colombia where they passed up an opportunity to shoot, especially in the opening 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something we spoke about at halftime because we got into good areas and then we looked for an extra pass at times [when] you\u2019ve got to take your shot,\u201d said Bazeley. \u201cThere\u2019s a mentality to be a bit more ruthless.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second is trying to limit the lapses in concentration that led to both Colombian goals<\/a> \u2013 at either end of the match \u2013 which were extremely costly in the circumstances.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re starting to become a team that\u2019s got this result-orientated mindset so [it] was disappointing,\u201d said Bazeley. \u201cIt\u2019s great learnings for some individuals and as a team about that concentration and dealing with every single moment.\u201d<\/p>\n The third is maintaining their compact defensive shape, a necessity against teams with the pace and verve of Ecuador.<\/p>\n Overall, the All Whites took a lot of confidence from the performance against Colombia. Apart from the two concessions, the clash featured some of their best periods of Bazeley\u2019s tenure, given the opposition and the match\u2019s intensity, particularly in the first hour or so.<\/p>\n \u201cWe go into every window obviously trying to achieve results but also just trying to make sure that we keep progressing,\u201d said Bazeley. \u201c[So] it\u2019s just another step for the confidence, being able to live with and play against these types of teams. <\/p>\n \u201cColombia put a really strong team out. If you look at Norway<\/a> [last month], they didn\u2019t play a couple of their strongest players on the day but [Colombia] were pretty stacked and we were missing a few. [So] we shocked a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of today\u2019s match, a few players are carrying \u201cknocks\u201d but nobody is in doubt to play. Bazeley will make a few changes to \u201cfreshen things up\u201d. Ben Waine could come in for Kosta Barbarouses, while either Matt Garbett or Elijah Just will likely begin from the bench, given the work rate demanded in the wide positions. <\/p>\n Ben Old is due a start, while Jesse Randall pushed his case again in a cameo against Colombia and will be hard to leave out, even if he offers bench impact. Alex Rufer should also get time at some stage, and Bazeley will carefully manage the minutes of Francis de Vries, given his recent workload for club and country.<\/p>\n Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe challenge is that we go again and we become consistent while improving as well,\u201d said coach Darren…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[836,5263,2851,95989,95988,23159,124,10542,58595,5904,2082,78,10543,3025,117,111,43,139,69,1118,95987,765,165,5264,377,379,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-141583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-836","9":"tag-all","10":"tag-also","11":"tag-assignment","12":"tag-audition","13":"tag-challenging","14":"tag-could","15":"tag-cup","16":"tag-ecuador","17":"tag-final","18":"tag-for","19":"tag-in","20":"tag-match","21":"tag-most","22":"tag-new","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-newzealand","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-of","28":"tag-stern","29":"tag-test","30":"tag-their","31":"tag-whites","32":"tag-world","33":"tag-year","34":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}