All Whites punching above their weight now - Herbert

By FRED WOODCOCK - Stuff
Last updated 12:02 05/06/2010

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert is leaving Europe in a buoyant and confident mood while acknowledging his team has plenty to work on ahead on their World Cup opener against Slovakia in Rustenburg on June 15.

The 78th-ranked All Whites completed their two-match European tour with a 3-1 loss to world No 25 Slovenia in Maribor, Slovenia this morning, a match in which the visitors were highly competitive but lacked the same clinical qualities as the hosts.

Slovenia scored three times in the first half, through two wonderful Milivoje Novakovic free kicks and a Mark Paston goalkeeper blunder, while New Zealand's goal came in the 20th minute courtesy of the mightily impressive Rory Fallon.

"I thought we created a hell of a lot of chances tonight, which was great," Herbert said this morning.

"On any other day we could've scored four, but two free kicks and the keeper dropping the ball made things hard. We wanted to keep a clean sheet in the second half and certainly things were a lot more positive."

Herbert resisted his pre-match urge to rest key players in the second half, making just the one substitution with Jeremy Brockie replacing Chris Wood in a carbon copy of the Serbia match a week earlier.

"I said to the players at halftime 'we're going to tighten things up', it was just a couple of silly mistakes really that cost us. I wanted to keep that consistency going and I thought the second 45 was very, very good," Herbert said.

The free kicks on the edge of the penalty box that led to the first two Slovenia goals were dubious. The referee awarded a soft foul against Ryan Nelsen for the first one then ruled Winston Reid had brought down Novakovic, though it was a clear dive from the Cologne striker.

"I thought the first one was extremely harsh, I didn't think it was a foul at all. There was a premiership centre half who has won the ball very cleanly," said Herbert, who had not seen a replay of the second call so did not want to comment.

On the whole, New Zealand struggled with the officiating.

"The referee was extremely disciplined. You think in these friendly games it's an opportunity to play, but it was quite stop-start really and it was frustrating at times.

"I'm not sure [if it will be the same at the World Cup] but we'll have to deal with that if it is. We'll soon know."

Fallon had an ongoing battle with the referee, who called fouls against the big striker on several occasions when he appeared to cleanly win the ball in the air.

"It was probably a little frustrating for him tonight but he's done extremely well for us," Herbert said of Fallon. "Again he was very strong and committed to playing his part tonight. I think in all three games he's been top drawer."

Of Paston's tough night dealing with the Jabulani World Cup ball, Herbert said: "There have been varying opinions on what the ball can do, but we've seen it at training, it's going to be tough to handle. I think it's probably causing keepers a number of problems. But at the end of the day it's a direct shot that Mark needed to do better with."
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Herbert reported no injuries arising from the match. Striker Chris Killen, rested with a tight shoulder, would be fine within two days.

He said the team had got what they needed from the European leg of the trip.

"It's been fantastic - tough, challenging, some of the top sides in the world - and I think we've been much more than competitive," Herbert said.

"With this group, there always been a strong realism, we certainly don't take losses lightly ... but we're going away with a lot of positives from this European trip.

"We know there are areas we still need to improve on. We're not here to just make up the numbers, we want to make a difference. Tonight will help us in that learning curve."

He said any chance they had slipping under the radar had gone following three credible performances against top 25 opposition..

"I think we've shown we are going to be very, very competitive. I'm extremely pleased. The players have worked hard, they're probably slightly leg weary tonight, but I've got no complaints, absolutely no excuses now going to the World Cup. I think we'll be ready come Slovakia.

"I think we're punching way up above our weight now, and if anybody wants to take us lightly at the World Cup, then good luck to them."

New Zealand leave for South Africa tomorrow and have one match match before facing Slovakia, a training game against Chile in Nelspruit on Wednesday.

It will feature three periods of 30 minutes and Herbert will give fringe players a run. He has already indicated defenders Ivan Vicelich and Ben Sigmund, now on the outer with Winston Reid and Tommy Smith having come in, will start.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/football/3781068/All-Whites-punching-above-their-weight-now-Herbert