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All Whites Conclude Strong Tour With Deserved Draw
by Jeremy Ruane
The All Whites concluded their two-match tour of the USA on October 11 by holding the host nation to a 1-1 draw at the RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington DC, a match in which the visitors were only denied victory in the dying minutes by a desperate goal-line clearance.
Anthony Hudson's team set out their stall from the outset, and came desperately close to opening the scoring inside the first sixty seconds. Controlling a lofted pass from Andrew Durante on his chest, Chris Wood swivelled and struck a fierce twenty-five yard volley which goalkeeper William Yarbrough spilled.
Monty Patterson was unable to capitalise on the first of a number of errors by the 'keeper, his next coming in the ninth minute when Michael Boxall challenged him in the air as Clayton Lewis' free-kick arced in from the right.
No foul was given, but Jurgen Klinsmann's charges survived as a result of a handball offence being flagged. Otherwise, the host nation was all over the place initially, and getting to grips with Wood's presence in the All Whites' attack seemed to be completely beyond them at first.
But the USA gradually got a toe-hold in the game, and they fired their first shot in anger in the sixteenth minute, Winston Reid blocking Jozy Altidore's effort - not the first time the All Whites' captain would intervene at the expense of the burly striker in this encounter.
The USA drew confidence from that attempt, and in the 27th minute, opened the scoring. It was route one stuff, to some extent, with Yarbrough's clearance flicked on by Altidore to Julian Green, who took on Liam Graham before cutting inside and rifling a shot between the fullback, Durante and Stefan Marinovic's near post, rendering the 'keeper completely wrong-footed.
A blocked Wood shot in the 31st minute apart, the All Whites were now well contained by a buoyant American team, which was keen to build on their new-found advantage.
Marinovic made up for his blunder with the goal by blocking well in a one-on-one situation with DeAndre Yedlin, the midfielder skipping between two defenders and racing up to support Altidore, whose size allowed him to hold up a pass received from Sacha Kljestan and wait for reinforcements to help him out.
That 32nd minute incident was followed six minutes later by a move involving Green and Kljestan, whose clipped cross, intended for Altidore, was well cut out by Reid, who could only look on two minutes later as Marinovic grabbed an unchallenged header from Michael Orozco, the recipient of a Michael Bradley corner.
Right on the stroke of half-time, the All Whites threatened an equaliser. Lewis tussled for possession, and Marco Rojas pounced on the ricochet, only to see his lay-off blocked. The ball fell kindly to Graham, whose shot was blocked, the rebound inviting Lewis to whip in a cross.
Yarbrough punched this clear, his last act of the match as he was replaced twixt the sticks at the interval by David Bingham, who was called into action nine minutes into the second spell to thwart Kip Colvey, after the fullback had caught Orozco in possession.
Moments after Wood had thundered a twenty-five yard free-kick over the bar, the All Whites squandered a glorious chance to level the scores on the hour. Michael McGlinchey burst through, the ball ricocheting off Bradley into the stride of Patterson.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the ball bobbled, and his shot sailed over the bar, much to the relief of the Americans and Guatemalan referee Juan Carlos Guerra, who made a couple of dreadful blunders which led to the opportunity.
The ball had gone out for a New Zealand throw-in, but the Americans quickly took it and went on the attack, their progress only thwarted by a deliberate foul from Reid, who promptly tore a strip off the official.
Guerra apologised, then took play back to the throw-in, with the All Whites taking it this time, and the outcome being Patterson's close call … Lord alone knows what his assessor thought of the situation, but it was a very poor piece of officiating all round.
Following this episode, chances came at both ends
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of the park in relatively frequent fashion. Marinovic was nearly caught in possession inside his penalty area in the 64th minute, his clearance landing at the feet of Bradley.
He linked with impressive substitute Lynden Gooch, whose cross was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, from where Green thrashed a shot over the bar, much to the Kiwi 'keeper's relief.
Three minutes later, the All Whites went close, substitute Moses Dyer drilling a shot on the turn - his first touch of the ball - at Bingham upon receipt of a Patterson pass.
After Marinovic had saved from Altidore, and a Gooch shot had been blocked, the All Whites launched a swift counter-attack twenty minutes from time, featuring the tireless McGlinchey, Dyer and Patterson, who took on an opponent before inviting Wood to unleash a dipping twenty yard volley which cleared the bar by a foot at most.
Two minutes later, the visitors were level. A McGlinchey corner to the near post picked out Boxall, who guided the ball down for the fast-reacting Patterson to slam home - via a deflection - between the legs of Bingham and into the far corner of the net.
That goal stunned the USA, not to mention the disappointing crowd of 9,012 fans who were anticipating another routine home win against opponents ranked nearly sixty places below them in the world standings.
Their initial reaction saw Altidore harshly called offside when latching onto a Gooch through ball and rifling a shot which Marinovic parried to safety. But that was the only US attack in the fifteen minutes which followed the goal, which were dominated by New Zealand.
Substitute Costa Barbarouses had a tame header easily saved by Bingham ten minutes from time, but Wood went far closer sixty seconds later, a stinging twenty-five yard which deflected narrowly past the post after he had combined with Colvey on the left.
Six minutes later, the USA had a real let-off. Barbarouses played the ball forward to Wood, who held it up well before rolling it into the stride of the substitute, who scooted deep into the American penalty area before pulling the ball back to the near post.
Arriving on cue was Patterson, who, despite the presence of both Bingham and Matt Besler, managed to flick the ball past the pair of them, only being denied his second goal of the game by the desperate goal-line clearance of Orozco, who spared the USA's blushes.
Having escaped at that end, the host nation promptly lay siege to the New Zealand goal for the remainder of the contest, in search of a late winner. Marinovic parried substitute Danny Williams' thumping twenty-five yard shot on the run to his left, with the newcomer's follow-up effort being blocked by Themi Tzimopoulos for a corner.
Bradley's delivery was headed over the bar by Orozco, while a splendid dipping twenty yard volley from the USA's captain sixty seconds later was thwarted by an even better save from Marinovic, who flung himself to his right to paw the ball round the post.
Still America pressed, but time was their enemy, and after Omar Gonzalez had guided his header across the face of goal, after Besler had flicked on Gooch's cross, the final whistle sounded, ensuring New Zealand of their first-ever draw at senior men's level against the USA, who had won both previous contests between these nations.
The outcome concluded a solid two-match tour for the All Whites, who greatly impressed in both this encounter and the narrow 2-1 loss to Mexico in Nashville three days earlier - performances which should ensure a decent-sized turn-out at QBE Stadium when Anthony Hudson's charges are next in action, against New Caledonia on November 12 in an Oceania World Cup qualification clash.
USA: Yarbrough (Bingham, 46); Orozco, Besler, Gonzalez, Acosta (Gooch, 59); Bradley, Kljestan, Kitchen (Williams, 64); Yedlin, Altidore (booked, 86) (Boyd, 87), Green (Agudelo, 78)
All Whites: Marinovic; Durante (Brotherton, 58), Reid (Tzimopoulos, 73), Boxall; Graham (Fenton, 46), Lewis (Dyer, 66), McGlinchey, Rojas (Cameron, 46 (Barbarouses, 75)), Colvey; Patterson (booked, 84), Wood
Referee: Juan Carlos Guerra (Guatemala)
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