New Zealand's All Whites became the first team to qualify for the OFC World Cup qualifying tournament later this year when downing Vanuatu 5-0 at Port Moresby's Sir John Guise Stadium on May 31 in the latest round of OFC Nations Cup action. The game was all over bar the shouting inside the first ten minutes of play, by which time Anthony Hudson's charges had stormed out to a three-goal lead, two of them having been scored by captain Chris Wood. His first came about after Vanuatu's eye-catching short-passing game had engineered the space for Daniel Natou to drag a shot past the far post from the edge of the penalty area inside the first three minutes of play. The All Whites' response to this was brutal. Earning a throw-in on the right, Bill Tuiloma launched a missile into the penalty area which Vanuatu's rearguard simply did not deal with. If that fourth minute far post tap-in for Wood was a gift, his second goal of the game, sixty seconds later, came gift-wrapped - a frankly awful back pass from Jacques Wanemut which Wood strode onto and slammed past the stranded figure of Seloni Iaruel to double the All Whites' lead. Any hopes Vanuatu harboured of getting back into the contest were all but dashed five minutes later, this time following a foul on Wood which saw him land awkwardly on his shoulder, prompting his early withdrawal from the fray. It mattered not to the All Whites, with the recalled Michael McGlinchey uncorking an absolute peach of a twenty yard free-kick, the ball arcing over the defensive wall and ripping into the top right-hand corner of Iaruel's net - 3-0. Remarkably, the Vanuatuans came right back at their more favoured opponents, and should have had a penalty in the fourteenth minute when last defender Louis Fenton hauled back Dominique Fred in the area. Remarkably, 29-year-old referee Amos Anio waved play on for what was a red card offence. Two minutes later, Fenedy Masauvakalo's twenty-five yard free-kick curled round the wall and just past Stefan Marinovic's left-hand post, to which New Zealand responded by rampaging downfield and scoring a fourth goal, in the nineteenth minute. Luka Prelevic's slide-rule through ball sent Rory Fallon racing through on goal, and while the advancing figure of Iaruel curtailed his initial thrust, there was simply no stopping Fallon's sumptuous shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty area, the ball arcing exquisitely into the top far corner of the net - a superb finish. Vanuatuan heads understandably dropped at this point, and their poor set-piece execution certainly didn't help in their search for inspiration. But after Themi Tzimopoulos picked out Sam Brotherton with a free-kick which the defender headed down for Wood's replacement, Costa Barbarouses, Iaruel's vital block at the striker's feet gave the nation formerly known as New Hebrides new hope. There was certainly nothing wrong with their attacking endeavour, with their passing game unhinging the All Whites time and again. And in the 36th minute, only the fingertips of Marinovic prevented Kensi Tangis from getting Vanuatu on the board, his rasping drive being tipped over the bar by the 'keeper. Two minutes later, a Natou free-kick flighted in towards the near post saw Tangis dart in front of Prelevic and unleash a thrilling volley which careered a foot over the bar, with Marinovic motionless in response - the speed of execution left him beaten all ends up. Vanuatu kept on coming, and a minute before half-time the outstanding Brian Kaltack set off on a slaloming run from half-way through to the edge of the penalty area, from where he unleashed a shot which cannoned to safety off Brotherton. The subsequent corner was cleared, sparking an All Whites counter-attack which culminated in Fallon's flick-on releasing Barbarouses at pace through a spread-eagled Vanuatu rearguard, the striker outpacing the retreating figure of Kaltack before poking the ball home beyond Iaruel and into the net

by the far post to bring about the half-time 5-0 scoreline. The All Whites looked to carry on from where they left off early in the second half, Barbarouses buccaneering down the left before being thwarted by the covering run of Kaltack as he looked to set up Fallon in the 52nd minute. Seconds later, Brotherton produced a defender's finish following the resulting corner, but understandably so, as seconds later he had blood pouring from his eyebrow, an errant Vanuatuan elbow having caught him just before he pulled the trigger. Cue the introduction of Monty Patterson, who became the All Whites' final replacement, Marco Rojas having taken over from Tuiloma at half-time. But before both could get up to speed, Prelevic featured in a splendid left flank foray which also starred Fallon and Barbarouses in supporting roles, and a shot-defying tackle from Jason Thomas at the death. Vanuatu's hopes were raised by half-time substitute Zicka Manuhi finding the net in the 64th minute. Unfortunately for them, the offside flag was raised at precisely the same time - no goal! Three minutes later, another Barbarouses raid saw him sweep past two opponents before looking to beat Iaruel at his near post when Fallon and Rojas were better placed to execute the chance. Unsurprisingly, the 'keeper was untroubled in keeping the ball out. Cue a flurry of Vanuatu attacks, the first of which saw Kaltack send the ball flying over the bar from ten yards after Prelevic had too easily surrendered possession, allowing substitutes Manuhi and Bill Nicholls to take full advantage. In the 71st minute, a splendid cross-field ball from Kevin Shem was kept in by Bong Kalo on the right, allowing Manuhi to weave his wizardry. He somehow wriggled his way into the goal area before his low cross was scrambled clear by Luke Adams. Eight minutes later, Natou's crisply struck twenty-five yard free-kick sizzled past both the wall and Marinovic's right-hand post, soon after which the All Whites' 'keeper blocked with his legs from Nicholls after he had been played in by Manuhi, following a free-kick which had wrongly been awarded in Vanuatu's failure - Tzimopoulos was the victim, not the villain on this occasion. Another Marinovic save denied Kaltack in the 86th minute, after he had worked a one-two with Nicholls, after which Barbarouses, whose dipping twenty-five yarder gave Iaruel cause for concern five minutes earlier, came within inches of getting on the end of a cross from Rojas, who had squandered two tremendous openings before this contribution - the 2012 OFC Player of the Year looked well out of sorts. Vanuatu were desperate to pull a goal back before the final whistle, and twice came desperately close to doing so in the final minutes. Fred, Kalo and Nicholls combined with Manuhi, whose shot was deflected to safety, while a Kaltack-inspired raid, which also featured Kalo and Manuhi, culminated in Marinovic saving at the feet of Fred, much to the disappointment of the crowd, who were urging the island nation on. In injury time, Iaruel raced out of his goal to deny the rampaging figure of Rojas, while the offside flag came to Vanuatu's rescue to prevent Fallon from scoring his second goal of the game with virtually its last kick. The 5-0 victors weren't overly convincing, however, with Vanuatu producing by far the better football. One wonders how things would have panned out had the All Whites not benefited from such flimsy defending inside the first twenty minutes, when four of their goals came to pass - they certainly didn't impress very much thereafter. All Whites:     Marinovic; Tzimopoulos (booked, 78), Adams, Brotherton (Patterson, 67); Fenton, McGlinchey, Tuiloma (Rojas, 46), Prelevic, Colvey; Wood (Barbarouses, 15), Fallon Vanuatu:     Iaruel; Wanemut (Coulon, 24), Thomas, Kaltack, Shem (booked, 23); Yamack, Kalo, Masauvakalo (Nicholls, 61), Natou, Fred; Tangis (Manuhi, 46) Referee:     Amos Anio (Papua New Guinea)