The All Whites opened 2023 with a 0-0 draw with China PR at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium this evening.

Tommy Smith captained the side on his 50th appearance, taking the armband in roommate Chris Wood’s absence as the forward continues his recovery from a thigh hematoma. Alex Rufer wore the Fern for the first time since 2019, and Wellington Phoenix defender Callan Elliot made his debut.

In front of a 12,049-strong crowd, the All Whites the dominant team in the first half.

They had a couple of early chances, the first through Liberato Cacace’s free kick, and then Matt Garbett flashed a shot across the face of goal after beating a couple of Chinese defenders in the box. Kosta Barbaraouses similarly came close in the 34^th minute, catching a half volley on the turn, but the Phoenix forward could only send the ball wide past Yan Junling’s goal.

China almost claimed the lead just before half time, but for the rapid reactions of Oli Sail to get down low to his left to deny Wei Shihao, the first significant save he’d had to make all game.

The All Whites went into the half time sheds probably the more frustrated team of the two, having created but not quite been able to finish off several good chances.

They were reduced to 10 players just after the hour mark when Tommy Smith clumsily felled Wu Lei as the last defender.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the numerical difference, momentum shifted to the visitors, although they were still unable to break the deadlock, coming agonisingly close in the 80^th as Lin Lianming hurled himself at Zhang Linpeng’s cross. Thanks to some alert goalkeeping from stand in skipper Oli Sail, the All Whites held on to keep a clean sheet.

After the game, interim All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley reflected on a positive performance from his team:

“I thought we played some great football, dominated possession, got into our patterns, created some chances, got the ball into some really dangerous areas and I thought we gelled as a team really well.

We talked about being controlled in possession and having courage to play in the areas across the board from, from OOli [Sail] and moving through the thirds. Out of possession, I thought we were awesome: aggressive, controlled, really put China under a lot of pressure every time they had the ball. And we won it back really, really quickly. It's just a shame we didn't get the goal, but those moments are coming. And obviously then the red card in the second half changes the game and it becomes really difficult for us.

“But I think even with 10 men, we had a few patches where we strung some good passes together, and then showed a lot of resilience and a lot of good team spirit and hard work to not lose the game. It's a game we wanted to win, but when you play with 10 men for 30 odd minutes, more than 30 minutes after the week, we've had, with people traveling across the world, I thought it was unbelievable team spirit and resilience tonight.”

Meanwhile, the U-22s won their curtain raiser earlier, beating China PR’s U-24 Asian Games-bound side 2-0, courtesy of a 44th minute penalty from captain Sam Sutton, and a slick combination of Ben Old and Riley Bidois seeing the latter netting nicely in the 69th minute to seal the win.

Article added: Thursday 23 March 2023