Soccer: Herbert salutes best 'All Whites side'

Chris Wood headed home his first international goal on Saturday as the All Whites drew with Honduras 1-1 at North Harbour Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

Ricki Herbert insists nothing, apart from maybe one personnel switch, will change when he puts the All Whites out against Paraguay at Westpac Stadium tomorrow night.

Encouraged by his team's 1-1 draw with Honduras at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday night, Herbert is looking for more of the same even if he does acknowledge the world 17th-ranked side will pose a far greater challenge than the Hondurans.

Herbert watched about an hour of Paraguay's 1-0 loss to the Socceroos before flying to Wellington yesterday and is convinced his charges are in for a huge test.

"The Aussie commentators would have us believe the Australians were all over Paraguay, but that's not what I saw," said Herbert. "This is a team who reached the quarter-finals at the World Cup after topping the group we were in. It will be a real test.

"We won't be doing anything different, but if we get chances [to score] we have to take them. Against Honduras we probably had six clear scoring chances. If we get half that number against Paraguay and take them I'll be happy.

"Like our game, which had Honduras ahead in possession in the first half, so were the Australians, but it is where you have that possession that counts. Of the 53 per cent the Australians supposedly had, 57 per cent was in their own half.

"Rather than looking at possession and territory, I am more interested in the number of good scoring attempts you create."

Herbert has no doubt his team are up to the challenge.

"Across the park this is the best side this country has ever produced," said Herbert who was at the heart of the last great side, in 1982. "And I'm not talking about individual players, this team is miles ahead - no matter what happens [tomorrow]."

Captain Ryan Nelsen went further, saying the team were now a group of "entertainers" and performances in recent matches showed just how far they had come in the past 10 years.

The so-called friendly between teams ranked either side of the world's 50th best nation was anything but.

There was plenty of feeling and a good dollop of play-acting - "simulation" - from the visitors, but in the end it was a rousing game of soccer and showed the results achieved by the All Whites before and during the World Cup were no flash in the pan.

The home side went straight on to attack and needed less than five minutes to create their first scoring chance. They fluffed that, and others - Chris Wood (on a couple of occasions), Chris Killen, and Tim Brown the notable misses - but there remained the feeling it was only a matter of time.

As the fourth official held up the board signalling one minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half, Jeremy Brockie, who had an outstanding first half on the right, whipped in a cross which Wood, squeezing between two defenders, rose to meet inch-perfectly and head home for his richly deserved first international goal.

Killen and Wood had further chances in the opening three minutes of the second spell - denied by the post and Honduras goalkeeper and captain Noel Valladares.

Mark Paston kept the New Zealand castle intact with two superb saveson the hour before being beatenby a third when Maurico Sabillon undid Leo Bertos' attempted challenge before playing the ball to Walter Martinez, who headed home.

The pace increased as both teams chased a winner with local referee Peter O'Leary in the thick of the action. He found it necessary to book four players from each team with some of the All Whites harshly treated, but when push came to shove - literally - O'Leary backed off.

He awarded a penalty in the final minute of regular time - a big call perhaps, although there was an errant elbow in the Honduran challenge - but then allowed himself to be confronted by Valladares (who should have been dismissed after pushing O'Leary) and substitute Jerry Bengston who were booked.

Shane Smeltz stepped forward but succeeded only in whacking the ball on to the underside of the crossbar and then muffed a second attempt when the ball ricocheted back to his feet.

That miss cruelly denied an All Whites victory, but the 18,000-plus fans left happy and thirsting for more.