Soccer: NZ let chance to claim victory slip away

All White Chris Wood makes a break against Honduras at North Harbour Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

It was supposed to be a celebration but most left North Harbour Stadium disappointed last night.

The All Whites are now unbeaten in their last four matches and all against nations ranked inside the world's top 55.

But they should have won easily last night. They had more than enough good chances to secure victory and were let down by some poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping from Honduras captain Noel Valladares.

Shane Smeltz hit a late and controversial penalty against the underside of the bar and then blazed the rebound over from close range. It was one of those nights.

Coach Ricki Herbert said beforehand the result was immaterial but he was being disingenuous. The All Whites wanted to win to continue what they achieved in South Africa and also pick up a result against a fellow World Cup side.

They also wanted to do it for one of the best crowds seen for a football match in these parts for years. It's been some time since a football chant involving more than 15 people rang out around North Harbour Stadium.

They weren't always in full voice but they were in voice and that would have been music to New Zealand Football's ears.

The national body needed 16,000 to break even and last night was a test to see whether Auckland could come out for a game of football with places like Christchurch lining up for the chance.

NZF want to bring sides out each October to play the All Whites to keep the team visible in this country and needed to know if Auckland could host games in the future.

They want to attract bigger, at least more well-known nations than Honduras, to really capture the public but if fans couldn't come out for the All Whites' World Cup homecoming they were never going to show up.

NZF will be quietly satisfied. More than 18,000 filed into North Harbour Stadium last night and they will now see what unfolds in Wellington on Wednesday.

Last night's game was the best marketing campaign they could have hoped for.

From the outset New Zealand dominated the match. Chris Wood and Chris Killen forced from scrambling defence inside the first 30 seconds and the All Whites pressed and created a number of chances.

On another night Wood might have had a hat-trick but he will still remember it for scoring his first international goal.

The one worrying thing would have been that they weren't able to make their superiority count. New Zealand teams traditionally don't carve out many chances so they need to take advantage when they do.

Honduras provided little snapshots of what they were capable of. They had feet quicker than Michael Flatley and some of their touches were sublime but they didn't enjoy New Zealand's physical approach.

The physical dimensions of both sides were stark and at times it looked like high school kids against men. Sometimes those high school students can be more skilful but they can often be intimidated by what they see in front of them. Tim Brown certainly didn't mind clattering a few bodies, in the way he does, and the Hondurans didn't like it.

They would have been even more upset when Wood scored on the stroke of halftime. They gave the ball away in a dangerous area and the ball was fed out to Brockie who whipped in another good cross for Wood to head home from close range.

It was Wood's first goal for New Zealand in his 13th international and the 18-year-old is sure to score plenty more. He announced himself with a bizarre goal celebration - he slipped his shorts down to reveal a splendid pair of red and white underpants with 'Woodzee' emblazoned across the rump. Wood picked up a yellow card for his troubles but he won't mind.

The All Whites should have doubled their lead soon after the break for oranges. Killen had a close-range shot well saved and then Wood had two efforts spectacularly parried away by Valladares. It at least saved the crowd from another look at Wood's rear.

New Zealand were made to pay for their profligacy when Walter Maartinez sneaked in front of Winston Reid and Nelsen to head home in the 64th minute.

The All Whites will take some satisfaction from a draw but they know they should have won. International scalps aren't achieved all that often.