Soccer: Paraguay give All Whites a finishing lesson

Paraguay 2
New Zealand 0

The last time New Zealand played a soccer international at Wellington there was utter euphoria as they beat Bahrain to qualify for the World Cup.

The mood was much more sombre than last November as the home team slumped to a 0-2 defeat to Paraguay in a one-off international.

New Zealand had their moments but the gulf in class at the pointy end of the park was evident as 17th-ranked Paraguay were clinical and 49th-ranked New Zealand not so.

The classy visitors also had more punch and pace going forward while New Zealand were good in patches and created several chances, but lacked conviction and composure in front of goal.

They also had to finish the game with 10 men after defender Winston Reid was shown a straight red card in the 89th minute for a lunging tackle on Federico Santander, a good decision in a good match for rookie New Zealand referee Jamie Cross.

The crowd of 16,477 was robbed of some star power after All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen and striker Shane Smeltz were both ruled out of the match through injury.

Wellington Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund slotted in for Nelsen as part of a back three while Central Coast Mariners midfielder Michael McGlinchey replaced Smeltz, assuming a roving role in behind strikers Chris Wood and Chris Killen.

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino made six personnel and several other positional changes to the team who started the 0-1 loss to Australia in Sydney last Saturday.

New Zealand began well, playing some neat one-touch football through the midfield and effectively using Wood as the targetman, but they could not create any real chances in the opening 20 minutes.

Cue Paraguay to lift the intensity and the home team were simply outclassed for the remainder of the half.

Nelson Valdez, the Hercules striker who recently scored a double in a Spanish La Liga win against Barcelona, was the catalyst.

Valdez lobbed a superb pass into the path of Edgar Benitez, whose brilliant first touch took him in front of Sigmund and one on one with goalkeeper Mark Paston.

Sigmund fouled Benitez from behind and Cross had no option but to award a penalty for Valdez to send Paston the wrong way in the 22nd minute.

Five minutes later Paraguay all but sealed the win, with Enrique Vera supplying the defence-splitting pass to Osvaldo Martinez, who neatly chipped Paston.

Paraguay started opening New Zealand up both centrally and out wide and should have gone 3-0 ahead just before halftime when Valdez beat the offside trap to go one-on-one with Paston, who produced a top save.

New Zealand might not have had the skill of the South Americans but they never gave in and, on the balance of chances, they dominated the second half.

Captain Tim Brown was denied by Justo Villar from close range in the home team's best chance while Killen went close on several occasions but could not find the target.

New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert made five substitutions -- including giving runs to Glen Moss in goal and striker Rory Fallon in the final 15 minutes -- but potential game-changer Aaron Clapham was kept on the bench until the 83rd minute while the workmanlike Jeremy Christie replaced Jeremy Brockie 22min earlier.

McGlinchey and Brockie impressed for New Zealand as did a more direct Leo Bertos, and the strikers were busy but lacked polish.

New Zealand disperse tomorrow to their respective clubs, with their next international expected to be in March next year.

Paraguay 2 (Nelson Valdez, Osvaldo Martinez) New Zealand 0. Halftime: 2-0.

- NZPA