Soccer: Oly Whites fall to Saudi Arabia

Dakota Lucas. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The New Zealand under-23 football team have been beaten by the Saudi Arabia national team 3-0 in Melbourne in a testing encounter that coach Neil Emblen says will do their Olympic preparations a power of good.

The Saudis are in the Victorian capital to prepare for a crucial World Cup qualifier against Australia on February 29 and the experience of the senior side told as they dominated large periods of possession.

New Zealand were well-organised in defence and held out until the 36th minute when a well struck shot from Salem Aldawsari left goalkeeper Rhyss Keane with little hope of stopping the ball flying into his top left corner.

Three minutes later it looked like the floodgates might open when Saudi Arabia picked open the Kiwi rearguard for Ahmed Al-Fraidi to add a second.

But another good period of defence followed, split by the halftime break, until Keane misjudged a 63rd minute corner and the Saudis scrambled a third through Abdulla Al Dossary.

In a game of few real chances for the New Zealand attackers, their best chance fell to Daniel Saric late in the game but he couldn't beat the Saudi keeper after being teed up by Dakota Lucas.

New Zealand coach Neil Emblen was encouraged by his side's performance.

"Ultimately, playing a full national team is fantastic preparation for an Olympic campaign,'' he said. "It gave the lads a taste of the pace and level of international football and I think, goals aside, for long periods we played really well.

"There was a lot of courageous defending, and generally there was a good shape about us. We conceded one stunning goal, one we thought was offside and one through a goalkeeping error.

"After 35 minutes at 0-0 we thought that they looked dangerous but we were dealing with them comfortably. Given that some people would expect a senior side like Saudi Arabia to carve us up, we showed some good signs in terms of our defensive set up but there's still work to do.''

The sides meet again on Friday night, a day later than originally scheduled. All Whites Cole Peverley and Aaron Clapham bolster the squad under the New Zealand A moniker, although the rescheduling of the match has prevented Auckland City pair Ivan Vicelich and David Mulligan from linking with the squad as well.

New Zealand can qualify for the London Olympics by winning March's Oceania qualifying tournament in Taupo.

Result: New Zealand under-23 0 Saudi Arabia 3 (Salem Aldawsari 36, Ahmed Al-Fraidi 39, Abdulla Al Dossary 62). HT: 0-2.