KEY POINTS:
A ponderous Waitakere United threaten to undo the good work done by New Zealand teams at Fifa tournaments this year.
Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the way Waitakere played in drawing 1-1 with Canterbury United in Saturday's New Zealand Football Championship clash at Trusts Stadium, Adelaide United will hand them a hiding at the Fifa World Club Cup in Tokyo on December 11.
The disappointingly small crowd was bewildered and left asking how a team that had played so well in beating arch-rivals Auckland City away three days earlier could play so badly at home.
Any scout from Adelaide watching United's halfhearted effort would, surely, have been rubbing his hands with glee.
The only saving grace as Waitakere prepare to fly out is their away form - two games at Kiwitea St and a come-from-behind win over Team Wellington - has been infinitely better than two shockers at home, including the embarrassing 7-0 rout by the Wellington Phoenix.
On the international stage this year, New Zealand, as Oceania representatives in the two Olympic tournaments and women's age-group World Cups, have played credibly and drawn plaudits from Fifa for their efforts.
With the pressure on the Oceania team to perform at the club championship, Waitakere will need to play a lot better than they did in being held scoreless for 77 minutes by the lowest NZFC team - who picked up their first point in four games and could easily have taken all three.
Waitakere began promisingly with Benjamin Totori scoring a well-worked goal after 13 minutes. But in terms of clear-cut scoring chances, that was about it. The home side forced two corners in the first 16 minutes and no more. Canterbury, in the same period, won seven.
Totori and Adriano Pimenta, given starts by coach Chris Milicich, showed something, but Pimenta was called to the bench after 68 minutes. Roy Krishna - who could have provided the much-needed spark after Gareth Turnbull had headed home a ball parried by Richard Gillespie in the 71st minute for 1-1 - was not used.
Ian Hogg, who will not go with the team to Tokyo, was.
Against Adelaide, Milicich will, surely, revert to a back four. But whether that change, including the return of captain Danny Hay, will be enough to turn it around remains, on what was shown on Saturday, doubtful.
United, who go into camp today, play an Oceania selection tomorrow. That match will be used as a fitness test for Neil Sykes, Hay and Hone Fowler. For the rest, it will be the chance of redemption.
Waitakere were not alone in disappointing their fans.
In a game in which all the scoring came in the last 30 minutes, Auckland City got back to 1-1 against Team Wellington with a 78th-minute Paul Urlovic penalty, only to surrender that point a minute later when former City player Bryan Little grabbed the winner.
Previously unbeaten YoungHeart Manawatu lost that record when upset 2-1 at home with a stoppage time winner for Hawkes Bay United, scored by Che Bunce.
In Ngaruawahia yesterday, Waikato FC made it two from four in beating Otago, down to nine players at the end, 3-1 as Stu Hogg scored twice.
