Group F - Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

[Steulen]

Good start. One of these crosses will find a head and then the net...just be patient.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Go, NZ!

 

[_Ed_]

Have been considering going down to Queen's Wharf to watch it on the big screen there, but it's probably going to be raining, windy and freezing ****ing cold.

Didn't know they were doing that. Might have considered it myself, but yeah, it's a really cold night.

 

[Ausage]

Skillful bunch these Slovaks.

 

[Craig]

I could of done better then Paston there!

 

[Noble One]

God that could have made a Youtube great bloopers of football reel had Slovakia scored.

 

[Craig]

A real chance for Smeltz.

 

[Steulen]

good play by NZ, well chased in midfield, nice attacking combination, good shot as well.

 

[duffer]

The Slovaks thought they could just turn up for this. They should wake up in the second half. Organised and spirited stuff from the NZ team but the techniques on some of their players are big time errors waiting to happen. Paston is looking a bit in the deep end here.

But working very very hard are NZ. Hope they got their fitness up befor ethe tournament though, teams who play their style against technically better sides can fade badly.

edit: Hope they hold on now though, a goal here would be killer.

 

[Craig]

What a save by Paston.

 

[duffer]

Onya Rory, I expected there to be more of that tbh.

 

[Uppercut]

Really tight performance this from New Zealand. Apart from the keeper. Smeltz unlucky not to score, amazing save from the Slovakian keeper at the near post.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Been impressed with New Zealand, thought they were going to be quite poor, they've turned out to be pretty good. They've kept the ball well and put some really good crosses in.

 

[duffer]

Slovakia are trying to turn it up a bit now though. I expect a lot more of that in the second half once the Kiwis get ragged. Think we'll see goals in the second half.

 

[The Sean]

All credit to NZ, a really solid half from them. Slovakia incredibly disappointing and pretty lucky not to be a goal down.

The overall quality of football in that 45 mins sadly in keeping with the rest of the tournament so far.

 

[Noble One]

Good stuff by New Zealand. The back four and Elliott fighting real hard to keep Slovakia from creating scoring chances.

Needs a similar effort in 2nd half. Slovakia just started to look threatening last 10 minutes.

 

[duffer]

All credit to NZ, a really solid half from them. Slovakia incredibly disappointing and pretty lucky not to be a goal down.

The overall quality of football in that 45 mins sadly in keeping with the rest of the tournament so far.

Considering the matchups I didn't think it was that bad. International football rarely produces exciting and technically high level matches together.

 

[Xuhaib]

NZ>>>Socceroos.

 

[Meridio]

Didn't know they were doing that. Might have considered it myself, but yeah, it's a really cold night.

Meant Queen's Wharf in Wellington tbh.

Anyway, was a very bright start by our lads. Unfortunately it seems Killen doesn't have his shooting boots on, and in the second part of the half the standard of our crosses has deteriorated.

Defensively we looked tidy enough early on, but have got progressively nervy as the game's gone on. Paston's also looking a bit shaky - he's always been a pretty decent shot stopper imo, but can be a bit dodgy in dealing with crosses and clearances.

Still, 0-0 is very acceptable for the first half.

 

[Somerset]

Not exactly a half filled with drama but to go into the break still tied at 0-0 is a really good situation from a NZ perspective. A few good chances early on too with Killen having a couple of good opportunities. Following on from Green's efforts at the same ground against the US, almost a shocking error from Paston costing us but fortunate to make up for the mistake without any damage to the scoreline. Looking forward to the second half.