New Zealand Steals the Point

June 16th, 2010 | by: Paul | View Comments

Yesterday, Slovakia played their first game of this World Cup campaign- their first game ever as an independent nation in any World Cup. With Italy and Paraguay drawing, yesterday’s match was probably the best chance for Slovakia to earn three points and hopefully advance out of the group from there. Unfortunately, the Slovaks fell asleep in the final seconds and New Zealand secured a draw.

In the first half, New Zealand came out of the gates looking very good, and, had they kept that up, they may have won. Luckily, the Slovaks regrouped some, but overall I’d say the first half was boring (as most of the first halves of games this World Cup seem to have gone). The half ended 0-0, although Slovakia did create some good chances and could have scored. Marek Hamsik also managed a nice long-range shot (see linked highlight video at the end of the post), which commentators evidently forgot about proclaiming Cristiano Ronaldo’s long-range shot “the first on-target long-range shot of the tournament”, promptly pissing me off .

Then, only about 5 minutes into the second half, Vladimir Weiss delivered from the right wing and Robert Vittek headed home Slovakia’s first ever World Cup goal. After the goal, Slovakia continued to apply pressure, but New Zealand admirably kept the score at 1-0.

Toward the end of the game, the fourth official announced three minutes of added time. It looked as though Slovakia had it in the bag- as long as they could keep possession the game would end 1-0, it also looked quite possible that Repre could keep up the pressure and maybe steal another goal. However, with less than a minute left in the game, New Zealand defender Winston Reid headed home the tying goal. Instead of the game being remembered for Slovakia’s first World Cup goal, instead of it being remembered for Slovakia’s first World Cup win, it is now remembered as New Zealand’s first ever point in the World Cup (even though it’s Slovakia’s, too).

As far as the late goal- it shouldn’t have happened. It was a beautiful goal, no doubt, and a great moment for New Zealand, but it was clear that the Slovaks became a bit complacent and expected to trot off with a win. If Slovakia wants to make it out of the group, this CANNOT happen again.

As I said, this was the best chance for Slovakia to gain three points. Those three would have put them atop the group and in striking position to advance. Now, everyone remains square with Italy and Paraguay (probably the group’s strongest teams) left to play. We’ll see what happens.

Slovakia 1-New Zealand 1: Video Highlights