Head coach Darren Bazeley kicked off his tenure as permanent All Whites head coach with a 1-1 draw against DR Congo at Estadio Nueva Condomina in Murcia, Spain. 

An even clash, neither side could find a way through in the first half despite the All Whites having the better of the chances. Sarpreet Singh was lively on his return to international activity after over a year out with injury, carving out a number of opportunities. 

DR Congo took the lead just 23 seconds into the second half. The Leopards jumped on a short headed back pass with Galatasaray forward Cédric Bakambu flicking the ball past goalkeeper Nik Tzanev into an empty goal. 

The All Whites fought back with Chris Wood getting the ball in the net twice only to be ruled out for offside and the ball crossing the line. 

Bazeley used his full complement of subs to push for the result with Bill Tuiloma, Matt Garbett, Joe Champness, Max Mata and Dalton Wilkins all making an impression when entering the pitch. 

The final substitution saw 18-year-old Reading defender Tyler Bindon come on to make his debut following his first All Whites call up. 
 

With full-time looming, the All Whites got a deserved equaliser. Chris Wood was fouled in the box after a quickly taken free kick and stepped up to convert the penalty for this 34th senior goal for New Zealand. 

Moments later Max Mata had a chance to win it at the death but was denied by a brilliant stop by the DR Congo keeper. 

Following the match head coach Darren Bazeley said he was proud of his team’s effort against a much higher ranked opposition:

“Obviously we went into the game to try to win the game and I felt like there was some really good elements of our performance. 

“We were quite varied in how we used the ball. We created some decent chances, got into some really good areas and showed that at times we were pretty good about our ability to keep possession against a good team that were looking to press us at times. 

“I thought it was a good performance. It was a shame about the goal because that's unusual for that to happen but I thought we bounced back really well and fully deserved to not lose the game and could have actually won the game towards the end.”


FINAL SCORE:

All Whites – 1 (Chris Wood 90+1’)
DR Congo – 1 (Cédric Bakambu 46’)

Article added: Saturday 14 October 2023