Reading all these comments and I'm left to wonder if anyone here actually watched the game
I've been lurking this forum for a long time and I just felt like this time I had to register and give an honest un-biased opinion on this game
I've been working in new Zealand for over 10 years and I have follow the team for the past 8.
Let me start by saying that whoever thinks we played well today is out of their mind. We pretty much " parked the bus" , we couldn't make more than 2 -3 correct passes on the opposite side most of the game. Anytime we got the ball in our half , we ended up sending useless long balls to the other side of the field , where the peruvian defenders had no problem controlling.
Peru dominated 70-80 % of the game , they created 2 or 3 good chances in the first half ( the one saved on the line, cueva open shot and I believe there was another one) , in the second half they also had 3 good chance ( the header , the open shot the peruvian had in the box and there was another one I can't remember) , while we only had one good chance in 90 minutes of the game , which was the ball thomas almost scored, maybe there was another one but I really can't remember. So that means Peru created more than twice the chances we had , and they were the visiting team !!
Wood made a small difference, nothing to bragged about , the peruvian defenders controlled him pretty well. You guys are getting excited about Wood like he was taking out peruvian defenders and having many chances, where that was not even the case
Now here is the concerning part , we were supposed to win balls in the air , that was where we were supposed to shine. However Peru won most of the balls in the area, they had no problems defending our corners or free kicks. They even managed to have a good scoring chance in a corner
I'm also reading this non sense of Peru not being a top team. Let's be real guys , they dominated an away game . We had 5-6 guys defending in the back , any team in the world would have a problem scoring against us. Mexico beat us by one goal last year and we managed to tied the USA in Washington , those 2 teams are top 20. However my concern is we have no idea what to do once we past the midfielder. It's a joke that we have to send long balls every time!! , we made the peruvian team controlled pretty easily.
I don't see this sense of optimism going on here, we are going to play an away game now , the southamerican fans are very different than us , the stadium will be loud., they will make us feel their presence . I've done some research and found another interesting fact , the Peruvian stadium has a wider field , meaning the peruvians are going to have more advantage playing on the sides, if anyone remembers the game , that is where they made the most damaged . They have very precise passing , we were not able to do anything once they had the ball in the wider areas. They pretty much toyed with us there. Thank God , they did not know what to do once the ball was sent in the area, but how long can we hold the clean sheet. A wider field does not work in our favor for defending
I'm not happy with the result, we had to win , we are the home team. This is the first time I see fans celebrating a tie at home. I'm worry , we created one chance, the peruvians controlled the game. We can not connect more than 2-3 passes on the other side of the field . The peruvian won in the air ( where it matter, inside the box).
Im hoping wood starts this game if fit