New Zealand and Slovakia clashed up against each other to open the day with an entertaining game. For neutrals, although the two teams involved cannot boast of a giant status, this encounter certainly offered more excitement than last night’s 1-1 draw between Italy and Paraguay.
New Zealand vs Slovakia, First Half: The Kiwis Survive
Vladmir Weiss didn’t fail to impress, playing a delightful one-two with Sestak to warn New Zealand with a signal of intent at the 27th minute. The 32nd minute should have been Slovakia’s moment of truth when All-Whites goalkeeper Paston miskicked the ball as he was aiming to take a goal kick. Slovakia’s Vittek was there to try and punish him but a wrong running movement from the player helped New Zealand to survive.
Vittek again tried his luck from a long distance moments later but his shot didn’t trouble the keeper much. Smetz tried to respond quickly after that but he dramatically side netted the ball with his left foot. Slovakia got another opportunity on goal three minutes before half time after Jendrisek was awarded a free-kick for being fouled. The players teamed up well and just about caught New Zealand’s goalkeeper who punched Hamsik’s ultimate shot away to head into the dressing rooms with a goalless score line at half time.
New Zealand vs Slovakia, Second Half: Call It Drama
Deservingly in terms of their performance, Slovakia broke the deadlock through Robert Vittek’s 50th minute header. New Zealand were left stunned as the players thought that the Slovakians would once again attack from the right wing. Instead, a great cross came from the midfield for Vittek to knock it into the Kiwis’ net. But replays later revealed that the goal was actually offside.
64 minutes down the clock: another interesting event occurred as Sestak was sent forward with a long searching ball. The player controlled it well, but as New Zealand’s defenders rushed back in defense, it was difficult to trick the keeper and the attack eventually resulted in nothing more than a goal kick.
Four minutes later, Slovakia broke clear on the counter attack. Sestak again played the right ball to Vittek inside the penalty box but the striker surprisingly couldn’t get the better of his marker. His shot got blocked; the Slovakians had just missed a glorious chance to score a clean goal and therefore double their lead.
New Zealand's Killen also made a bad tackle to Slovakia's Wiess which surely should have seen him get sent off. But the Kiwi escaped without a booking and finally got substituted for Chris Wood on 71 minutes. New Zealand wanted to believe that they could get something out this game. Despite suffering in defense due to Slovakia’s energetic performance on the offensive, the Kiwis managed to cruise into their opponents’ half at times. Smeltz came close to scoring an equalizer with two minutes of normal time remaining in the match but his straight forward header bounced of the pitch for a goal kick.
Slovakia’s coach attempted to waste time with late substitutions. He sent in Kucka at the 90th minute for Weiss, knowing that time was almost up. But New Zealand had other ideas and Reid closed Slovakia's new chapter in their history of football with a last-second equalizer. 1-1, then. It's all square in Group F and nothing has been decided yet.
