Tournament outsiders New Zealand went into the final group game undefeated and with a chance of making it into the second round. However, Paraguay (who topped the group going into the game) would provide the All Whites with stiff opposition.
New Zealand were arranged under a defensive 3-4-3 formation and this stifled Paraguay throughout the first period. New Zealand showed little in attack with the three forwards, Shane Smeltz, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon provided the brief to form a robust barrier between the Paraguayan defence and midfield. In fact, New Zealand’s brightest attacking player in the first-half was right wing-back Leo Bertos. The nearest thing to a meaningful New Zealand attack was a Bertos cross which was easily collected by Villar with Fallon in close attendance. The three-man New Zealand defence, led by Ryan Nelsen, was solid and able to deal with the Paraguay forwards – Winston Reid and Tommy Smith could assist in wide areas, when the wing-backs had advanced, without the back-line being weakened. Ivan Vicelich and Simon Elliot were also accomplished in central-midfield and, apart from a couple of occasions, were comfortable in possession. Presented with such rigorous organization, Paraguay failed to contrive any penetrative manoeuvres and were limited to long-range efforts from Caniza, Cardoza and Valdez.
Early in the second period a chance fell to Elliot 18-yards from goal after a Tony Lochhead cross was half-cleared, but his shot was unconvincing and sailed wide. Otherwise the format continued in much the same manner as the first-half. After about an hour of the game, Paraguay did start to threaten the New Zealand goal a little more. Goalkeeper Mark Paston was called into action to save from substitute Benitez, and he also repelled a well-struck 30-yard free-kick from Santa Cruz. But a draw always seemed the likeliest result and attacking pressure from Paraguay was fleeting rather than sustained.
A draw was not enough to take New Zealand to the next round, but they have far exceeded expectations. They leave South Africa undefeated and finished ahead of World Cup 2006 champions Italy in Group F. Coach Ricki Herbert had the team well set up for this tournament and, as a result of their collective endeavour, they proved very hard to break down. If they had managed to nick a goal in this final game, then they would have made the knock-out phase.
“New Zealand were arranged under a defensive 3-4-3 formation”. How is that defensive?
Hi Chris. I would term it an ‘assertive defensive’ approach. The All Whites weren’t set up under 3-4-3 with attack as the main focus. The three forwards pressed the Paraguay defence when they were in possession and formed a barrier between their defence and midfield. The wing-backs were more advanced than orthodox full-backs, but this was to compress space so that the Paraguay wide attackers were unable to advance. Elliot and Vicelich in central-midfield had the core brief to shield the defence – and with this protection, the three-man defence dealt with the Paraguay forwards well. The only real attacking flourishes from New Zealand came from the occasional run by Bertos down the right.
New Zealand kept their shape against Paraguay. Against opposition that really took a hold of the game, this formation could be pushed into 5-4-1 with the wing-backs and wide forwards retreating. But that wasn’t apparent in this fixture. 3-4-3 has worked much better for New Zealand over this tournament than 5-4-1 has worked for fellow outsiders North Korea – but North Korea are in the toughest group.
A similar ‘assertive defensive’ approach was used successfully by Greece in Euro 2004 – and something similar to 3-4-3 was apparent in the quarter-final fixture against France. See here:
http://worldcupcollege.com/2010/02/11/greece-euro-2004/