Source: Radio New Zealand
All White Ben Old against Finland at Eden Park. Shane Wenzlick / Photosport.nz
The All Whites lost 2-0 to Finland in their penultimate home game before Football World Cup during the FIFA Series game at Eden Park on Friday night.
This was the first time a European men’s football team had visited New Zealand in over 30 years and the first time for many of Finland’s players to play outside of Europe.
Finland opened the scoring in the 24th minute from a corner with captain Joel Pohjanpalo having the finishing touch.
Defender Tim Payne was in a lot of the action in the first half and had one of the best chances for the All Whites to level the score before the half hour mark but was just wide.
The durable Auckland FC defender Francis de Vries was substituted just before half time with an injury and was replaced by James McGarry. It was the first time de Vries had left the field all year after playing every minute of every game at club level.
New Zealand made a change at the break up front with Callum McCowatt off for Jesse Randall while the visitors made four changes including their goal scorer.
The All Whites applied a lot of pressure on Finland’s defence to start the second half but could not get a breakthrough as their finishing let them down.
Lachlan Bayliss made his All Whites debut off the bench and was given 30 minutes as part of three changes that coach Darren Bazeley made in the 64th minute.
Finland went very close to doubling their lead in the 73rd minute when they struck the crossbar and minutes later Randall wrong-footed his defender in the box to go close to getting one back for the All Whites but it was not to be.
However Finland did get their second in the 85th minute via Jaakko Oksanen.
There were 17,603 football fans who turned out for the match.
The All Whites play Chile on Monday at Eden Park in their final home game before the Football World Cup and Finland play Cape Verde in the first game of the Fifa Series double-header.
See how the match unfolded here:
All Whites squad for Fifa Series
Kosta Barbarouses (70 caps, 9 goals) Western Sydney Wanderers, Australia
Lachlan Bayliss (debut) Newcastle Jets, Australia
Joe Bell (28/1) Viking FK, Norway
Tyler Bindon (20/3) Sheffield United, England (on loan from Nottingham Forest)
Max Crocombe (19/0) Millwall, England
Andre De Jong (11/2) Orlando Pirates, South Africa
Francis De Vries (15/1) Auckland FC, New Zealand
Callan Elliot (7/0) Auckland FC, New Zealand
Eli Just (38/8) Motherwell, Scotland
Callum McCowatt (28/4) Silkeborg IF, Denmark
James McGarry (3/0) Brisbane Roar, Australia
Ben Old (18/1) AS Saint-Étienne, France
Alex Paulsen (5/0) Lechia Gdańsk, Poland (on loan from AFC Bournemouth)
Tim Payne (48/3) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Jesse Randall (5/1) Auckland FC, New Zealand
Logan Rogerson (16/2) Auckland FC, New Zealand
Alex Rufer (22/0) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Marko Stamenic (33/3) Swansea City, Wales
Finn Surman (13/2) Portland Timbers, USA
Ryan Thomas (23/3) PEC Zwolle, Netherlands
Bill Tuiloma (45/4) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand
Ben Waine (26/8) Port Vale, England
Michael Woud (6/0) Auckland FC, New Zealand
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
