Footballers let victory slip away

The New Zealand men’s football team took a step backwards today.

After their exciting work in beating South Korea 3-0 in their opening match at the Olympics, the New Zealanders squandered a golden chance to book a place in the quarter-finals when they lost 3-2 to Honduras.

New Zealand led 1-0 and 2-1, but defensive lapses cost them dearly and Honduras were able to score two goals within 10 minutes in the closing stages to snatch an unlikely victory.

New Zealand made a memorable start when a scorching 30-metre volley by Liberato Cacace put his team 1-0 up after 10 minutes.

Honduras equalised on the stroke of halftime through a Luis Palma goal, assisted by a fumble by New Zealand goalkeeper Michael Woud.

Four minutes later New Zealand were back in front 2-1 after Chris Wood slotted a goal front in front.

The score favoured New Zealand at this point, but Honduras kept attacking and in the 78th minute they were rewarded when New Zealand defender George Stanger – on the field for injured New Zealand captain Winston Reid - and Woud got into a mix-up in what should have been a straightforward clearance. Honduras forward Juan Obregon could hardly believe his good fortune when he was gifted a goal. Suddenly it was 2-2, and the New Zealanders looked to be tiring in the strength-sapping heat.

With just three minutes left, a shot by Rigoberto Rivas took a deflection off Stanger and beat the diving Woud. Honduras led 3-2 and held on to steal a match the New Zealanders should have won.

Though there were defensive failings in all three Honduras goals, the match statistics tell the story of a tough battle. Honduras had 17 shots at goal to New Zealand’s 10, they conceded just 10 fouls to New Zealand’s 19 and they earned 21 free kicks to New Zealand’s 10. Tellingly in such torrid conditions, they also had 56 percent of the possession.

With all that said, New Zealand will look back on this as a match that got away. Instead of locking up their group, they may need a big performance in their final pool match against Romania to progress.