Football: All Whites have a big gulf to bridge

All Whites defender Michael Boxall goes toe to toe with Northern Ireland's Stuart Dallas yesterday. Photo / Photosport

The All Whites' clash with Northern Ireland yesterday showed the value of warm-up fixtures.

As a dress rehearsal ahead of the Confederations Cup, the New Zealand side scraped a pass mark in the 1-0 loss, although there is a lot to work on ahead of the Fifa tournament.

But thank goodness the All Whites won't be facing Russia, Mexico or Portugal cold, as the match in Belfast emphasised the gulf the New Zealand side need to bridge.

Northern Ireland are a competent - though workmanlike side - but were a class above for much of the first half, creating several chances after Liam Boyce's goal in the sixth minute.

Coach Anthony Hudson's men struggled to have any meaningful periods in possession in the first half, and were defensively in disarray for the first 10 minutes.

Things improved in the second half, although it must be noted Northern Irish coach Michael O'Neill replaced three of his starters at halftime.

New Zealand got a boost in energy from their five substitutes, although they will be restricted to just three in Russia.

The All Whites will take heart from their second half effort, as they created two good chances, with Kosta Barbarouses striking the post in the 70th minute.

The Wellington Phoenix winger, in his first international since his dramatic dumping in March, admitted he thought he had scored the equaliser.

"Yeah, [but] I think the ground was just a bit wet," said Barbarouses. "I had a good amount of curve on it and it sort of slid off the ground. If it was a bit drier, it would have curved a bit more and gone inside the post. But those are the fine margins ... hopefully those things go my way in the tournament."

Barbarouses did his selection chances no harm with an energetic cameo but the picture remains unclear elsewhere.

Neither Tom Doyle nor Kip Colvey stamped their authority on the wingback positions, and the door remains open for Deklan Wynne, Storm Roux or Dane Ingham.

Bill Tuiloma isn't the perfect solution as a holding midfielder but he's probably the best option Hudson has, as the team looked more balanced in the second half.

The inability to provide good service to Chris Wood will be a concern, though the Leeds striker is used to feeding off scraps at international level.

And the central defensive trio had a difficult afternoon, with both Tommy Smith and Andrew Durante exposed for pace at times.

But New Zealand have the rare luxury of 15 more days together before the opening Confederations Cup clash with Russia on June 18 (NZT), with invaluable matches against Cabinteely FC (Wednesday) and Belarus (June 13) to come.

The warm-up matches were crucial in 1999 and 2009, before New Zealand went on to respectable Confederations Cup campaigns in Mexico and South Africa.

"There are things we can work on, like our slow start, that was a bit out of character for us," said Barbarouses.

"We've usually come out really positive and on the front foot. We lacked that [in Belfast] but as the game went on, we got into it more and finished easily the stronger of two sides.

"Northern Ireland are probably as strong as some we're going to come up against. This is just another step leading into that first game [against Russia]."