Soccer: Coveny in record books

Vaughan Coveny

Thirteen years and 116 days after his international debut and a little under 14 years after scoring his first goal for New Zealand, Vaughan Coveny yesterday became this country's greatest goalscorer.

The first of two strikes in the All Whites' 3-1 win over Georgia in Germany took Coveny's tally to 29 - one more than the mark he shared with the late Jock Newell - in his 73rd international outing.

Newell scored 28 goals in 17 outings in 1951-52, mainly against Pacific nations.

Ironically, Coveny's first and record-breaking goals were scored against European opposition.

He opened his account against a Dutch amateur side in New Zealand in June 1992, four months after his debut against St Albans on a British tour.

Included in his haul are two hat-tricks - one against Papua New Guinea at North Harbour Stadium in the 1997 World Cup qualifiers, the second the following year against Vanuatu at the Oceania Nations Cup in Adelaide.

Yesterday's opening goal came as welcome relief for Melbourne-based Coveny, who equalled the record two years ago against Fiji in Adelaide.

He has played only one game since - the first of two against Malaysia here earlier this year - missing last month's Chilean tour when his young son was rushed to hospital as he was preparing to fly to Santiago.

"It was a great result all round," said Coveny, 34, reflecting on the part he had played in the ground-breaking victory in Altenkirchen.

"It has been good playing alongside these guys.

"In an ideal world they would do all the running and I would pop in the goals," joked Coveny. "But it doesn't work like that."

Asked to rate the performance, Coveny, who is now eighth on the all-time list of appearances for New Zealand, with coach Ricki Herbert and assistant Brian Turner among those ahead of him, said: "It is right up there.

"It is one of the best performances I've seen.

"We played against some very good players tonight but we had some good of our own.

"I'm sure players like Jeremy Brockie and Jarrod Smith will be ready to step up when I get out." Coveny says he is copping some flak with his teammates starting to call him the "silver fox".

But he is not ready to crawl away just yet.

"I'm not sure how long I will continue. I will have to talk it over with Ricki. I've still got the passion and I'm happy to play on while I'm still enjoying it."

He said he turned down the chance to join the New Zealand Knights, citing family reasons.

"I'm coming towards the end of my career and we are well-settled in Melbourne and I could not really see it working out at this stage."

Coveny has the chance to add to his haul in remaining matches on this tour against Estonia in Tallin on Thursday and against Brazil in Geneva next Monday.

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Vaughan Coveny

Born: December 13, 1971
International debut: February 1, 1992 v St Albans
First international goal: June 18, 1992 v Dutch Amateurs.
International appearances: 73
International goals: 30
Hat-tricks: Two
Club: South Melbourne, Victorian State League