Soccer: Fate played part in Fallon goal, says proud dad

Former All Whites assistant coach Kevin Fallon plants a kiss on son Rory at yesterday's Santa Parade in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Former All Whites coach Kevin Fallon reckons fate had a hand in his son scoring the winning goal in New Zealand's World Cup soccer qualifier against Bahrain.

New Zealand won the match 1-0 in Wellington on Saturday night to seal their qualification for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1982.

After Bahrain got off to a strong start, Rory Fallon scored for New Zealand in the dying minutes of the first half, heading a Leo Bertos corner into the back of the net to book New Zealand a berth in the finals in South Africa next year.

A chance for the visitors to equalise after being rewarded with a penalty early in the second half was thwarted by goalkeeper Mark Paston, who smothered Sayed Mohamed's low kick with a dive to the right.

Kevin Fallon, the New Zealand assistant coach during the campaign which took the All Whites to the World Cup finals in 1982, said his son's place in the game seemed to have been written in the stars.

"Both from a coaching perspective and a parent's aspect, it's very, very emotional when your kid does something great, but this seems to be almost destiny," Fallon said.

"You're all ready for bloody retirement, then your son comes back into the side and keeps the name going in football. That's just priceless.

"Everything just seemed to line up, and I'm very pleased and very proud."

Despite his post-match confidence in fate, Fallon said he had had concerns early on in the game.

"When they set off in that first 10 minutes I thought `crikey, we could be in trouble'," he said.

"After that we settled down and I thought we might get something. Then Rory scored at a great time, then of course Mark Paston with his penalty save.

"You cast a little bit of a thought for Bahrain, I mean they've worked hard to get there and not quite made it. You always look at the losers and think `poor things', but I'd rather them than us."

The result would have a huge effect on the sport in New Zealand, Fallon predicted.

"I think we need to examine what we're doing with kids in academies and really keep that going, because you've seen what we're producing," he said.

"The kids in this country are keen and have got the basic material, we've just got to keep working with them. We've got a lot more Rorys and Ryan Nelsens out there."

Fallon was impressed by the atmosphere the game created, adding that it seemed the whole of Wellington was at the match to support the All Whites.

"This kind of interest has been unprecedented since the 1982 campaign, so it's so good for football," he said.

Fallon watched the game alongside about a dozen members of the 1982 squad, and said it was a great feeling to be finally passing on the torch.

Following the game they joined the current squad to celebrate.

"Everyone was mixed and mingling there. That was fabulous and it went on to obviously the early hours of the morning," he said.

"We need to put that 28 years to rest - we got clapped off, sort of like `well done boys, we did appreciate it', and then we could appreciate the new ones who qualified.

"I've enjoyed every second of this. I've never enjoyed anything as much in a long, long time."

- NZPA