Soccer: Only a win will do for All Whites

They say you can't beat Wellington on a good day, but, come November 14, New Zealand soccer will be hoping for a dose of the foulest weather the capital city can muster.

The All Whites performed bravely in hot conditions in yesterday's encouraging 0-0 draw against Bahrain, in Manama.

Now Ricki Herbert's men will hope for an icy blast from the south to unsettle their visitors in the second leg of their chase for World Cup selection.

The equation is simple. A win, by any margin, at Westpac Stadium in just over a month will be enough to book the All Whites their place in South Africa 2010.

Any draw, other than 0-0, or a loss and their chances will be gone.

There is plenty in favour of Ryan Nelsen and the rest of the team.

Home advantage will be massive. Hopefully the weather too will play its part.

Asked whether they had an eye on the cold climate unsettling Middle Eastern visitors when they opted for an 8pm kick-off, New Zealand Football chairman Frank van Hattum said it was more to meet television requirements. But he added: "I hope the weather is crap."

The worse the weather the better for New Zealand ... not so much for their own game, more for taking the Bahrainis further from their comfort zone.

It was the New Zealanders' ability to get through the stifling conditions in the National Stadium in Manama that has kept them in the tie.

The challenge is now for the visitors to do the same in conditions certain to be foreign for most of their players.

While Bahrain have shown ability away from home, their overall record away from Manama is not great.

In the past two play-off scenarios they have failed to win away although the 2-2 draw they snatched in Saudi Arabia last month - after a scoreless draw at home - was good enough to keep this World Cup dream alive.

Four years ago in the play-off with Trinidad and Tobago they drew 1-1 before losing 0-1 at home to bow out.

Commendable results, but playing in Riyadh and Port of Spain is a far cry from what they can expect in Wellington on a chilly November night.

As Nelsen said after he and his gallant co-defenders Ben Sigmund and Ivan Vicelich had run themselves to a standstill in legging it with the non-stop Bahrain strikers, "in the end in these conditions your brain goes".

Wellington's weather, after the long trip from the kingdom, will present a different, but similar, challenge for coach Milan Macala and his players.

In their trips furthest from home, Bahrain lost 2-0 to Australia in Sydney and 1-0 to Japan in Saitama.

The headline in the local Bahrain Gulf Daily News after yesterday's match proclaimed "Unlucky Again".

Maybe, but only in the failure of their strikers to bury chances that international players work hard to create and should finish.

The hosts were foiled by a hard-working, never-say-die All Whites team who adapted to Herbert's revolutionary gameplan and battled manfully from the first whistle to the last.

There were no passengers in an All Whites team that bagged a second significant result against Middle Eastern opposition in Fifa competitions after the 0-0 draw with Iraq at June's Confederations Cup.

From Mark Paston in goal - his superb reflex save to deny Mohamed Ahmed Hubail in the 75th minute was a match-saver - through the defensive trio to the four-man midfield with Leo Bertos and Tony Lochhead making a decent fist of their unaccustomed wingback roles on the right and left to Shane Smeltz, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon up front, this was a superb, disciplined effort.

Yet it was the injection of substitutes Chris Wood (for Fallon) in the 67th minute and Michael McGlinchey (for Tim Brown) two minutes later that sparked real hope in the New Zealand cause.

Continuing with his form in recent Hyundai A-League outings for Central Coast Mariners, McGlinchey buzzed about with real purpose. If Herbert is to make a change in Wellington it might come with more game time for the effervescent midfielder.

Wood too had an immediate impact. Just six minutes after his introduction he whipped the ball past Mohamed Jaffar and into his goal only to have it disallowed after being ruled offside.

There was much to admire in the gutsy All Whites effort.

Now, in a little under five weeks, they must do it all again - and add the icing on the cake simply by scoring one more goal than their opponents.

They are, on what they showed here, up to that.