Kiribati – New Zealand Match Summary click here
With last night’s disappointing draw against Fiji still fresh in their memory, and knowing goal difference could be crucial in the latter stages of group play, New Zealand were in no mood to take it easy on tournament newcomers Kiribati.
Dylan Manickum, Nathan Robertson, Jakub Sinkora and Miro Major all scored first-half braces while Micky Malivuk, Daniel Koprivcic, Lucas Silva and Marvin Eakins also got their names on the scoresheet as New Zealand led 12-0 by the halftime whistle.
It was already turning into a very long afternoon for Kiribati coach Pine Iosefa and, very much aware of how crucial goal difference could prove to be, New Zealand continued to bomb forward in the second half.
The Futsal Whites scored a further nine goals, many of them impressively well-worked, as Manickum went on to score four, Robertson notched five and Eakins struck twice more to finish with a hat-trick.
Malivuk added another strike to his tally while Tariq Assad also joined in on his team mates’ goalscoring fun in a rampant performance that threatened to break the Oceania record for highest score in a futsal match – 23-1 by Australia over Samoa in 1996.
But there was at least one moment for the Kiribati supporters to cheer when Teemai Riinga found the net a few minutes after the break for his side’s third ever OFC Futsal Championship goal.
Quotes
Kiribati coach Pine Iosefa:
We learned a lot and it was good for them to experience the passing and movement of New Zealand. It is the first time our players have come up against opponents like that. We just want to improve as much as we can and learn from some of the teams that we are playing.
New Zealand coach Matt Chandler:
We were 4-1 up yesterday against a team who have come runners-up for the last two years and to let it slip was disappointing. I think we put a few things right today. I think the danger in these sorts of games is that you can get injuries and we did pick up one or two knocks. But we scored some nice goals and the movement was good. It also enabled me to give a few people some game time and the chance to rotate things around. And if it has to go down to goal difference then we’ve done ourselves some good in that regard.