With Owen Delany Park under Civil Defence lockdown, Crown Park was mooted as a replacement to allow the two games affecting semi-final placings to be held but, with no let-up in the winds, OFC officials made the decision to postpone all match day three games to Wednesday.
It throws another spanner in the works for Emblen and his Oly Whites coaching staff, following Marco Rojas being ruled out with injury before joining the team, as well as a troublesome hamstring for fullback Ian Hogg and a suspension for Dakota Lucas.
“We’d already named the team and the lads were all ready to go to play, they were just about to head down to the ground,” Emblen said.
“It would’ve been a ridiculous spectacle. You would’ve hit the ball one way and watched the wind blow it off the pitch on the other side.
“I totally agree with the ref’s decision but it makes it difficult to cram the game in before the final stage starts. We need to conserve our energy now and we need to start planning.”
New Zealand will now face three games in four days if they are to qualify for the London Olympics and Emblen is mindful of a potential semi-final looming just 24 hours after tomorrow’s rescheduled game.
“The staff will get together this afternoon and work through things. We were already going to rest Adam McGeorge as he is one yellow card away from suspension but we might need to look at a few more of the lads that would be starting in a semi-final and maybe look at bringing in some others to start tomorrow.”
Only a two-goal defeat to Tonga would prevent the Oly Whites securing a Thursday semi-final against a Group A side, the identity of which will be decided when joint leaders Vanuatu and Fiji meet at 5pm tomorrow in another rescheduled clash.
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz

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