New Zealand loses to Peru in a friendly match in preparation for the Intercontinental Playoff

Peru and New Zealand took to the field in Barcelona for a friendly match last Sunday – 5th June – to prepare for the intercontinental playoff. The Peru awaits the winner of Australia and United Arab Emirates and the All Whites will face Costa Rica.

From the beginning of the match Peru showed superiority over New Zealand keeping possession and controlling the actions of the match. Peru’s first opportunity came when Marcos Lopez’s cross was cleared off the line by Oli Sail. In the corner kick the New Zealand defense moved away, but on the left Yotun hit a shot against the crossbar causing danger once again.

The first shot and chance for All Whites came in the 43rd minute when Matt Garbett stole the ball from Aldo Corzo and passed to Liberato Cacace who drove, passed to Chris Wood who played the role of pivot and played to Alex Greive forcing Pedro Gallese to make a good save.

The second half started as it was in the first forty-five minutes – Peru had control of the match but with New Zealand playing hard. In the 69th minute Tim Payne passed it back to Oli Sail, who failed to control the ball and gave it away theto Gianluca Lapadula, who stole the ball and calmly made it 1-0 to the joy of the thousands of Peruvians present at the RCDE Stadium.

Two minutes later Peru almost increased the advantage with Christofer Gonzáles kicking the ball to the post after a beautiful exchange of passes with Marcos Lopez and Gianluca Lapadula. Within ten minutes to go New Zealand scored with Ben Waine after a beautiful cross from Liberato Cacace, but the referee had already declared the Wellington Phoenix striker was offsided.

The New Zealand’s side could not find en equalizer and the match ended up with a 1-0 win of the South Americans. Now the All Whites will face the national team of Oman in a closed doors’ friendly match as a last test before the decisive match against Costa Rica.