All Whites skipper Chris Wood: ‘We need to do better against United States’

New Zealand captain Chris Wood says his side needs to put right a sub-standard performance against Mexico when they face the United States in their second of this week’s international friendlies.

“There’s no shying away from it. We were probably 5-10 % off it, and Mexico punished us because of that,” Wood told a media briefing ahead of Wednesday’s match in Cincinnati.

Mexico beat New Zealand 3-0 at California’s Rose Bowl Stadium.

READ MORE: All Whites tumble to 3-0 loss in international friendly against Mexico >>>>

A blunt-speaking Wood said: “In international games, you have to turn up first before you earn the right to play and, unfortunately, we didn’t turn up the way we should have, for whatever reason.

“We’ve spoken about what we can do to change it but we need to first apply ourselves, right, and that’s starting from me up top to all the way to the back.

“I’d like to say (in) the past year, we’ve turned up on more occasions than not.

“And I just think the other night (against Mexico) was an anomaly, but we need to show it tomorrow and compete tomorrow and do the business to make sure it is an anomaly.

“And as long as we do that tomorrow and come up with a better showing and better attitude, I think we’ll be alright.”

Head coach Darren Bazeley said of the Mexico loss: “It wasn’t the result we were looking for.”

But he said the New Zealand camp learned a lot from the match.

“There has to be improvement,” he said.

“The best way to explain it is, you know, they dealt with our pressure better than we dealt with Mexican pressure.”

The United States team go into Wednesday’s match under pressure after losing to Canada for the first time on home soil in 67 years.

After losses to Panama, Uruguay and Canada, the Americans have lost three in a row for the first time in eight years, and a loss to the All Whites would give the side their first four-match losing streak since 2007.

Asked about the pressure facing the United States, Wood said: “Yeah, we can take confidence that they’re not fully hitting their stride at the same time.

“But, ultimately, we need to focus on ourselves and make sure we do what we can right and better than the other day or else we’ll get steamrolled again.”

READ MORE: United States under pressure to beat All Whites after string of losses >>>>

Squads

Fixture

Game to be played Wednesday September 11, 2024 (NZT)

United States v New Zealand
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio, 11am (NZT)

This story was first published on September 10, 2024.

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